As January 2022 rolled around, optimism about a new year and a fresh start fizzled out quickly. Most of India was swiftly engulfed by a third Covid wave. What followed was predictable. Across the country, state government after state government decided to close schools yet again. According to data from UNESCO, India holds the unfortunate global distinction of the longest pandemic-induced school closure.
Pratham, one of India’s largest non-governmental organisations focused on education, has been measuring learning outcomes for children in every state and rural district of India. The findings are made public through its Annual Status of Education Report. In its 2021 School Survey Major Findings report the ASER found that close to three quarters of all respondent teachers reported facing challenges in teaching their grade currently.
The most commonly reported challenge was that children were unable to catch up with their grade-level curriculum – a number which went up to a staggering 65.4%. In rural Karnataka for instance, the share of grade three students in government schools able to perform simple subtraction fell from 24% in 2018 to just 16% in 2020.
A learning crisis
In the face of multiple school shutdowns through a two-year period, are state governments or the Union government unaware of this learning crisis? Not at all. In August 2021, the 328th Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports published a report which had a scathing indictment of the learning gap due to school lockdowns. The committee noted that it was “not only the learning loss but also the loss of social contact and socialisation routine that were part of the daily experience of a student’s life in schools and educational institutions.”
It then went on to note the impact on the poor. “Further, loss of learning opportunities always have adverse impact on the most vulnerable sections of the society like students from economically weaker sections, rural and tribal areas and marginalised sections of society and girls,” the report explained. “Past evidence suggests that short-term disruptions in schooling often lead to permanent dropouts amongst these categories. This needs to be addressed and immediate remedial steps required to be taken.”
Learning poverty
More disturbing data. A 2021 joint UNESCO, UNICEF and World Bank report says this generation of students across the globe now risks losing $17 trillion in lifetime earnings in present value as a result of school closures. That’s 14% of today’s global GDP and far more than the $10 trillion estimated in 2020. In low-and-middle-income countries, the report notes the share of children living in “learning poverty” will rise sharply, potentially up to 70%, given the long school closures and the varying quality and effectiveness of remote learning.
There is enough evidence then to underscore the damage school shutdowns have caused by creating prolonged learning gaps for students. Those from lesser privileged backgrounds will face the especially mountainous task of reclaiming their learning when schools do reopen in earnest.
Why is reopening not a “business as normal” act? “With Covid uncertainties, schools will go through cycles of reopening and closure,” explains Yamini Aiyar, President and Chief Executive of the Centre for Policy Research, a public policy research think tank. “A decentralised approach will be necessary. First, states will need to evolve protocols for when to close and, crucially, reopen. Second, greater flexibility in funding resources at district and school level is needed so schools can align with SOPs [standard operating procedures] of state governments and support expenditures based on their needs.”
“This,” said Aiyar, “is a departure from the current system of spending decisions that are centred towards New Delhi and state capitals.”
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