Ishika Agarwal
“This is a universal crisis and, for some children, the impact will be lifelong.”
When COVID-19 struck, it halted the daily chaotic lives of human beings. At first, people weren’t able to comprehend the meaning of STAY HOME, but soon, it became a part of our daily routine. Evolution is a crucial component of the human brain. When the Great Plague hit, humans evolved. When the Spanish Flu hit, humans evolved. Just like that, when Coronavirus hit, humans evolved once again. But, was the transition easy for everyone?
For those who are knee-deep in poverty, they faced many challenges throughout the quarantine and lockdown period. With no ration and no savings, they were stuck. Many lost their jobs and ma
Adults started working from home. They had to sacrifice a few things but they adapted to the environment. Seniors stayed at home. But, what about the innocent young children? The unprecedented pandemic situation has swiftly turned the education system upside down and triggered the ‘new normal’. It proved to be a hurdle in the path of learning. Can online courses give students the same discussion-rich, well-rounded learning experience as traditional “brick and mortar” classrooms can?
Students, schools, colleges and universities have been deeply impacted. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), over 800 million learners from around the world have been affected, 1 in 5 learners cannot attend school, 1 in 4 cannot attend higher education classes, and over 102 countries have ordered nationwide school closures while 11 have implemented localised school closure. Each day millions of children do not go to school due to emergencies and ongoing humanitarian crises.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has compounded the plight of learners in countries affected and or emerging from conflict and disaster. While the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) acknowledges the public health decision to close schools, we believe that contingency plans should be in place to ensure the right to education even in times of crisis. GCE is convinced that all learners no matter where they live and circumstances have a right to education. Education is an essential right for children, young and adults in emergencies and must be a priority from the very beginning of any and all emergency responses.
Though schools are closed, students are attending their classes through various education initiatives like online classrooms, radio programs. Though it is a good thing happening on the other side, there are lots of students who don’t have the resources to attend the online classes. Many students are struggling to obtain the gadgets required for online classes.
Young children who have just started school didn’t build a strong basic foundation. How could they, when online synchronized learning is so hard. Having to learn to mute and unmute, listen to the teacher by glaring at a screen, etc. has mentally affected children. Relying solely on online education may hinder the holistic development of children, and many may underperform later in their professional and personal lives.
Reports show that young children are likely to get negatively affected by exposure to electronics. Online classes are not an effective and efficient solution for young children as the UV rays from the device get interlocked and thin out the retina, creating more than 1 blank spot in the eyes. This can lead to partial or total blindness if continued for a few more years. Experts recommend UV Ray Filtering Glasses for everyone who has to endure continuous exposure to screens.
Middle school children have quickly adapted to this new lifestyle, as after all, it is the era of technology. Already used to texting and calling on phones all the time, this age group of teenagers didn’t take long to switch to online studies. Despite favorable conditions, we find that students made little progress while learning from home. Learning loss was most pronounced among students from disadvantaged homes.
Equally alarming is the widespread phenomenon of ‘forgetting’ by students of learning from the previous class – this is regression in their curricular learning. This includes losing foundational abilities such as reading with understanding and performing addition and multiplication, which they had learnt earlier and become proficient in, and which are the basis of further learning. These foundational abilities are such that their absence will impact not only learning of more complex abilities but also conceptual understanding across subjects.
82% of children on an average have lost at least one specific mathematical ability from the previous year across all classes. Illustratively, these specific abilities include identifying single- and two-digit numbers; performing arithmetic operations; using basic arithmetic operations for solving problems; describing 2D/3D shapes; reading and drawing inferences from data. 67% of children in class 2, 76% in class 3, 85% in class 4, 89% in class 5, and 89% in class 6 have lost at least one specific ability from the previous year.
7 out of 10 children consider that they learn little during the pandemic. Especially parents and caregivers of adolescents between 11 and 14 years old, and of children who have a disability or chronic diseases believe that they learn little.
