Eroding Inclusions and Expanding Exclusions: Education During Pandemics

Abstract

The global COVID-related pandemic ushered in high death rates globally, initiated lockdowns of international boundaries and internal borders in countries and regions, and abruptly mandated home-based work for a large swath of professions. This paper focuses on disruptions and dislocations associated with the pandemic to discuss the structures of inequality revealed during this period. I emphasise that the meanings of education, its organisational structures, the tools and sites associated with this work were already changing; the pandemic provided the window to significantly enhance the pace and depth of the shifts.