Phone-call tutorials improve learning cost-effectively during education emergencies

Across five randomized trials in India, Kenya, Nepal, the Philippines and Uganda, weekly 20-minute mobile-phone-call tutorials produced large learning gains for primary-school children during school closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Governments can keep children learning through societal shocks using this approach, which combines low-cost, high-access mobile-phone technology with high-quality tutoring targeted to each child’s learning level. The eight-week programme led to triple the learning gains of average learning interventions during school closures.