High schoolers and varsity students had already been introduced to some online courses in the pre-COVID time, making the transition smoother and clearer. But, this age group has missed a crucial component, understanding. Being distracted made them prone to learning depreciation, depicting demographically that children need face-to-face teaching methods for better understanding. Teachers in all-remote environments reported higher student absenteeism and less student work completion than teachers in face-to-face classrooms.
COVID-19 presents a unique challenge that makes it unclear how to apply past lessons. Concurrent effects on the economy make parents less equipped to provide support, as they struggle with economic uncertainty or demands of working from home. The health and mortality risk of the pandemic incurs further psychological costs, as does the toll of social isolation. At the same time, the scope of the pandemic may compel governments and schools to respond more actively than during other disruptive events.
A survey conducted between children shows the above results.
Internal assessments are perhaps thought to be less important and many have been simply cancelled. But their point is to give information about the child’s progress for families and teachers. The loss of this information delays the recognition of both high potential and learning difficulties and can have harmful long-term consequences for the child.
“Covid 19 has caused a lag in student’s lives. Online synchronized studies are not that effective, especially as you get older. Measures should be taken to improve online classes. Too much homework is hard to complete if teachers don’t pay attention to students’ doubts in class.” Monika Agarwal, a Twitter user, stated. Children have already suffered the psychological effects, their problems shouldn’t exacerbate learning problems.
The above graph shows how many children are missing out on remote learning around the world. The greatest cause is the lack of devices. Some students are devoid of phones and laptops and they are missing good WiFi. Here is the resolve of Barbara Alfred, “Many Urban schools handed out devices to the few who didn’t have one… and WiFi most of us had was offered free or reduced rate. So the focus needs to be in rural areas, who already suffer from inadequate education!” And she is not alone! Thousands of other humans agree on this.
Poverty makes online classes harder. Parents don’t have enough funds to continue online learning with costly monthly expenses, such as WiFi, laptop repairs, etc. Most students are trying their best to grasp concepts through a second ear. Approximately 150 million additional children are living in multidimensional poverty – without access to education, health care, housing, nutrition, sanitation or water – due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the survey conducted jointly by UNICEF and Save The Kids Organization. The line graph below shows the number of children living in povertial homes and have been curbed from online learning.
No matter which corner of the world we are from, everyone is facing the same issues. “I would ask the authorities to create alternatives to continue studying from home and provide children with internet,” This is a statement of a young 13 year old boy from El Salvador, who recently passed away due to COVID-19. The boy’s parents tearfully said that he got infected from Coronavirus at school, and took his last breath shortly after. This is another indication that the opening of schools in countries where children have not been vaccinated yet is a huge fatal risk.
Now, not everything can be pushed into the hands of parents and students. The same issue is occurring with teachers. Online learning is not being taken seriously from both sides. The same survey shows the following:
A staggering 84% of teachers reported facing challenges in delivering education digitally with close to half the teachers facing issues related to the internet both signal issues and data expenses. Two out of every five teachers lack the necessary devices to deliver education digitally; the situation is particularly grave in UP and Chattisgarh where 80% and 67% of teachers respectively lack the requisite devices to deliver education online. Less than 20% of teachers reported receiving orientation on delivering education digitally.
The impact of learning loss due to children forgetting what they had learnt earlier is likely to be further compounded if nothing is done to compensate for this loss when schools reopen. Children will be pushed towards more complex learning abilities of the new class they will move to without having the prerequisite foundational abilities. This compounding of learning loss will expectedly be more for students from disadvantaged backgrounds who access the public school system.
There are no easy solutions for these issues. To prevent the widening inequalities in education, teachers need to provide alternatives for work that requires a computer or internet connection, for example. “Teachers need to be sure that children are able to fulfil their tasks, even in deprived conditions,” says Van Lancker. Governments can also implement schemes like mobile libraries that will ensure children can get the reading materials they need. “These are small things, but they can really make a difference in keeping the learning going,” He adds. In the long term, schools will need to look carefully at the children who have been hit hardest by the crisis and consider special measures that could help to make up for the losses.
English