Nedan Foundation expresses concern over post-COVID-19 academic scenario

KOKRAJHAR: Nedan Foundation, an NGO based in Kokrajhar, has expressed concern over the post COVID-19 academic scenario as many children of the State are likely to be deprived from getting education due to pandemic. The NGO held a meeting on the education to children post COVID-19 in Kokrajhar recently.

In a statement, the chairman of the Nedan Foundation, Digambar Narzary said that more than half of Assam's children would not be able to return to school due to COVID-19. This was revealed in a survey conducted by the Right to Education Forum (RTE Forum), Centre for Budget and Policy Studies (CBPS), and Champions for Girls' Education, he said. He also said that the survey reported that about 63 per cent of the children were unsure of going back to school after the epidemic. Surprisingly, 82 per cent of these children were boys. The pandemic has not only affected their education currently, but has also put a question mark on their future. The survey titled 'Life in the time of COVID-19: Mapping the Impact of Covid-19 on the Lives and Education of Children in India' was conducted in five States of the country and covered 11 districts of Uttar Pradesh, 8 districts of Bihar, 5 districts of Assam, four districts of Telangana and one district of Delhi in the sample.

"Education, despite being a right, does not reach the marginalized of our society, including those with rural, economically weak and lower caste backgrounds. Girls are getting double beaten in it. Statistics from various sources show that even in 'normal' times, twice as many girls as boys are able to attend school for less than 4 years. Under Right to Education (RTE), there is a provision of free education for children between the ages of 6 to 14 years in classes 1 to 8. Sadly, out of these 8 years of education, girls are not able to complete even 4 years of schooling properly," he said, adding that the schools were closed due to the pandemic. He said that digital/online learning had started but girls were getting deprived from their studies. While at school, girls could give all their time to study, now the situation was different. Most of the girls were also being asked to do domestic work while studying, he added.

Narzary said that during the study, similar pattern was seen in almost all the States. The survey in Assam also shows that COVID-19 had a worse impact on girls than school boys. "Statistics show that 79 per cent of girls are spending their time in household chores while 68 per cent of boys are spending time on their accord. Girls say that their movement has been restricted. Of these, 62 per cent believe that life was better before COVID-19," he said, adding that in the survey, 484 families from rural and town backgrounds in Assam were facing problems like floods, communalism and ethnic violence. These families are from five districts of the State - Dhubri, Jorhat, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, and Tinsukia.

"It has also been said in the survey that the education of girls could not be ensured despite the presence of technology at home during the epidemic. It has been reported that while 43 per cent of the households had TV in their home, only 2 per cent were watching educational TV programmes on them. Also, most had a mobile phone in their home but only 35 per cent of the children could get it for education. In this too, there was a difference between boys and girls, as compared to 43 per cent of boys, only 31 per cent of girls were able to access mobile phones for studying," the statement said, adding that during the study, the most frightening thing found was that about 63 per cent of the children were not sure about returning to school even after the pandemic.

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