Availability of digital equipment and participation in digital classes among students belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes community has to increase further to come on a par with that of students belonging to other sections, a study by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and the Psychological Research Centre of the Government College for Women, Vazhuthacaud, here has found.
The study report, submitted to the government, looks at learning during the first wave of COVID-19 and the mental health of students and their families.
Data collected
The study was conducted from September to December last year. Data was collected from 85 government and aided schools across the 14 districts.
As many as 2,832 students, 2,466 parents, 412 teachers, 176 school counsellors, and 53 Souhruda Club coordinators were part of the study.
It found that 97.38% of primary school students and 94.18% of high school and higher secondary students attended the classes telecast on KITE Victers channel.
Significantly, availability of smart phones exceeded that of televisions. While 84.62% students reported that they had good television in their houses, 95.33% said smartphones were available for studies.
As many as 96.68% watched the classes in their homes, nearly 2% in the houses of their relatives, and below 1% at study centres.
While 95.62% of high school and higher secondary students received follow-up classes from their teachers, in primary classes, it was 89.4%.
Problems reported
Students reported problems such as headache and tired eyes after the digital classes kicked off.
Adolescents also reported substantial drop in exercise in the absence of regular classes.
Besides physical problems, 4.39% of the students were susceptible to internet addiction, 23.44% students showed symptoms of depression. As many as 11.16 % of them had serious anxiety problems.
The study also investigated the socio-economic impact of the pandemic. Incomes of 78.35% of the parents had fallen, while 51.18% had reduced to half or less. As many as 36.05% had lost their jobs. The maximum impact of job loss or fall in income was felt by parents of students from the Scheduled Caste community.
Recommendations
Digital education had helped ensure there was no disruption in learning during the pandemic. However, if digital education were to continue in the new academic year, individual attention should be paid to marginalised sections, those who were academically backward, tribal students, and the differently abled, the study report recommended.
As it was important to sustain student interest in digital education the longer it continued, the classes should adopt ways to ensure their interest did not falter.
It was important to pay attention to students’ physical health to ensure they did not develop lifestyle diseases. While students’ mental health had not been affected on a large scale, parents, teachers, and counsellors should pay attention to ensure it remained so, the study said.
