Prof (Dr) Karuna Hazarika
(Principal, Tezpur Medical College. drkaruna97@gmail.com)
The world is reeling under the wave of the Covid-19 pandemic today. The Covid-19 pandemic has made the world cripple in different sectors starting from the economic to social front. It has transformed societies in such a way that the inequalities of the social and economic front are now obvious worldwide. The world has experienced different stages of lockdown and it affects all sectors of development, and education is affected the most. There has been a suspension of face-to-face teaching in schools and colleges impacting almost 95% of the world student population today. It is reported as more than 1.5 billion students from pre-primary to higher education, in 200 countries are affected due to the closure of the school in their learning. During the second half of 2020, 86 per cent of children in primary education have been out of school in lower developed and 20 per cent in countries with very highly developed human status, reported by UNO. This is more disrupted due to inequalities of socio-economic status resulting from the pandemic today. There has been a fear that the pandemic will stall the progress and may wipe out the long progress made out of several decades of hard work in the development of the socio-economic front and gender equality as well. This everyday disruption of life due to pandemic is estimated as 40 million children worldwide has missed out on their early education at the pre-school level. This is more affected in the form of a missed stimulating environment, learning opportunities, social interaction even inadequate nutrition as they are deprived of mid-day school meals. These mostly affect long-term development, especially those children from poor and disadvantaged families.
In the Indian context it shows a different scenario where the rural areas are deprived of the present-day system of digital technology mostly if it is present, the economic scenario is such, and the people cannot afford to provide such equipment or electronic devices to educate the students at large. But the urban areas are continued with the technology and the students could attend the online classes for their requirements. This happened due to the countrywide lockdown from 16 March 2020. Simultaneously, the UGC asked universities to postpone exams until 31 March and later till July. Other exams like professional and competitive etc are also got postponed. During this period, online classes were encouraged while only a few (approx. 24 per cent) do have the access to the internet, and there is large urban-rural and gender differentiation. Again by April 2021 schools and colleges were reopened in almost all the states. The lockdown and postponement of exams have a great impact on the entire system of education and the evaluation of students' performances as well in the first and second waves of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is said; almost 250 million children in India have been adversely affected due to the school closure only. Many children were forced to leave their school and help their parents for their livelihood by joining jobs. Here, the uninterrupted education system relies upon the availability of technology and digital infrastructure, including laptops, computers, phones, the internet etc. If it is present also, it depends on uninterrupted service and unreliable electricity and many more. The government school scenario is different from the private schools where the technological up-gradation is quick and fruitful. But the government sector is deprived of the technology and also the human resources who are not technology-savvy at all. This inequality across the country and classes and also the gender leads to deprivation of students in their learning. The low levels of digital literacy amongst the students, teachers and parents are also another factor for the shortfall of learning. This impact is also further aggravated due to several children in a family, parents' education, economic status, the constraint of space and home environment even in middle-income people.
This learning loss due to pandemics seems to be short and long-term and is expected to be great. Various researchers estimate the socio-economic skill gap could be more than 30 per cent. The World Bank highlights possible scenarios for this learning loss: reduction in average learning levels of all students, widening the gap of achievements of learning levels due to highly inequalities and significant increase of students with a very low level of achievement due to massive dropouts. UNESCO estimates that 23.8 million additional children and youth will not return to school due to the pandemic impact on the economic front. School closure makes girls and women more vulnerable to child marriage, early pregnancy, gender-based violence and sexual abuse etc., with this combined effect of the pandemic's economic impact and school closure, the learning crisis could turn into a generational catastrophe.
Considering the education loss the UNO has recommended some policy measures as the top priority for the world leaders and the education community. The Global Education Coalition; comprising United Nations agencies, international organizations, private sector entities and civil society representatives mobilized by UNESCO; has taken care to actively support Covid-19 education impact. The recommendations are: Suppress the transmission of the virus and plan thoroughly for school reopening, protect education finance and coordinate for impact, strengthen the resilience of the education system for equitable and sustainable development and re-imagine education and accelerate positive change in teaching and learning. These all recommendations are basically for the protection of rights of millions of learners, improvement of education of all categories of students worldwide to prevent dropout, inequality of socio-economic status and sustainable development and lasting peace.
The return to school depends on vaccination to protect children and teachers. In some states in India, schools are reopened in phases with strict Covid protocol. However, this cannot be a permanent solution as the vaccination for children ages 15-17 got started recently. The lack of clarity of the evaluation system in all categories of students countrywide delayed the process to take their final exams and that resulted in many students not completing their class twelve level to pursue higher education. Nearly, 15-lakh pandemic orphaned worldwide and in India, almost 1.2 lakh are at risk of lacking opportunity to learn. A national initiative is needed for this unprecedented situation. However, some states have taken initiatives through childcare institutions for kids who are in distress and who require immediate attention. There have been initiatives for giving free education to such children in some states, including Assam. The more encouraging news is that in Assam some villages are being adopted by teachers for teaching and overall encouragement to the children who are deprived of their basic education due to the pandemic.
No doubt, the Covid-19 pandemic has created the largest disruption of the education ecosystem affecting the entire world, and the closure of schools and other institutions leads to a great impact, mostly the poor and lower-income group students. An appropriate initiative from the government, social institutions and private sectors in collaboration can change the scenario in the future.