Helping Students Learn at Home: Experimental Evidence from a Technology-Base COVID-19 Response Strategy in Indian Government Schools

This study investigates a state-wide COVID-19 response strategy that leverages a remote-learning solution to teach students while government-run schools remain closed (Haryana's “Ghar se Padhao” program). In a cluster-randomized evaluation, 80 schools receive the program without additional support (the control group). Another 160 schools receive the program with additional support, helping teachers and students engage with the technology-enabled learning materials (the encouragement group). Of these 160 schools, a random 80 had received an in-classroom blended-teaching program, in the previous school year. Monitoring data for grades 9 and 10 suggest (1) the program reaches students, but it requires additional support; (2) support is provided to encouragement-group schools; (3) shortly after the program’s launch, there are promising differences across the encouragement and control groups. This research offers causal evidence on the effectiveness of a large-scale effort to avert learning loss, and on potential complementarities of home- based learning solutions with prior exposure to educational technology.