KATHMANDU, MARCH 22

Teachers need to be provided the tools and training to successfully lead students into making the jump to effective digital learning.

The unprecedented closure of education facilities around the world due to COVID-19 forced schools to shift to distance learning overnight.

But nobody was ready for this dramatic change. It was a wakeup call for education systems, particularly in developing countries which were already struggling.

Despite the adverse impact on learning and equity, the pandemic has also provided transformational insights on how to turn the crisis into an opportunity.

To find these insights, we conducted a study of four countries – Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Cambodia, and Bangladesh-that surveyed the digital readiness of teachers in three main categories: digital access, basic digital skills, and advanced digital skills.

We surveyed 23,658 teachers predominantly from primary and secondary schools, with about 58% from rural regions covering both public and private institutions.

A version of this article appears in the print on March 23, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.