During the troughs and crests of each wave of COVID-19 over two years, parents, especially those from lower socio-economic groups who were struggling to make ends meet with the threat of job loss and pay cuts, watched helplessly as their children struggled with online classes. Poor parents are desperate about the future of their children and fully conscious of the devastating toll that prolonged closure of schools has taken on the learning, socio-emotional development and behaviour of their children, said authors of the study Cries of Anguish.
In a survey carried out in Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, the National Coalition of the Education Emergency (NCEE) learnt that most parents said their child’s ability to read and write had declined, stayed the same or could not be determined, compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Among the households surveyed in Karnataka, 69% of respondents fell in this category, with 80% having enrolled their children in public schools. In comparison, 59% of parents whose children were in private schools said they observed a decline in their child’s ability to read and write or lack of improvement, or could not determine any change.
Over 500 households were surveyed through face-to-face interviews in villages and urban areas. Together, these households had about 900 children in the 6-18 age group. In Karnataka, the survey was conducted from October to November 2021 in two districts, with a focus on underprivileged urban settlements (in Bengaluru) and villages. A hundred households, with 176 children, were surveyed. Of these, 150 were enrolled in schools.
Parents noted that children had forgotten letters of the alphabet. “The concerns were about the lack of practical, experiential learning, the fact that children will not be prepared for exams, and that the extent of the gap is so high that they may not be able to catch up,” said the authors.
Access to textbooks was another problem. In government schools in Karnataka, only 64% of parents surveyed said their students had access to all textbooks while 27% had ‘some books’. In private schools, 72% of parents said they had all the textbooks.
The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the extent of chasm between higher and lower socio-economic groups. The authors said opinions about online education are unequivocal: that children learnt virtually nothing. Parents are overwhelmingly in favour of keeping schools open for in-person learning.
‘Lack of motivation in education’
The lack of regular physical classes and the dependence on smartphones, tablets and other devices among those who had access to them, had an impact on their socio-emotional development. While the surveyors did not pose direct questions, they noted that the changes in children’s behavior, such as lack of routine and discipline, inability to focus, lack of motivation and interest in education, were highlighted by parents in their qualitative comments. Addiction to mobile phones, games and screens, changes in eating habits, mental stress and loneliness were some of the concerns raised.
“Several parents noted that young children, in particular, lost track of even the daily routine of eating and hygiene. Many of these parents are working outside the home and have nobody to supervise the children at home.”
The report stressed the importance of communication from schools to parents regarding the re-opening process and the academic level and progress of their child.
Between two-thirds and three-quarters of parents in the three States reported that they received some communication from the school or education authorities, but most likely that these were general mass communications. In Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, more parents received such communication in government schools compared to private schools. In Karnataka, 82% of parents with children in government schools received such communication, while among private schools, the figure was 64%.
“The situation was worse regarding communication about the academic performance of the child. In this case, 50% or fewer parents in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu reported getting any such communication from the school or the teacher. Again, the situation was worse in private schools than in government schools,” stated the report.
