Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was already in an educational crisis as 617 million children and adolescents had not attained minimum proficiency in reading and maths — 202 million of these in Sub-Saharan Africa (UNESCO, 2018).

This learning crisis has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 related lockdowns and resultant school closures. The World Bank estimated a loss of 0.6 years of schooling, adding that ‘in the intermediate scenario there may be as much as a 25% increase (from 40% to 50%) in the share of lower secondary-aged children who are below the minimum level of proficiency, (World Bank, 2020).

There has been an upsurge of remote learning programmes, diversified by context, as a measure for continued learning (UNICEF, 2021). Although commendable, questions arose as technology widened the equity gap between populations (affluent vs. poor, urban vs. rural, etc.).

It is against this backdrop that the PAL Network Conference will explore what it takes to build better and ensure learning continuity for all.