Rappler Talk: Noam Angrist on stemming PH’s learning losses due to the pandemic

MANILA, Philippines – COVID-19 wrought a lot of damage on educational systems the world over. In particular, the pandemic caused tremendous “learning losses”: a deterioration or reversal of skills and knowledge that students ought to be mastering in school.

In the Philippines, which experienced one of the world’s longest lockdowns and school closures, the learning losses are estimated to be especially large.

In this episode of Rappler Talk, Rappler’s resident economist JC Punongbayan talks with Noam Angrist, co-founder of Youth Impact Org, an NGO that spearheaded a new multi-country study titled “Building Resilient Education Systems: Evidence from Large-Scale Randomized Trials in Five Countries.”

Angrist and his team conducted randomized controlled trials (the gold standard in impact evaluation) to assess the effectiveness of cheap but timely supplementary lessons – via SMS messages and phone calls – for students amid the pandemic. They found sizable effects on the learning of children in all the 5 countries where the trials were held, including the Philippines.

This groundbreaking research suggests that while difficult, stemming the learning losses due to the pandemic (or any other emergency for that matter) is not at all impossible – so long as policymakers keep an open mind to what the research says. – Rappler.com