Topics Covered: Education related issues.
World Bank “Beaten or Broken? Informality and COVID-19 in South Asia” report:
Context:
Released recently.
- The report analyses the impact of school closures because of Covid on children.
Key findings:
- South Asia region stands to lose USD 622 billion from the school closures in the present scenario or up to USD 880 billion in a more pessimistic scenario.
- While the regional loss is largely driven by India, all countries will lose substantial shares of their GDP.
- South Asia is set to plunge into its worst-ever recession in 2020 as the devastating impacts of COVID-19 on the region’s economies linger.
- Temporary school closures in all South Asian countries have kept 391 million students out of school in primary and secondary education, further complicating efforts to resolve the learning crisis.
- The pandemic may cause up to 5.5 million students to drop out from the education system and cause substantial learning losses, which will have a lifetime impact on the productivity of a generation of students.
- The projected learning loss for the region is 0.5 years of learning-adjusted years of schooling (LAYS), falling from 6.5 LAYS to 6.0 LAYS, an enormous setback from recent advances in schooling.
- Based on country data on household labor incomes, the average child in South Asia may lose USD 4,400 in lifetime earnings once having entered the labour market, equivalent to 5 percent of total earnings.
What is the ‘Learning Adjusted Year of Schooling” (LAYS) concept?
Introduced by the World Bank, it seeks to combine access and learning outcomes into a single measure.
It combines quantity (years of schooling) and quality (how much kids know at a given grade level) into a single summary measure of human capital in a society.
How Covid 19 will affect labour productivity?
- Increased integration of the global economy will amplify the adverse impact of COVID-19.
- Contagion prevention and physical distancing may render some activities, for example the hospitality sector, unviable unless they are radically transformed, which will take time.
- Disruptions to training, schooling and other education in the event of severe income losses, even once restrictions are lifted, will also lower human capital and labour productivity over the long term.
Indian scenario:
The prolonged closure of schools may cause a loss of over USD 400 billion in the country’s future earnings, besides substantial learning losses.
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link:
- Various World Bank reports.
- What is the ‘Learning Adjusted Year of Schooling” (LAYS) concept?
Mains Link:
Suggest ways to address the challenges highlighted by the report.
Sources: the Hindu.
