Impact of Covid-19 on education

 No one would have guessed that a virus-like Covid-19 would come and without differentiating, it will alter the lifestyle of people. Due to Covid-19, many changes came to our world and It took some time for everyone to adopt the new normal. The Covid-19 impact was everywhere, which resulted in the closure of Schools and other educational institutions.

Initially, most governments have decided to temporarily close the schools to reduce the impact of Covid-19. Later it was reopened for a few grades, which increased the number of infection rates and then closed again.

Though schools are closed, students are attending their classes through various education initiatives like online classrooms, radio programs. Though it is a good thing happening on the other side, there are lots of students who didn’t own the resources to attend the online classes suffer a lot. Many students are struggling to obtain the gadgets required for online classes.

Teachers who are all experts in Blackboard, Chalk, books, and classroom teaching are really new to this digital teaching, but they are adopting the new methods and handling it like a pro to aid the students in the current position.

But on the negative side, many teachers are looking for an alternative job to support their families.

Educated parents are supporting their children throughout the pandemic, but we require to understand that there are some illiterate parents and their feeling of helplessness to help their children in their education.

There are students in India who came to school just because they can get food. The great midday meal scheme has helped many children who couldn’t bring their food from the home to get their nutrition.

Because of the closure of the schools, many students were suffering from not having enough food for their survival.

There is always a delay or cancellation of exams, which leads to confusion for many students and there is no room for curriculum.

Most of the school-going children are involved in child labour to support their families.

There is a lot of chance that the education of female children and transgender children will affect, as their parents may see, the financial and opportunity costs of doing so.

This pandemic has not only affected the students but also the Low-budget institutions and schools, resulting in close-down the same.

There are both positive and negative matters happening around us amid the Covid-19.

Technology paves the way for education, thus helping the students and teachers to connect virtually through online classrooms, webinars, digital exams, and so on.

But the sad truth is that it is not available to many students all over the nation.

Everything is happening for the well-being of the students so that they can stay safe at home without getting affected by the life-threatening virus.

India has been one of the hardest-hit countries by COVID-19. Beyond the staggering impact on human life, COVID-19 has greatly disrupted access to education in India, with 247 million primary and secondary school students out of school. While school systems in India and across the world have made efforts to reach students at home through various means, recent estimates of the impact on learning and socio-emotional well-being suggest that the poorest children will be hurt the most by the pandemic-related school closures.

Indeed, school closures have compelled education systems to quickly devise and apply different modes of remote learning such as radio, TV, and various other types of online tools. But access to this education technology differs across and within countries—with students in high-income countries and communities much more likely to have access to online, virtual schooling than their peers in low- and middle-income countries and communities. Thus, an important question is to what extent will student learning and progression in school, especially among primary-school-aged children in low- and middle-income settings, be affected by the global school closures? Further, how will the COVID-19 school closures cause inequality in learning among girls and boys, among poor and affluent children, and across communities and countries of varying income levels?

COVID-19 has affected a large number of students across states, class, caste, gender and region. The shutting down of schools and the decision of shifting traditional classrooms to digital platforms is not only increasing learning inequality among children, but also pushing a large number of children out of school due to the digital divide. Other than learning, the absence of schooling would also have a long-lasting effect on the health and nutrition of children. The role of the budget in the current situation as well as beyond the pandemic is very crucial to ensure inclusive education for all.

In this context, CBGA in collaboration with CRY has prepared a policy brief. It highlights some of the issues associated with school closures which need immediate attention. It also suggests some short-term policy measures that can be implemented in the coming Union and State budgets. However, the overall direction of allocations should not only be limited to addressing issues arising from the pandemic but should go beyond. Hence, the policy brief has also put forward a set of long-term measures that the government should implement in the due course of time.