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| Can’t leave students in lurch | | | The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the education system very hard. Students have been the worst sufferers.
According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) for rural India the enrolment rate in private schools has declined from 28.8% in 2020 to 24.4% in the current year. The survey was conducted over the telephone and covered 76,706 households in 17,184 villages.
The survey indicated that households have been severely affected by the economic depression caused by the pandemic, reducing funds earmarked for children’s education. It’s a serious concern. If children are not enrolled in the schools it can have serious repercussions.
According to the survey over a third of children enrolled in classes 1 and 2 have never attended school in person. The most disturbing aspect of the report is that the young students, those just entering the formal education stream, have been left most vulnerable. One-third in Class I and Class II have never attended an in-person class. They have been attending the online classes and have no idea about the physical classrooms.
There were reports that the children will become eligible for vaccinations early next year and after that they can return to schools. But the Omicron—new variant of COVID-19—raising its ugly head has once again put a question mark over the reopening of schools. If the variant proves deadly it can prolong the pestilence and it would mean children will have to carry on with the online mode of education.
The ASER report states that children with parents educated till Class X had a markedly better access to learning than those pupils whose parents are illiterate. The inherited disadvantages continue to affect the quality of learning. The students have least access to technology as one third of Class I and Class II students do not have a smartphones at home.
This has widened the gap between the haves and have-nots in the education system, in which access to quality education and, thus, access to opportunities for economic advancement is dictated by a family’s economic and social position.
The past two years have been difficult for everyone but the children are facing a lot of problems. If the online education has to continue then the government needs to intervene and provide the gadgets to the students, whose families are unable to afford these. It appears that online education will continue till the pandemic ends. And the world has no idea when COVID-19 will end. The government and the society has to ensure that children don’t drop out of schools and end up as illiterates. |
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