What is the initiative and where is it implemented (city or country, for example)?
The government of Bangladesh established a multi-modal remote learning initiative based on Gender and School Closures Analysis (GSCA) to address the digital divide and support the delivery of remote learning in Bangladesh.
How was the initiative established? How was it implemented?
GSCA research investigating gender dimensions and educational attainment during the world health crisis focused on household economic conditions and children engaged in formal and informal labour, family business, agricultural work and formal employment. The study found that boys and girls from poorer rural areas are more likely to be involved in labour. In addition, it was presumed that girls take over household duties, thus discontinuing their online classes and dropping out of school. In remote rural areas, girls often do not possess a phone of their own to engage in learning activities regularly; they borrow phones for a limited time from their older family members and are thus unable to study independently.
The government of Bangladesh provided a hybrid of low-tech and high-tech learning interventions aimed at learners of primary and secondary school.
Televised lessons for primary and secondary level, recorded classes for grades 6 to 10 and synchronous lessons aired via community radio were among the modalities used to provide broad access to remote learning for urban and rural remote communities.
Which stakeholders are involved in the design and/or implementation of the initiative? Which sectors do they represent?
In addition to the government initiatives implemented with the help of national channel Sangsad Bangladesh, various YouTube channels and community radio broadcasts, the teachers provided weekly assignments to learners for submission in-person or online.
What are the impacts of the initiative in terms of facilitating lifelong learning? Who does it benefit and how?
The impacts of the initiative were evaluated by Gender and School Closures Analysis (GSCA) based on qualitative and quantitative data obtained from a longitudinal survey of girls participating in the ongoing project Keeping Girls in Schools to Reduce Child Marriage in Rural Bangladesh.
The vast majority of girls participating in the study reported studying under the supervision of family members, which compensated for the lack of institutional support.
Televised lessons proved to be the most accessible remote learning modality; nevertheless, only about half of the respondents reported that their household had a television. The study also reported low engagement with such lessons.
The least assessable modality was computer- or smartphone-based learning. Although the vast majority of respondents reported having a mobile phone, less than a third reported having a smartphone. Some of the girls could use family members’ phones, but they were not always accessible.
Despite private tutoring being illegal in Bangladesh, many parents and teachers interviewed within the GSCA study perceived informal tutoring as the only feasible means to continue learning due to the limitations of other modalities. Nevertheless, private lessons were out of reach for children of many remote rural households.
The study results emphasized how the world health and economic crises aggravated existing inequalities and the digital divide.
References
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). 2021. When schools shut. Gendered impacts of COVID-19 school closures. Paris, UNESCO.