In view of school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper examines how a Home-Based Learning program affects learning outcomes of children in under-resourced communities. To overcome limited internet connectivity, the program provides remote instructions via phone calls and simple text messages along with automated voice calls to engage children enrolled in grades one to five in activity-based learning content. This intervention was conducted in three districts in the state of Odisha in India. Using a difference-in-differences framework, we find that the intervention led to a statistically significant improvement in basic number recognition and arithmetic operations, and language learning scores of children by 4.69 percentage points and 5.52 percentage points, respectively. Our results are robust to alternative methods of estimation and application of Lee bounds, thus indicating that well-designed low cost interventions could be a useful supplement for continued learning in the face of sudden shocks in low income countries. With a rise in hybrid format of teaching and learning, such interventions have the capability to cushion the decline in learning levels and provide a safety net in the event of school closures.

鉴于 COVID-19 大流行导致学校停课，本文探讨了家庭学习计划如何影响资源贫乏社区儿童的学习成果。为了克服有限的互联网连接，该计划通过电话和简单的短信以及自动语音通话提供远程指令，让一年级至五年级的孩子参与基于活动的学习内容。这次干预是在印度奥里萨邦的三个地区进行的。使用双重差分框架，我们发现干预措施使儿童的基本数字识别和算术运算以及语言学习成绩分别提高了 4.69 个百分点和 5.52 个百分点，具有统计学意义。我们的结果对于李氏界的估计和应用的替代方法是稳健的，因此表明精心设计的低成本干预措施可以成为低收入国家面对突然冲击时继续学习的有用补充。随着混合教学形式的兴起，此类干预措施能够缓解学习水平的下降，并在学校停课时提供安全网。