Ensuring equal access to education in future crises: Findings of the new Remote Learning Readiness Index

The COVID-19 pandemic has put tremendous pressure on education systems around the world. While schooling and learning were interrupted for hundreds of millions of children worldwide, the pandemic also accelerated the provision of remote learning as a viable solution during emergency events. As school closures are not unique to the COVID-19 outbreak and can take place due to conflicts, disease outbreaks, natural or man-made disasters, strengthening the resilience of the education sector against these negative shocks is critical for human capital gains and inclusive and equitable education for all. A country-level assessment of educational resilience in relation to crises is essential to accelerate the efforts of the international community and national stakeholders in “building back better,” i.e., recovering from the learning losses caused by the disruption of in-person classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic.