[Third in a three part series on school reopening. Here we look at the challenge that the education system faces and how it could perhaps be converted into an opportunity.]
Minimizing the risk of COVID outbreaks is just one part of the challenge. The greater challenge is to engage the students who are returning to school, address the gap in learning level, and address the psychological needs of the students.
According to a report released by UNICEF (United Nations Children Emergency Fund), less than 10% students in India had access to online education during the pandemic. Other reports put the figure a little higher. Whatever the actual number, the reality is that the vast majority of students found themselves at the wrong side of the digital divide. Families did not have a digital device that could be used for online classes; those that did had to prioritize which of the children would get to use it; students that had a device had to struggle to find reliable internet; and after all those conditions were met, the screen was often too small for an optimal learning experience. It is safe to conclude, that except for a very small minority of students, practically no teaching or learning has occurred since the start of the pandemic.
During the time when there was no school, many of these children went into the informal workforce as child laborers. Though we do not have firm numbers, we know that many adolescent girls fell victim to child marriages. Though some of them might be able to negotiate with their families and re-enroll in school, for them, the opportunity cost of coming to school is high. Unless they feel they are learning something significant in school, they (and their families) may decide it doesn’t make sense to continue with an education and may therefore drop out of the school system permanently.
The vast majority of students have been promoted two grades without attending any classes. They will find it extremely challenging to learn from a grade appropriate curriculum without the benefit of bridge courses, and this might cause them to drop out in frustration. It is, therefore, imperative that teachers change their methodology of teaching to ensure that the students are able to learn, and the experience in school remains a safe and enriching one.
Even before the pandemic, there was a huge ‘learning gap’ between the expected learning level and the actual learning level. According to the Annual Status of Education Report released in 2018 (ASER, 2018), less than 30% students in grade 3 in rural India could read grade 2 level text, and by the time they reached grade 5, only half the surveyed students could read grade 2 level text. Similarly, in mathematics, more than half the students of grade 8 struggled with grade 4 level mathematics. Since literacy and numeracy are the basic skills without which other subjects cannot be taught effectively, this is a clear indication that not much learning was happening in India despite students getting automatically promoted at the end of the year.
This gap, which was already significant before the start of the pandemic would have been exacerbated by two other factors. Studies conducted in India and abroad have shown that there is a significant drop in learnings levels during the summer vacations due to disuse of literacy and numeracy skills. With schools closed for more than 18 months, it is safe to conclude that a vast majority of students would have lost even the limited skills they had acquired. At the same time, students have been automatically promoted, leading to an even wider gap in basic literacy and numeracy.
The single objective of the education system should be to address this learning gap in literacy and numeracy. Even if that is the only thing that is accomplished in the current academic year, it would be sufficient. The most practical solution would be to forego written examinations during the current year, and to use the year to reinforce the fundamentals of literacy and numeracy with the goal of ensuring that the gap is narrowed, if not completely bridged. By the end of the academic year, at least 50% of the students should be at age and grade level in literacy and numeracy, and the gap should have been significantly reduced for the rest. The pedagogy for bridging the learning gap exists, and appropriate workbooks should be printed and distributed to the students. The workbooks should be designed in a manner where they can be used under supervision in the classroom, and for self-study. Since the progress of students will be tracked as they proceed through the workbooks at their own pace, and will give them a sense of accomplishment and motivate them to continue.
Students who have a strong foundation in literacy and numeracy can be encouraged to mentor the other students. This will develop team work and communication skills, both of which are important life skills to learn. Since some of the exercises can be completed through self-study, adopting this model will also reduce the amount of time that students need to spend in school, thereby reducing overcrowding in schools.
Other subjects like science, literature, history and geography can be taught orally, so students with without sufficient literacy skills are not left behind. This can be done using a mixture of lectures, discussions and simple projects. Students with age/ grade appropriate reading and writing skills can be encouraged to dive deeper into the topic covered in the subjects. Grading for all the students can be done based on class participation and/ or project work.
By shifting the focus from completing the curriculum to strengthening fundamental literacy and numeracy skills, the system will ensure that all students are brought upto a basic foundation level. If this can be achieved in the current academic year, it will lead to a paradigm shift in the quality of education imparted to the students.
All of this will require a major shift in the way students are taught and what we want them to learn. The situation the education system finds itself in is unprecedented. If we rise to the occasion, it can be a tremendous opportunity; if not, we would have put our students at risk for questionable returns.
When one door closes another door opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. — Alexander Graham Bell
Now is the time to seize the opportunity which has presented itself to us.
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