León, J., Endo, J., Zoido, P. & S. Suárez (2026). Remote tutoring for learning recovery: Experimental evidence from a low-tech intervention in Peru. International Journal of Educational Development, 125.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated global educational inequalities, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where prolonged school closures disrupted continuity of learning. In Peru, these disruptions led to significant declines in students’ mathematics performance. This paper evaluates the impact of Desafía-T a Aprender, a remote tutoring program implemented in the Peruvian highlands to address pandemic-related learning losses. The program provided eight phone-based math tutoring sessions to all participants (Group A) and three additional growth-mindset sessions to female students (Group B). The study was conducted in 60 high schools in the Ayacucho region of Peru, randomly assigned in equal parts to treatment and control conditions. The evaluation assessed the program’s impact on mathematics skills and socio-emotional development, particularly growth mindset, and explored differences by area of residence and mother tongue.
The intervention led to an average increase of 0.08 SD in mathematics performance and 0.17 SD in growth mindset among all students assigned to the treatment group. While the estimated effect on mathematics is significant at the 10% level and should be interpreted as suggestive evidence, the improvement in students’ growth mindset is statistically significant at the 5% level. Among students who received at least one session, the effect sizes were 0.14 SD in mathematics and 0.27 SD in the growth mindset index. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of low-tech, scalable interventions in bridging learning gaps and promoting educational equity. The study provides evidence to inform policymakers seeking cost-effective solutions to mitigate learning losses and enhance student outcomes in resource-constrained contexts.