High, Low, or No Tech? A Roundtable Discussion on the Role of Technology in Refugee Education

The global education community has witnessed increased attention on education technology (EdTech) to adapt to learning from home and mitigate the effects of learning loss of COVID-19 school closures. The pandemic has had a disproportionately harmful impact on refugees around the world, exacerbating already existing participation challenges. 48% of school-age refugees are unable to attend school.

Against this background, a roundtable discussion was hosted on 5th October 2021 by the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education, Save the Children, and EdTech Hub. As the third annual roundtable on refugee education, the event brought together global education stakeholders from diverse perspectives and geographic locations, including donors, practitioners, and beneficiaries of EdTech programmes in refugee settings. Roundtable participants reflected on the achievements of the past two years[i] and the role of EdTech in refugee education.

The paper details seven call to action:

1. Listen, reflect, and engage with refugee students, teachers, and parents.
2. Build multi-stakeholder collaborations to provide holistic responses to refugee education.
3. Prioritise localisation in EdTech approaches to refugee education.
4. Use high, low, and no-tech modalities for refugee education to align with the context.
5. Strengthen the technological infrastructure to increase access for all.
6. Prioritise student and teacher learning and wellbeing.
7. Maintain a sustained focus on EdTech and refugee education.

[i] See outcomes of last year’s roundtable on Refugee Education.