Who Is Going Back to School? A Four-Country Rapid Survey in Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan

  • R Research Project/Report/Study

I Inactive

Key Information

To understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on re-enrollment for girls and boys, CGD and Malala Fund collaborated to analyze results from a series of rapid surveys that Malala Fund commissioned in Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan. These surveys are among the first (to our knowledge) to elicit children’s self-reported likelihood of going back to school and their experiences during the pandemic.

The surveys offer a convenience sample covering respondents that organizations in Malala Fund’s education champion network already work with, except in Ethiopia, where the in-country partner was able to get authorization from the Ministry of Education to access school registers. The surveys, which are a mix of phone and in-person surveys, cover 1,302 respondents in Ethiopia, 3,176 respondents in India, 1,334 respondents in Nigeria, and 1,592 respondents in Pakistan. The surveys were carried out between July and September 2020 while schools were still closed in each of the countries. 

Lead Implementing Organization(s)
Location(s)

South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa

Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan

Activity URL

https://www.cgdev.org/blog/who-going-back-school-four-country-rapid-survey-ethiopia-india-nigeria-and-pakistan

Government Affiliation
Non-governmental program
Years

2020 - 2020

Partner(s)

Ministry Affiliation
Unknown
Funder(s)

Not applicable or unknown

COVID-19 Response
New for COVID-19
Geographic Scope
Global / regional
Meets gender-transformative education criteria from the TES  
Unknown
Areas of Work Back to Top
Education areas
Attainment
  • Primary completion
  • Primary enrollment
  • Primary to secondary transition
  • Secondary completion
Other
  • Transition from school to work
Cross-cutting areas
  • COVID-19 Response
  • Economic/livelihoods (including savings/financial inclusion, etc.)
  • Emergencies and protracted crises
Program participants

Target Audience(s)

Boys in school, Girls in school, Youth

Age

5 - 18

School Enrolment Status

Some in school

School Level

  • Lower primary
  • Upper primary
  • Lower secondary
  • Upper secondary
Other populations reached

Not applicable or unknown

Participants include

Not applicable or unknown

Program Approaches Back to Top
Community engagement/advocacy/sensitization
  • Community-based monitoring (e.g. school report cards)
Other
  • Informational interventions (e.g. returns to education)
Reducing economic barriers
  • Addressing cost of school supplies
Social/gender norms change
  • Engaging parents/caregivers of students or school-age children/adolescents
Teaching
  • Diagnostic feedback
Program Goals Back to Top
Education goals
  • Increased enrolment in primary school
  • Increased grade attainment
  • Increased progression to secondary school
  • Increased re-enrolment in school among out-of-school children
  • Increased school completion (general)
  • Increased school enrolment (general)
  • Increased secondary school completion
  • Reduced absenteeism
  • Reduced grade repetition
Cross-cutting goals

Not applicable or unknown

Additional Information Back to Top
Primary Contact
Rita Perakis
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Assistant Director and Senior Policy Analyst, Global Education
rperakis@cgdev.org