Can EdTech Improve Accelerated Emergency Education Programs? Empirical Evidence from Pakistan after COVID-19

Abstract

Education technology is often heralded as a tool for improving education access and quality, but evidence of its effectiveness in enhancing learning outcomes in emergency settings in low- and middle-income countries is limited. In this article, we present results from Learning Tree, a mobile-based learning application piloted in Pakistan in 2021, where inequities in girls’ access to education were heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters. The Learning Tree was introduced as a supplemental tool for crisis-affected girls ages 11-14 who were participating in accelerated learning programs in rural areas of the Shikarpur district. Through a longitudinal quasi-experimental evaluation and multivariate regression analysis, we found that the Learning Tree tool was associated with approximately double the learning gains of accelerated learning activities alone. We observed significant improvements across literacy, numeracy, and executive functioning outcomes far beyond the gains produced by the accelerated learning activities alone. Learning Tree also boosted gains in social and emotional skills; this was a novel result, given the inherent challenge of improving these skills with only limited direct interpersonal interaction and hands-on engagement. These results provide promising evidence that well-designed, mobile-based education technology interventions can help to close the gaps in education that emerge for vulnerable girls during emergencies in lower-middle income settings.