Context: Poor productivity will cause a major dent in future earnings: the World Bank South Asia report “Beaten or broken: Informality and COVID-19”.
The extended closure of schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic could dent India’s future earnings, as depleted learning levels of students will translate into poorer productivity going forward.
As many as 5.5 million students could drop out of schools across South Asia,
Substantial learning losses would cost South Asia as much as $622 billion in future earnings and gross domestic product.
Far-reaching impact
South Asian governments spend only $400 billion a year on primary and secondary education, so the total loss in economic output would be substantially higher.
The lockdown has caused damage to businesses, consumption patterns and imposed social hardship on poor and vulnerable households, especially urban migrants and informal workers.
Massive losses
“Education came to a standstill and efforts to teach children during school closures proved challenging.
391 million students kept out of school in primary and secondary education, complicating the efforts to resolve the learning crisis.
Remote learning tough
“Children have been out of school for approximately five months. It stopped children from learning new things, and forgot what they have learned.
Engaging children through remote learning programmes had been difficult, despite most governments’ best efforts to mitigate the impact of school closures.
The projected learning loss for the region is 0.5 years of learning-adjusted years of schooling at present.
Labour productivity will also be affected due to the disruptions in training and education.
Sustainable solutions
Increase integration of the global economy
Contagion prevention and physical distancing
Lift restrictions from training and apprentice courses to lower human capital and labour productivity loss.