Remote teaching and learning promoted by Edtech companies as an alternative to physical classrooms, especially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, may have a sizeable consumer base in our country. However, at the bottom of the pyramid, there are only a few takers of online education. In reality, class and caste-divide, which is more prominent in rural areas, affects access to digital learning. The majority of the school going...

-Newsclick.in UNICEF urged governments to prioritise the safe reopening of all schools, while also ensuring that children are able to pursue quality learning remotely if necessary. At least 80% of children in India between the age of 14-18 years reported lower levels of learning during the Covid-19 pandemic than when physically at school, according to a recent UNICEF report. The report pointed out that despite government, private and civil society actors coming together...

-The New Indian Express Report highlights the challenges of online classes; over 90% of underprivileged parents want schools to reopen BENGALURU: Continuous School Closures and the limited reach of online/remote learning in the last 18 months have had “catastrophic consequences for children, on the academic, emotional, nutritional, social, and economic fronts,” states the National Coalition on Education Emergency (NCEE) in its September 5 report - ‘End Education Exclusion: Resume and Renew Education...

-Livemint.com Beset by poor technology access and ineffective online classes, students from poor households have lost reading abilities significantly, suggests a new survey covering 15 states. The losses are much more stark for students from marginalized communities With most Indian schools shut for the past year and a half, children from poor households, particularly those from marginalized backgrounds, are rapidly forgetting what they had learned before the pandemic, new survey data suggests. Less...

-Inclusive Media for Change  The pandemic induced School Closures have taken a huge toll on the right to education and learning levels of the school children coming from underprivileged sections. A survey covering 1,362 school children (enrolled in Classes 1-8) from 1,362 households, which was carried out in 15 states/ UTs in the month of August 2021 (first round), reveals the catastrophic consequences of prolonged School Closure in the last one...