Schools have started to reopen over the past few weeks in many states, after being closed for a record period of nearly a year and a half in most cases. While a few states like Andhra Pradesh briefly resumed classes for all grades between the first and second wave of COVID-19, most children, especially those in primary grades, had little to no classroom education for 17 months. A survey conducted in August 2021, covering nearly 1400 children in classes 1 to 8 from 15 states and union territories including Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, found that an overwhelming number of parents in marginalised communities, particularly in rural areas, were eager for schools to reopen as they felt their kids had lost reading skills during the lockdown.
A report called ‘Locked Out: Emergency Report on School Education’, based on the School Children’s Online and Offline Learning (SCHOOL) survey that covered 1,362 households in “relatively deprived hamlets and bastis, where children generally attend government schools,” found that 90% of parents surveyed in urban areas, and 97% of parents in rural areas, wanted schools to reopen, while around 75% parents felt their kids’ reading abilities had declined during the lockdown. The report, prepared by development economists Jean Drèze and Reetika Khera, and researchers Vipul Paikra and Nirali Bakhla, shows the alarming extent of damage on children’s education, nutrition and social life due to prolonged school closure.
Nearly 75% of parents said that their children’s reading skills have dropped during the school closure. Even among children who were able to learn online, 65% urban parents and 70% rural parents said their child’s ability to read and write had declined. Only a small number of parents (29% urban and 20% rural) were satisfied with the online learning material provided to their kids.
Only 53% urban students and 29% rural kids were able to study regularly, online or offline, on their own or with help from family members or tuition teachers. Around 37% of students in rural areas (and 19% in urban areas) were not studying at all, in any mode.
As a result, when administered a simple reading test, about 42% of rural students, and 35% urban students in classes 3 to 5, were unable to read more than a few letters. Among students of classes 6 to 8, only around 58% of them could read the sentence fluently. Children currently in grade 2 have effectively never been to school and could not read more than a few letters, the survey found.
A comparison of literacy rates among children aged 10 to 14 years shows that overall literacy fell from 91% according to the 2011 Census to 74% in urban and 66% in rurals areas, as per the SCHOOL survey from August 2021.
Also read:
While midday meals have been replaced by cash or ration in many states, about 20% of parents whose kids are enrolled in government schools in urban areas, and 14% parents in rural areas, reported that they had received neither cash nor ration or any food in the past three months. In some cases, parents complained that they had received less than the actual amount the kids were entitled to.
With more kids engaged in child labour amid the pandemic, the survey found that it was common among kids of ages 10 to 14 years. “Even as some children have become labourers, others are struggling with idleness, lack of exercise, phone addiction, family tensions and other side effects of being locked out,” the report said, adding that some parents complained that their children had become undisciplined, aggressive or even violent, in the absence of a healthy social life.
Nearly 60% of families surveyed belonged to SC or ST communities, and the report shows that the fallout of school closure is even worse among these households. Even among poor families, the figures for online education access, regular studying and reading skills were worse among Dalit and Adivasi children.
The disparity was more evident in rural areas, with only 4% of rural SC/ST children found to be studying online regularly, compared with 15% among rural children of other communities. Overall, only 22% SC/ST kids in rural areas were found to be studying regularly, compared to 40% of kids from other communities. Nearly half of the SC/ST students in rural areas (45%) were unable to read beyond a few letters, while this figure is lower (24) for other communities in villages.
Volunteers conducting the survey in Jharkhand’s Latehar district observed that upper-caste teachers were discriminatory towards Dalit and Adivasi children and indifferent towards their learning, asking the volunteers who would work in their fields if they became educated.
With children being promoted to higher grades in spite of an already existing learning gap worsened by the pandemic, the curriculum in the higher grades is expected to be much more challenging.
As multiple reports and studies have already pointed out, the SCHOOL survey showed that access to online education has been largely limited to a few urban, affluent families. Many students from poor, marginalised families were forced to take up paid or unpaid work to support their families. Access also remained low either because the student didn’t have a dedicated smartphone at home for learning, poor connectivity, inability to pay for data, lack of support from the school or because online learning was beyond the child’s understanding, especially among younger kids.
Only 24% of urban and 8% of rural kids were able to study online regularly, the survey found. Similarly, while 23% or urban parents felt their child had adequate online access, only 8% of rural parents felt so.
Among the children who were attending online classes occasionally or regularly, only a small number were able to follow live classes and not pre-recorded videos (27% urban and 12% rural students). Many students faced connectivity issues (57% urban and 65% rural), and also found online classes difficult to follow (46% urban and 43% rural).
While some states failed to take active measures to support children without online access, a few states including Karnataka had made efforts by assigning worksheets and other forms of homework to keep students engaged in learning, and asking teachers to do occasional home visits. Some states also broadcast lessons on TV. However, the SCHOOL survey found that these measures were largely ineffective.
Among the offline learning interventions, when it came to television, only 1% of rural children and 8% of urban children used it as a mode of study, the survey found. While a small number of teachers made meaningful efforts to ensure learning, most outreach from school was ineffective — limited to assigning homework without subsequent support or feedback, or phone calls made to fulfil obligations.
The survey found that only 27% urban children and 16% rural children had had their schools hold a test for them in the past three months, in a few cases in a cursory manner for reporting to authorities, rather than to support the student’s learning. Only 39% urban and 25% students had had their teacher give them homework in the last three months, while only 5% urban and 12% rural students had their teachers visit them at home to help them out.
Private tuitions were the most consistent mode of offline learning, which was seen more in urban areas among relatively well-off households.