The Ministry of Finance and the World Bank (WB) inked a 137.4-million-dollar grant agreement with the aim of mitigating the effects of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the country. The funding will also be used to support educational quality and reach. Of the total amount, just under 15 million dollars is sourced from the International Development Association under the WB and will be used to support general government efforts to fight off the pandemic. The Global Partnership for Education platform, also under the WB, is supplying the remaining 122.5 million dollars to be used specifically to bolster schools' abilities to take precautionary measures against COVID-19 and to support overall educational quality and reach. Schools all across the country were closed in March 2020 as the government declared a state of emergency due to the pandemic and were later reopened in November.