Spotlight
New Delhi, 9 October
2021
School
Education
GRIM,
CHALLENGES MUST BE MET
By Dr
Oishee Mukherjee
The Parliamentary standing
committee report on education titled ‘Plans for Bridging the Learning Gaps’ has
admitted the yawning digital divide that has deprived most children of
instruction during lockdown, negating the government’s claim of 85% online
access. India’s school system has subdivisions beyond the public-private
divide, 62% children attend government or government-aided schools. The
situation with regard to 2020 and 2021 batches have effectively not taken the
first step towards numeracy and it’s quite obvious that a very large proportion
of those enrolled will not have acquired the skills.
Experts believe that
over 10 crore children in primary school currently cannot read or count. Unless
effective measures are taken, they will remain the same. It is estimated that
in the coming decades, they will constitute 9-10% of India’s workforce. Even
the Annual Status of Education Reports (ASER) has consistently recorded a
severe learning shortfall among primary school children.
The report of the
standing committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, tabled in
August, referred to a January 2021 study by Azim Premji University in 44
districts of Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand
covering 16,067 children of Classes II to VI at 1137 schools. The study found
that 92% of the children had decreased prowess in at least one language and 82%
had forgotten at least one mathematical lesson from previous class. The
situation at the end of the current year would be worse with schools in most States
still remaining closed.
While this happens to
be the actual scenario, Prime Minister Modi is insisting on online education
though a very recent study indicated that the reach of online education was
extremely limited. The proportions of surveyed children who were studying
online regularly were just 24% and 8% in urban and rural areas respectively.
This prompted an academic to say that the Prime Minister “is either unaware of
the schooling crisis or is in denial of it”.
The learning gap
would widen like income inequality, at least in the immediate future and would
be reflected in rural areas and backward districts of northern, north-eastern
and even western India. Coming out of such critical situation would not be an
easy task and concentrated efforts of the teaching fraternity and
administrators would be critical with school opening or even earlier.
In this context, the
committee aptly recommended ‘intensive bridge course to make up for the
learning loss when schools reopen’. It also suggested a credible system of
continuous assessment throughout the year and holding classes on alternate days
or in two shifts to thin out students, besides thermal screening, maintaining
physical distancing and compulsory wearing of face masks.
As the report rightly
observed: “The learning loss of more than one whole academic year would necessarily
have weakened the foundational knowledge of the students specially in
mathematics, sciences and languages at school level. This learning loss is a
big deficit and is likely to impair the cognitive capabilities of students.
This might have a debilitating effect on vulnerable sections of society like
poor and rural students, marginalised sections of society and young women who
might have been unable to connect to any form of digital education during the
pandemic”.
Indeed, not just the
learning loss but the defective curriculum has not helped the rural sections
start small ventures and develop entrepreneurship. There is need to modify the
curriculum base and help develop vocational skills.
The NEP 2020 had
recommended that vocational skills be a part of the curriculum in the middle
schools. This teaching will help children in crafts and trades like carpentry,
gardening, vermicomposting, wood crafts, painting weaving, knitting etc. and
providing them choices later, whether that is supplement to their income or as
a career option. Today, schools need to go beyond academics to teach students
not just vocational skills but also life skills such as resilience that will
see them through trying times like these. Students need to be taught to make
plans but be flexible about it. What is encouraging is the recent observation
of the Union HRD Minister Dharmendra Pradhan that there are plans to undergo
vocational training from Class VI and include internships.
It is pertinent to
mention that the government had at COP14 announced plans to set up 100 ‘Van
Dhan’ centres involving tribals to make products from bamboo and build a
market from bamboo charcoal. These centres were to come up in north-eastern States,
Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh but little progress has been made since
past two years. This training could be imparted to high school students in
tribal areas so that bamboo work would help them make a livelihood.
Pradhan further
pointed out that as enunciated in the NEP special emphasis would be paid “on
socially disadvantaged groups, setting up a gender inclusion fund, special
education zones for disadvantaged regions and groups” while States would be
encouraged to establish Bal Bhavans or daytime boarding schools.
The government is
talking about vocational training in schools, strengthening school education of
government schools in rural areas to help the impoverished and disadvantaged
sections, but much more needs to be done. Infrastructure of many schools needs
to be developed and the long closure of schools have to be made up in the
coming year. How much initiative the government will take and what funds it will
spend remains to be seen.
Apart from such
training, making the school an attractive place for children is one way to pull
children back to school. But quality has to be given special emphasis as
studies indicate that half of all children in Grade V could fluently
read a Grade II level text, or arithmetic tasks expected by the end of Grade
II.
While political
leaders make many announcements, much of these are not translated into reality.
Given that the learning crisis is quite serious, especially among the
population of rural and semi urban areas, immediate action is needed. However,
given resource constraints plaguing the government at present, there is need to
evolve a proper strategy without wasting any more time. Experts primarily from
rural backgrounds or having experience about the prevalent education system in
rural districts would have to be roped in to resolve this issue at the
earliest.
The target of is to
get 99%children to complete primary school in 2030, but experts believe this
may be difficult to achieve. From only 37% completing upper secondary education
in 2000, 84% are expected to complete in 2030. If the target is to be met, the
government has to do its mathematics and provide adequate funds.
Finally, it needs to
be mentioned here that decentralisation and autonomy are too needed in the
education sector with strict monitoring. The States would do well to train
teachers and make them aware of the need to make school education rooted to the
ground realities so that a high school pass-out can start his own venture or
become a part of a small manufacturing unit. Preparing them for a better
future. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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