Rukmini Banerji is a global pioneer in developing ways to make education universal by developing simple, practical, ways to help children progress on foundational skills by teaching students at the level of competence they actually have.  She is the CEO of the NGO Pratham, which has pioneered these efforts, evaluated and perfected them, and helped Indian states and schools take them to scale, and shared them around the world. (And she has been part of RISE’s Intellectual Leadership Team from day one.)

In this video from the UNESCO/UNICEF/World Bank webinar series on the Framework for Reopening Schools, she warns that the interruption of learning due to school closures aimed at flattening the COVID-19 infection curve are creating great risk: leaving children behind when schools re-open and flattening their learning curve. She discusses practical ways to address this problem. Schools should not be in a hurry to return to the curriculum after they reopen. Instead, they should give children the time to catch up on lost learning. When schools re-open they must be ready to recognize and compensate for the learning losses and ensure that all children build foundational skills in literacy and numeracy.

Understanding this risk to children’s learning is vital and urgent. It is a massive risk to today’s children’s long-run prospects—but this is a risk that is avoidable if school systems see the risk and respond.

Additional information from Rukmini Banerji on this topic can be found on the links below:

• Once schools reopen, help children reconnect (Hindustan Times, 16 May 2020)
• It’s not a problem if schools are the last to open (IndiaSpend, 26 May 2020)