Education Crisis in India
An insight into the effects of the pandemic on our education system
The unprecedented challenges faced by every sector have crippled the normal functioning of the economy and its different sectors, education being one of them. This article shares some insights into the current scenario of our education sector and how it has been affected by the lockdown, which probably everyone is going through. Unprecedented yet revolutionary, such has been the nature of the lockdown.
Here’s how…
Condition of the education
The adversity of the lockdown has deeply affected the condition of the education and the way of learning. Every teacher is doing their best to keep up with the deadline that they have, but the question is:
Are we fully convinced that each and every student of different intellectual abilities is able to focus the same way as they did before?
Although at unsparing times like this, virtual classes are doing just fine, but the physical presence of the teacher has a better impact on the quality of the education so to speak.
Online classes
The closure of schools on March 2020 left 321 million students clueless. The uncertainty in the air was lifted a few days later. Enter Google classroom and the Zoom classes that connected the pupils with their respective classes which otherwise seemed impossible. The online classes have successfully served as a substitute over the traditional blackboard system, in a matter of days. But the online classes haven’t compensated for the effectiveness of the classroom experience.
Full fee being charged by schools
What concerns the parents is that as most of the services of schools are left unused, but the bills are still being included in the school fees. This includes the cycle stand fees, the bus stand fees, the lab fees etc. Now the question is:
Is it really necessary to charge the whole fees? If not then how will the institutions pay their own staff? Should the schools let go of the teachers by not paying them or should they let go of the students by charging them? They clearly have to do one of the above for the school to work properly. A clear state of instability is prevailing in the education sector.
Connectivity with students
The online classes are a good substitute, but a study reveals that 15% students in Delhi are untraceable or have no connections with the teacher since the lockdown started. If the national capital alone is suffering from such a crisis, then imagine the condition of other states. This has led to an unstable situation where the school authorities are unaware if those students are still enrolled in the school or not.
In a recent talk with the authority of such a school, revealed that parents of such children don’t have enough funds or resources to keep up with any of the school’s demands but want their kids to be promoted next year without being involved in any academic activities the current year.
Condition of rich schools
The functioning of schools with upper class standards or the rich schools in the urban parts of India doesn’t seem to have been much influenced by the lockdown. The students come from rich neighborhoods and backgrounds hence the schools are having the least trouble to continue to run efficiently. They still continue to charge full fees with no compensations, yet the parents are paying with total compliance, which is not a very big deal for them.
Condition of poor schools
The real challenge however is faced by the students coming from poor families or lower middle class backgrounds, who despite having a tough time through the pandemic also have to deal with the fees being charged by the schools. The schools therefore are receiving very less funds to keep up with the normal functioning, and are struggling to pay their staff. This conspicuous loophole is threatening the existence of schools in the rural and sub-urban parts of India. In fact many rural parts of India don’t have a proper access to internet. The schools of those areas are struggling hard to save their schools from a total shutdown.
Affects on the underprivileged
Even though most of us are fortunate enough to buy a smartphone, but the one’s struggling to buy everyday essentials in this lockdown won’t be able to afford it. Students coming from families with no computer literacy or those who don’t prefer smartphones are the worst affected. This has resulted into a vast number of students being completely disconnected from schools. A study finds that this will eventually lead to a sudden increase in child labour and poverty. Many are leaving costly private schools to seek admission into cheap government ones. In Haryana alone 1 lakh students left private schools.
This article was published on my website: The Journal101
Follow me on LinkedIn & Facebook
Thoughts and Ideas is now on Substack! thoughtsandideas.substack.com
