Hyderabad: As the education system of the country is crumbling under mounting pressure due to the adverse COVID-19 situation, Educationist and Padma Shri awardee Krishna Kumar said that crores of children across the country have been deprived of education due to the pandemic.
Kumar the former Professor of Education at the University of Delhi opined that India would have to pay a hefty price said if this situation will not be treated as an emergency.
He said that the central and state governments should provide financial assistance to reopen closed schools and readmit children who dropped out. But before all this, he added, that a comprehensive survey should be conducted to understand the effect of the pandemic on school-going children. In his interview with Eenadu, Krishna Kumar made several suggestions regarding the education system in India.
Q: How will the second wave impact education?
A: There have been no studies on the educational status of children of the lakhs of migrant workers who moved back to their native places. Even in metro cities, a large number of children were deprived of education. Though the workers went back to cities after the first wave, they did not take their children along. Lakhs of private schools nationwide got shut down. Nobody knows the status of the students who were studying in those schools.
Q: What should the central and state governments have done to minimize the impact? What are the measures they can take right now?
A: A comprehensive survey about the impact of COVID-19 on students must be conducted first. Reliable statistics must be gathered. Collective plans cannot be made without accurate field-level data. Over the past year, how has the midday meal scheme been affected, how has it in turn impacted the school-going kids must be analyzed. It is crucial to know where the students of shut down private schools have been. Few of them would have joined government schools. But we should know the numbers. Only then, we can look at providing additional space and teaching facilities in state-run schools. It seems that a large number of children, especially girls of the rural poor and migrant workers have dropped out of school, becoming child labourers. If we can collect the data, we can design and implement a plan to get them back to school.
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Q: CBSE and state boards have cancelled or postponed the exams. What would be the consequences?
A: Cancellation of 10th and postponement of 12th class exams is reasonable. In fact, 12th class students have had only online classes last year. So, exams can be conducted online. None of this is impossible. Digital devices can be set up on a temporary basis for children who need them. Currently, many universities are conducting online exams for 1st-year students.
Q: The gap between the rich and the poor is impacting the quality of education. How to bridge this gap?
A: This gap existed before the pandemic too. But it became obvious now. The minimum wages for teachers in both public and private sectors must be fixed. The government should provide financial assistance to private schools that cannot pay minimum wages. This way, we can employ skilled teachers. Similarly, the government should support schools that have been shut due to the pandemic by providing basic facilities. This cannot be considered a burden. If all the children come back to schools, it will cost a lot more to provide sufficient faculty and infrastructure. The implementation will get delayed due to bureaucratic hiccups. What needs to be done must be done to improve the status of education.
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Q: Children below 4 are also taking digital classes. How will it impact them?
A: Except for India, no country in the world is conducting e-classes for kindergarten and preschool kids. Looking at it from the point of view of child psychology and development, it is no good for their mental state. By brainstorming about ways to teach kids through elders and adult children, we can find a way. In my opinion, it would be better for 4-year olds who took online classes to have their eyesight and overall growth tested once the pandemic ends. Children of this age do not need a rigorous learning routine. They can be left freely albeit with some basic teaching.
Q: Crores of people lost their livelihoods due to the pandemic. What should the government do to ensure that the children in those families have access to education?
A: Financial aid must be provided to all such students. There are crores of children who are underprivileged and lack access to basic education. Once the survey is done, the government can decide upon how much help can be extended to each grade. Governments must provide financial assistance to private schools that got shut down during the lockdown. Right now, it is not the question of public or private. Whether there were any students in the school should be the prime consideration. Once the situation improves, the government can review the continuity of the assistance. At the moment, we are in a deep crisis. We must respond accordingly. India will have to pay a hefty price if we cannot bring back dropouts to schools again. The country will take a backward trajectory otherwise. Therefore, the current phase must be considered a national education emergency.
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