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

09 September 2026

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.

By

Noam Angrist0,

Micheal Ainomugisha1,