Schools have finally reopened their doors after COVID-19 shutdown, but fresh challenges await the government, school authorities and the students in a new-normal world post lockdown. Students now need tailored and sustained support to readjust and catch up after the pandemic and the government and school administrators must prepare to provide that support and help young learners in meeting the enormous challenges of the months ahead.
Only a mission-mode operation can help reduce and reverse the long-term negative effects through learning recovery programmes and adequate preparation for future shocks by equipping better. Lack of personal interaction between a teacher and a student has already done its share of damage. A large section of students who have no access to technology have completely lost out on the precious academic time while those who did rely on the virtual mode, have not gained much. The immediate task of the teacher now will be to ensure that students who have fallen behind receive the support that they need to catch up to expected learning targets.
‘Budget schools’ in dire straits
“I am not sure how much my son has benefited from the online classes during the pandemic shutdown. Teachers now will have to shoulder the responsibility of first motivating the young minds to come back to their normal classroom studies before diving into the daily routine,” says Dondapati Saraswathi, a mother of a Class VIII student.
The pandemic forced the government to push reopening of schools from June to August, resulting in a packed curriculum and fewer holidays during the current academic year. Education Minister Adimulapu Suresh admits that there are challenges galore but adds in the same breath that the government is determined to make the best of the available opportunities.
Lockdown impact
The pandemic has wreaked havoc with school teachers and managements, throwing life out of gear for many of them. The shutdown inflicted deep financial sufferings following lay-offs on a massive scale and salary-cuts by managements citing government restrictions on fee collection. The managements, especially in the private sector, have their cup of woes brimming due to the prolonged shutdown, resulting in serious revenue loss.
The State has more than 15,000 private schools and of them, only around 4,500 are corporate institutions while the remaining are either semi-corporate or budget schools, the last ones mostly located in remote rural pockets and surviving on a very modest budget. “The pandemic has dealt a very cruel blow to the budget school system. In the first wave, 45 principals died either directly due to the virus infection or due to its crippling cascading effect. A vast chunk of our teachers and staff were forced to shun teaching and take to menial works like selling vegetables or working at construction sites. Some of them even turned cobblers. With great difficulty, we could survive the first wave,” says Ram Sundar, honorary president of the Andhra Pradesh Private Schools’ Association (APPSA).
Managements in distress
Citing the recent suicide by a private school correspondent and his wife, due to mounting debts and growing pressure by money-lenders at Koilkuntla in Kurnool district, the State general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Private and Un-Aided Schools’ Manangement Association (APPUSMA) Tulasi Vishnu Prasad says this should serve as an eye-opener to the government as well as the general public which has a perception that all private schools fleece parents and make huge money. “We survive only on the quality perception of parents. The government passed orders on cut in fee collection during the pandemic but that did not stop the financiers from hounding us for EMIs, nor did we get any financial aid from the government to overcome the difficult phase,” he says.
The association feels that monthly allowance during the pandemic period and grant of soft loans by banks could have prevented closure of the nearly 30% of the schools that folded up due to the pandemic.
Govt. schools gain more appeal
“Without consulting with anybody, the government imposed a 30% slash in fee collection, a hit that only corporate schools can take. Unable to pay loans, building rents and road taxes for school vans, many of our members have turned defaulters,” says Mamidi Srinivas, former president of the Vijayawada Children’s Schools and Tutorials’ Association. He says at least 50 of the 240 schools running under the association have shut permanently. “The number may increase in the days to come,” adds Mr. Srinivas.
While nobody quite knows how the pandemic will shape the future of education, the government and school managements and administrators sure have an exhausting journey ahead.
