Are Investments in Basic Education Geared towards Learning? How to Find Out with Under $150K Image The Global Education Policy Dashboard offers policymakers an easy-to-use, quick, and cost-effective tool for tracking key drivers of learning throughout the system in low- and middle-income countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the already existing global learning crisis. The latest simulations show that over 23 million children are at risk of not returning to school—bringing the number of out-of-school children close to 300 million. Combined with expected learning losses, this translates into a likely rise in the global Learning Poverty rate to 63% (from 53% before COVID-19). Confronted with deep recessions, two-thirds of low- and lower-middle-income countries have cut their public education budgets since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.