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Hunger / HDI | Education
Education

Education

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What's Inside

Kindly click here, here, and here to access the main findings of the report titled Cries of Anguish (released in March 2022) by National Coalition on the Education Emergency (NCEE).

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The key findings of the report titled India Needs To Learn -- A Case for Keeping Schools Open (released in January 2022), which has been jointly prepared by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Teach for India in collaboration with various NGOs and CSOs (please click here to access), are as follows: 

--India has now had pandemic-driven school closures for ~2 years

• Schools were mostly shut from Mar 2020 till year end; 2021 saw small phases of opening
• In 2021, while secondary schools were open for 40-50% time, elementary schools have mostly remained shut for 12/22 major Indian states

--While many efforts have been made towards online education, penetration and effectiveness remain woefully inadequate

• 40-70% children don't have a device at home; >80% teachers expressed impossibility of maintaining emotional connect
• ~90% children lost at least one specific language ability, significant SEL (Social & Emotional Learning) losses (more so for children with special needs)
• As per World Bank, every year of schooling lost translates to potentially ~9% lower future earnings for a student

--Prolonged school closures have serious implications, extending beyond learning e.g., increased child exploitation, lower nutrition with constrained mid-day meals, social and emotional issues

--80%+ parents would like schools to open for in-person learning per multiple surveys, given multiple challenges with online learning:

• Academic: ~37% parents responded their child didn't study at all at home, 71% responded child didn't have a test/exam in last 3 months
• Behavioral: ~49% parents responded their child is facing an improper schedule (e.g., for studying, sleeping, eating etc.)

--While schools were globally shut in 2020 (first half), many countries kept schools largely open through 2021; e.g., Australia (85-90% open), Japan (85-90% open), South Africa (80-85% open), US (75-80% open), UK (70-75% open), Portugal (60-65% open), China (90%+ open)

• This is despite considerably higher disease incidence vs India (25k cases per million population) in other countries e.g., UK (197k), US (169k), Portugal (141k), South Africa (58k)
• In fact, many countries prioritized keeping schools open vis-a-vis malls, shops, gyms etc. (e.g., France, UK, Canada) such that schools were last to close and first to open

--Public health arguments indicate low school re-opening risk

• Children <20 yrs had 3-6x lower incidence; 17x+ lower fatality vs adults even in countries with open schools
• Infection transmission in school-going children was observed to be lower e.g., new cases per 1000 population lower in school children vs community; despite school re-opening across select Indian states in mid-2021, cases didn't spike (e.g., Punjab, Maharashtra etc.)
• Increasing vaccination penetration (~45% fully vaccinated in India) likely to lead to lower hospitalization and fatality; and infection severity expected to be 40%+ further lower in Omicron vs Delta (for vaccinated individuals) 

--India's continued centralized decision making implies that even in districts with <25 daily cases, schools are shut (~70% districts pan India)

• Since 2020, many countries have moved from national/state level to a lower unit of governance to avoid mass school closures
• For e.g., US, UK, Australia, Pakistan, Nepal have defined clear norms for schools to open and close at district/county/school level

--Countries which have re-opened schools have undertaken initiatives to curb transmission on multiple dimensions

• Social distancing e.g., single row desk arrangement in ‘face-to-back’ setting (Hong Kong), outdoor classes (Denmark)
• Masks/ face shields e.g., mandatory masks (Spain), face shield mandate for younger students (Singapore)
• Testing e.g., twice-a-week compulsory rapid antigen tests (UK & Germany)
• Staggering school timings e.g., classes in 2 shifts (Hong Kong), staggered school start/recess/end times (UK)
• Forming student pods/bubbles e.g., classmates divided into cohorts, & do not mix with members of other cohorts (Norway)
• Vaccination e.g., prioritized booster doses for teachers (Canada, US), in-school vaccination for students (UK)

--Hence, critical for India to move to a philosophy of schools being "last to close, first to open" and act on 4 key implications

• Decentralize school re-opening and closures (e.g., ward, Gram Panchayat, school level) with clearly defined norms
• Offer blended learning construct through the year i.e. in addition to offline, continue online education
• Strengthen testing (e.g., weekly antigen tests), vaccination (e.g., mandatory for school staff), safety protocol (e.g., masking etc.) and ventilation (e.g., leverage outdoors spaces, keep doors/ windows open, monitor ventilation etc.)
• Prepare to bridge learning gaps caused by pandemic-driven school closures, and allocate sufficient resources for the same

--However, beyond just re-opening, it will take considerable mission-mode resilience from all stakeholders to gain what is lost & build back better

• Govt: Build a robust mid-term (3-5 year) roadmap to bridge learning gap, with adequate infrastructure upgradation and funding support
• Local administrators & school staff: Make education a priority by regularly monitoring in-school preparedness and adherence to protocols
• Parents: Trust the system by sending their children to school and encourage children to follow Covid-appropriate behavior



Rural Expert
 

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