Need to build resilience in education sector

RECENTLY, the Union Government released the findings of the National Achievement Survey (NAS), which was conducted across India. About 38 lakh students from 1.23 lakh schools in 733 districts of 36 states and union territories were assessed during the survey. The objective was to evaluate children’s progress and learning competencies as an indicator of the efficiency of the education system, so as to take appropriate steps for remedial actions at different levels.

The survey covered government schools (Central and states), government aided schools and private unaided schools. Subjects addressed were language, mathematics, environmental studies, science and social science. Both rural and urban areas participated in the exercise. The NAS data is envisaged to help states in taking remedial measures, both short-term and long-term. However, this data coincided with the onslaught of the pandemic, giving a new direction to NAS observations and offered an opportunity to rectify matters in relation to educational system in India.

The NAS showed Covid-19 impact everywhere, which had resulted in the closure of schools and other educational institutions. With schools closed, students started attending their classes through various education initiatives like online classrooms and radio programmes etc. This brought the inherent weakness of education in Indian society to the fore.

The survey shows how a lot of students, who didn’t own the resources to attend online classes, suffered a lot. Many students were struggling to obtain the gadgets required for online classes. This created a digital divide among them. The poor students were hard hit as most of them were unable to explore online learning. According to various other reports also, the online teaching-learning method during Covid-19 enhanced the gap between rich-poor and urban-rural students. The disruption resulted in an alarming regression in children’s foundational skills — reading, writing and doing simple mathematics. The teachers also, used to the blackboard, chalk, books and classroom teaching, were new to the digital mode of teaching. Many found it difficult to undertake new teaching ways. Reportedly, many were thrown out of job.

The quality of education depends on the available infrastructure. During the pandemic, this got underlined as the required Internet connectivity was just not available. Internet connectivity continues to be unreliable as well as expensive for the underprivileged students to gain access to. In addition, many children from a less fortunate background do not have access to desktops or laptops, allowing them to take part in online courses. Consequently, this technology is not available to many students in the country. It is essential that in future, there is a well thought out contingency in place for any such emergency.

The closure of schools was extremely negative on a large number of economically strained families, whose children go to school just because they can get food under the mid-day meal scheme. This scheme has helped many children from economically weaker families. Because of the closure of the schools, such students were deprived of food essential for their survival and health. In fact, various studies have pointed out that mid-day meals are indeed an important contributing factor for increased enrolment in the schools.

In today’s world, access to technology and Internet is an urgent requirement. The sooner it is introduced at the school level, the better it is. This means that the digital capabilities and the required infrastructure must reach out to the remotest and poorest communities to facilitate the students to continue their education during such emergencies as the pandemic. There is a need to deploy public funds to fix the internet gap and ensure that all students are able to learn digitally, if required to do so, irrespective of their economic status. The state governments and private organisations should come up with ideas to address this issue of digital education.

The NAS, however, underlines that reliance on e-learning methods cannot be a substitute for the interactions in a classroom. In fact, both must go together to enrich the learning process for the students. Other studies like the annual ASER (Annual Status of Education Report), which provides yearly estimates of children’s schooling status, have underlined that most of the failings of the country’s educational system stem from the lack of ‘connect’ between the lived experiences of most students and what is taught in classrooms. The pandemic-induced crisis is an opportunity to apply correctives to this anomaly. The objective of NAS 2021 to evaluate children’s progress and learning competencies of the education system is to take appropriate steps for remedial actions at different levels. It will help to unravel the gaps in learning and will support State/UT governments in developing interventions both in the long and short-term to improve learning levels and orientation on differential planning based on NAS 2021 findings.

The pandemic and the problems it created in the field of education also give a chance to apply correctives. Failure to do so will imperil the academic future of an entire generation. It is time the objective of NAS 2021 to evaluate students’ progress and learning competencies, as an indicator of the efficiency of the education system, is accepted and appropriate steps for remedial actions at different levels are implemented in the right way. It will help to unravel the gaps in learning and aid governments in improving access to education among students coming from different socio-economic hues with proper planning.