The first step is to find out what the impacts are. “We know COVID-19 is having an impact on student learning. On Mathe Government of Alberta revealed a new program targeting children from kindergarten to Grade 3 to help measure how the pandemic has impacted their literacy skills. Little has been done by provincial and federal governments to address the specific issue of literacy, although efforts have been made to have kids return to the classroom. All indications show that students whose families are less able to support out-of-school learning will face larger learning losses than their more advantaged peers, which in turn will translate into deeper losses of lifetime earnings,” Roberts added.

“The economic losses will be more deeply felt by disadvantaged students. These economic losses would grow if schools are unable to re-start quickly,” claims the report. For nations, the lower long-term growth related to such losses might yield an average of 1.5 percent lower annual GDP for the remainder of the century.

“While the precise learning losses are not yet known, existing research suggests that the students in grades 1-12 affected by the closures might expect some 3% lower income over their entire lifetimes. According to Roberts, a 2020 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report found that the learning losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could have wide-reaching economic impacts for nations as a whole and individual learners.

Brave frontier pandemic