Publication: Learners with Disabilities and COVID-19 School Closures: Findings from a Global Survey Conducted by the World Bank’s Inclusive Education Initiative
Date
2021-09
ISSN
Published
2021-09
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
At the onset of the coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) pandemic, the world quickly experienced a crisis
within a crisis, a global public health emergency that
exacerbated educational inequalities within a ‘learning
crisis’ that was already occurring for hundreds of millions
of young people who were attending school without acquiring
basic skills in literacy and numeracy (World Bank 2019).
Specifically, COVID-19 intensified this learning crisis
through two global shocks to education: massive school
closures and a subsequent economic recession (World Bank
2020b). In the spring of 2020, at the peak of the pandemic,
180 countries experienced temporary school closures,
affecting 1.5 billion young people or 94 percent of the
student population worldwide (World Bank, n.d.). For more
than half of these students, schools would remain closed for
more than seven months. A year after the worldwide spread of
COVID-19, in March 2021, schools remained closed in more
than 50 countries (World Bank, n.d.). Governments tried to
respond to these unprecedented times by employing remote
learning initiatives using both digital and nondigital
formats. However, inadequate infrastructure or the absence
of trained teachers who could quickly transition to online
models of teaching often limited the effectiveness of such
responses. This study arose from a deep need to understand
the experiences of learners with disabilities during the
onset of COVID-19 and the accompanying school closures. The
survey was disseminated in May 2020 to inform the ‘just in
time’ issues paper, Pivoting to Inclusion: leveraging
Lessons from the COVID-19 Crisis for Learners with
Disabilities (World Bank 2020a) (referred henceforth as
Pivoting to Inclusion). The Pivoting to Inclusion report
highlighted important recommendations for policy makers and
practitioners to provide an inclusive and quality education
for learners with disabilities during school closures and
future emergencies, including the use of Universal Design by
Learning (UDL) and a twin-track approach to inclusive
education sector planning. A twin-track approach involves
two basic principles: (1) ensuring that mainstream education
programs are designed for all learners; and (2) developing
targeted support to address the specific needs of children
with disabilities (World Bank 2020a). The findings from this
survey show various examples of f these two tracks, as well
as the importance of UDL in remote teaching and learning for
learners with disabilities.
Citation
“World Bank. 2021. Learners with Disabilities and COVID-19 School Closures: Findings from a Global Survey Conducted by the World Bank’s Inclusive Education Initiative. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36326 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”