773 million youth and adults worldwide still lack basic literacy skills, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic jeopardizes hard-won gains in literacy provision. Many literacy providers have argued that systems around the world were insufficiently prepared to leverage technologies and provide online or distance education that would mitigate the total disruption of literacy programmes caused by the pandemic. Low capacities along with low financial investment and political will have been cited as the main contributors to this lack of preparedness.
Open and distance learning (ODL) is...