Education expenditure, enrolment dynamics and the impact of COVID-19 on learning in Jordan
Format
Objectives and Introduction
This piece is part of a set of five fast tracked and interrelated policy notes covering key issues in the current Jordanian macroeconomic and human capital landscape. The education policy note reviews the initial reaction of the Ministry of Education (MOE) to the COVID-19 pandemic, some key considerations for future policy formulation and simulation results summarizing the potential impact that the pandemic can have on learning. Specifically, the note leverages Public Expenditure Reviews (PER) conducted by the World Bank in 2016, DFID in 2020 and the International Monetary Fund’s paper on social spending for inclusive growth by focusing on a subset of data points pertinent to policymakers for immediate policy consideration. This policy note is divided into two parts: part I explores the utilization of education services by socioeconomic groups, refugee status and gender, including access to technology and online resources before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is intended to pinpoint key differences in household spending, access to education services and technologies to better understand which sub-groups are under heightened risk during school closures. Part II presents simulation results forecasting the negative impact of COVID-19 school closures on learning and future earnings. The simulation results are based on various assumptions and present multiple scenarios accounting for the expected duration of school closures and the government’s response.