Gender, Growth Mindset, and Covid-19: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in Bangladesh

Jul 19, 2026

Uploaded by Himbo

School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted learning globally, raising concerns about long-term effects on adolescent well-being and possible differences for boys and girls. This study examines gendered impacts of COVID-19-related school closures on continued learning and motivation among secondary students in Bangladesh, using results from a cluster randomized intervention delivering a virtually implemented Growth Mindset curriculum. Findings show boys were more likely to use media for learning, while girls relied more on books and paper tasks, with declines in motivation and higher-education aspirations especially for girls.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages37

Reading Time1 h 33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Study design and data sources

Intervention and outcomes

Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Review of Economic Analysis 14 (2022) 183-219 1973-3909/2022183 Gender, Growth Mindset, and Covid-19: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in Bangladesh JENNIFER SEAGER George Washington University ∗ T.M. ASADUZZAMAN The World Bank SARAH BAIRD George Washington University SHWETLENA SABARWAL The World Bank SALAUDDIN TAUSEEF University of Manchester School closures during the covid-19 pandemic disrupted learning among students globally, with concerns for long-term impacts on adolescent well-being and likely differential effects for boys versus girls. This study explores the gendered impacts ofcovid-19-related school closures on continued learning and motivation among secondary-school students in Bangladesh and presents short-term impacts of a cluster randomized intervention that offered students an innovative, virtually-delivered Growth Mindset curriculum. During the covid-19 pandemic, our analysis highlights that boys were significantly more likely to engage with media for continued learning, whereas girls were more likely to use books and paper assignments. Motivation for learning and aspirations for higher education fell during the covid-19 pandemic, particularly for girls. The randomized Growth Mindset ∗ Corresponding Author, Department of Global Health, 950 New Hampshire Ave NW, 4th floor, Washington DC 20052; phone: 202-994-4455; [email: ](email: jseager@gwu.edu)[jseager@gwu.edu](email: jseager@gwu.edu) We gratefully acknowledge funding for this project from UK Aid from the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office in the UK government, the World Bank South Asia Gender Innovation Lab, and the Women’s Work, Entrepreneurship, and Skilling Initiative at Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA) . Thank you to IPA Bangladesh for data collection, and to Maxwell and Room to Read for implementing the Growth Mindset programming. Thank you also to our partners at the Ministry of Education for their collaboration. © 2022 Jennifer Seager, T.M. Asaduzzaman, Sarah Baird, Shwetlena Sabarwal and Salauddin Tauseef. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution - Noncommercial 4.0 Licence ([http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Available)[ Available](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Available) at [http://rofea.org](http://rofea.org) . 183 [www.RofEA.org](www.RofEA.org) Review of Economic Analysis 14 (2022) 183-219 intervention, which promoted the idea that individual characteristics, such as intelligence can be developed through practice, results in significant increases in adolescent motivation and aspirations across both genders. For boys, the effect sizes are large enough to compensate for negative covid-19 pandemic impacts; however, due to the larger negative impacts of the pandemic for girls, a covid-19 pandemic-related gender gap persists. Our findings suggest that a virtually-delivered Growth Mindset intervention mitigates the negative impacts of extended school closures, but that additional policies are needed to address gender differences in adolescent outcomes. Keywords: Education; Adolescence; Covid-19, Growth Mindset; Aspirations; School Closures; Gender; Bangladesh JEL Classifications: I21, I24, J16 1 Introduction School closures due to the covid-19 pandemic have affected millions of students globally, with students in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) disproportionately impacted due to longer school closures and lower access to distance learning modalities (World Bank 2020; Baird et al., 2021; Amin et al., 2021) . The consequences of school closures are multifaceted, with documented impacts on social, emotional, and academic outcomes (Plan International, 2021; UNICEF, 2021a; Schwartz et al., 2021; Lee, 2020) . While impacts of school closures on learning loss are only just emerging (Orlov et al., 2021; Lichand et al., 2021; Clark et al., 2

FAQs

What does the study investigate regarding COVID-19 and gender?

It examines how COVID-19-related school closures affected continued learning and student motivation differently for boys versus girls in Bangladesh.

What intervention does the study evaluate?

The study evaluates a cluster randomized, virtually delivered Growth Mindset curriculum designed to encourage beliefs that individual characteristics can be developed through practice.

What key differences in learning behavior and motivation are reported?

During the pandemic, boys were more likely to engage with media for learning, while girls were more likely to use books and paper assignments, and motivation and higher-education aspirations declined more for girls.

Jul 19, 2026

Uploaded by Himbo