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Event Date
May 14, 2025, 12-1 pm Eastern Time
Abstract
We ran an eight-week large-scale foundational learning program (TIP) in public primary schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan to mitigate COVID-induced learning losses. The program incorporated both targeted instruction and structured pedagogy methods, and some teachers were also randomly assigned access to a low-cost, smartphone application (tech tool) designed to reduce the administrative burden of classroom management. Overall, the program raised student learning by 0.12 SD across English, Math, and Urdu. Learning gains, especially among low-performing students, were highest when the tech tool was randomly offered to teachers as an optional supplementary aid. Offering the paper version of the program (0.14 SD) or mandating the use of the tech tool (0.10 SD) had lower student learning relative to the optional tech (0.19 SD) version of the program. The flexible nature of the optional tech treatment contributed to better outcomes compared to the paper and mandated tech version of the treatment. This suggests that learning outcomes may not monotonically increase with technology take-up.
Speakers
Juan Baron
Senior Economist, World Bank
Tahir Andrabi
Stedman-Sumner Professor of Economics,
Pomona College
Tomoya Murakawa
Research Fellow,
Harvard Center for International Development
Alaka Holla
Senior Economist
Program Manager, Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund
World Bank