-The Hindu 37% of rural children have dropped out, says report of study on 15 States The prolonged closure of primary and upper Primary schools during the pandemic months has led to “catastrophic consequences” for school students, particularly in rural India, says an emergency report. Based on the School Children’s Online and Offline Learning (SCHOOL) survey conducted by researchers, who worked in coordination with eminent economist Jean Dreze, the ‘Emergency Report on School...

-Newslaundry.com A new survey titled Locked Out notes that 37 percent of rural children are ‘not studying at all’. In the Kumtu tribal hamlet of Jharkhand, eight-year-old Suman, who would now be in Class 3, has not gone to school in nearly two years, owing to the coronavirus-induced lockdown in the country, imposed in March last year. Before the lockdown, when the local government school in her village would open sporadically, Suman...

-The Hindu Almost 50% of teachers vaccinated. At least 14 States and Union Territories have reopened or plan to reopen schools partially this month, given the continued low numbers of COVID-19 infection and the high rate of vaccination among teachers. However, almost all States only plan to bring back older students despite the Indian Council of Medical Research’s recommendation to start with primary school students. At a Health Ministry press conference on Tuesday,...

-Newsclick.in As schools remain closed, poor tribal villagers cannot afford smartphones and computers to aid their children’s online education, leaving this young population facing a precarious future. “I wish doors of the primary school are unlocked for our children after being closed for 16 months and if it does not happen the younger generation will permanently fall out of the education system,” says Dhaneshwari Devi of Dumbi village in Latehar district of...

The pandemic's first wave had a devastating impact on the livelihoods of rural workers in Bihar (including the self-employed) last year, according to a survey based research, jointly done by economists from Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability at Monash University, Australia and the New Delhi-based Institute for Human Development. A recent press note issued by the authors of the study shows that almost 94.4 percent of the households participating...