Education in pandemic times isn’t merely about the digital divide as an impediment to learning curve, rather it’s about the learning divide itself. Children may have escaped the virus, but they weren’t immune to the learning divide.
COVID-19 continues to spell devastating consequences for children and their rights. 1.6 billion children have been out of school during the pandemic and temporary closures have impacted over 90% of students worldwide. Never before, this number of students were left out of school at a go.
India too witnessed the surge in school closures in March of 2020. India is one of the countries that has had among the longest school closures in the world. As of now, schools have begun to reopen only in the last few months, but teaching community and experts feel believe that COVID time generation of children are lacking behind by miles in learning outcomes. This is destined to impact their future course of academics and professional journey. As per a Dec 2021 report by the World Bank in collaboration with UNESCO and UNICEF, the COVID-19 generation of students is at risk of losing USD 17 trillion in lifetime earnings in present value, as a result of COVID-19 induced halt to education facilities and services.
The crisis of access
According to ASER (Annual Status of Education Report) children aged 6 to 14 years who are not enrolled in schools rose from 2.5 % to 4.6 % in 2021 and reported a significant shift from private to government schools.
On the other hand, we see a secular decline in the proportion of children not currently enrolled in the 15-16 age group – the age group considered most at risk for dropping out. In 2010, the proportion of 15-16-year-olds who were out of school was 16.1%. Driven by the government’s push to universalise secondary education, this number has been steadily declining and stood at 12.1% in 2018. The decline continued in 2020 to 9.9% and to 6.6% in 2021. But then COVID scripted a turnaround.
An OCED report confirms that students from low socio-economic backgrounds were at a triple disadvantage, with a home environment less conducive to learning, lower access to digital tools, and greater vulnerability to the health and financial impacts of the pandemic. As per the report, the intersectionality of these vulnerabilities further exacerbates learning gaps for certain students.
As the crisis reflects
Because of limited access to education facilities including online classes, surveys witnessed a shrp decline on account of basic learning parameters in children. As per School children online and offline Survey, almost 48 per cent of the surveyed poor children in rural areas weren’t able to read more than a few words, while in urban areas, the figure was at 42 per cent. With schools being closed for nearly 17 months, the survey was conducted to find out the status of learning during this period.
According to a Oct.-Nov. ASER survey in Chhattisgarh, the current foundational reading level among Classes I-VII students is “lower than at any time in the last decade”.
Childrens have started facing difficulties in readjusting themselves to routine academic learning. Jayanti, a class 9 student of G D Lancer Public School, New Delhi, tells The Voices, “Before Covid 19 everything was going smooth but now sometimes i face difficulty in understanding even the basic concepts.’’
Nazia, a class 8 student of same school feels that her calculation competencies in Mathematics has suffered a lot. Getting a hold over mathematical approach through distance mode was a challenging task for her.
Sanya Bharadwaj, a Queen’s Valley School, New Delhi student confirms The Voices about resorting to private classes as an additional route to address the issues. She says, “I attended all the online classes as well as private classes to bridge the gap. But it was a very difficult time. All my classmates want schools to be opened as early as possible.” But then such arrangements too are not affordable to everyone. A Chhattisgarh based ASER report confirms that, Children in private schools are far more likely (8.1 per cent) to opt for paid private tuition classes than those in government schools (3.2 per cent). The crisis is even more intense for children with disabilities as specialist support wasn’t available back home to them. Coping up with the disruption in habit of attending class is a challenge in itself for many.
Teaching community too is brim with shades of experiences of confronting students battling learning issues. Poonam Yadav, Delhi based English teacher tells The Voices, “As a language teacher, I believe that the majority of students have been greatly affected by the poor writing skills due to lack of practice at hands. It’s perhaps the most evident outcome of remote learning trend that prevailed in pandemic period.” She suggests, “The learning gap can be bridged by evolving new teaching methodologies and connecting the students with same concerns in a group. Meanwhile, allowing students with some space and time to cope up with the frequent halts in the learning system is a major caution in depleting the learning gap.’’ This translates into academic incentives and relaxation by management.
An OECD report suggests of sustained corrective and innovative action to address the crisis. It reads, “Over the longer term, systems will need to strengthen learner resilience, fostering environments in which every individual has the competences required to reach their full.”
As educational institutions reopen, board exams are being conducted on full swing, equity challenges gaze at the system like never before. This edition of International Day of Education (24th January 2022) too was observed on the theme of Changing Course, Transforming Education. It was aimed at focusing on the gaping inequalities driven by pandemic and building a sustainable education system to safeguard the futures for this generation and those to come.
Edited by NK Jha