SUMMA, OECS, GPE KIX LAC and IDRC present the second Policy Brief “Education Recovery after COVID-19: Addressing Learning Loss in KIX LAC Countries”

The purpose of this document is to address the challenges of learning loss recovery given the consequences of the health crisis in the world, and specifically in the KIX LAC countries: Dominica, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and to propose recommendations to address the learning loss due to the pandemic.

The impact of COVID-19 on the educational systems of the KIX countries in Latin America and the Caribbean is high and the closure of schools affected the entire region. For this reason, several strategies have been implemented. The KIX LAC center has identified three main dimensions:

(i) Offering distance education. The KIX countries (like most countries in the world) developed digital strategies to face this new context, but due to connectivity problems, countries had to look for alternatives such as radio, television and printed material.

(ii) Protection of students’ health and well-being (with a focus on nutrition). It is recognized that the school is a place of knowledge, but also a place of care, which is why the countries of the region, to a greater or lesser extent, adopted policies for the continuity of feeding programs, as well as programs against violence and programs that facilitate social-emotional support.

(iii) Training and support for teachers in this new context. The teaching staff was strongly affected by the pandemic, which meant that countries had to multiply their efforts to train educators on the use of technologies and to equip them with the necessary materials.

These policies are described and analyzed below, also covering the challenges of reopening schools and learning recovery strategies in the KIX LAC countries, which have both been objectives of the region’s governments. Recommendations are proposed to address those challenges.