Page 46 - EducationWorld March 2022

Cover Story

Central Square Foundation prescription

he Delhi-based Central Square Foundation (estb.2012) sate for missed and forgotten learning instead of a mere two
Tin consultation with over 20 NGOs has drawn a list of 10 to three months’ remediation period
recommendations to make “schools children ready” during 6. Identify where children are and meet them at their level. Leverage
and after the pandemic. They include: regular low-stakes assessments as a tool to identify the exact
1. Ensure equitable access to school. Reduce school dropouts learning needs of each child and design teaching to meet
and ensure demand for education is not lowered, by design- them at their level
ing targeted interventions, especially for marginalized groups 7. Redefine the role of teachers and teacher mentors. Ensure teach-
of children who have been disproportionately impacted by ers are re-oriented to their new role of supporting parents
the pandemic and volunteers to enable learning in addition to conducting
2. Rebuild for safety and increase instruction time. Upgrade school classroom teaching. Teacher mentors need to be equally
infrastructure to abide by Covid-19 safety protocols and in- empowered to support teachers in transitioning into their new
crease effective, in-person instructional time by reducing the roles successfully
number of holidays and freeing up teachers’ time from admin- 8. Partner with parents as enablers of learning at home. Orient
istrative tasks parents and support them in their new role as enablers of
3. Slowly ease children back into school through readiness programs. home learning
Institutionalize school readiness programs for all children to 9. Identify and mobilize community volunteers. Learning needs to
gently re-induct them into social interactions while addressing be decentralized and taken to the communities by identifying
their socio-emotional needs and building local capacities to ensure learning continues
4. Focus on foundational learning. Prioritize attainment of founda- despite disruptions
tional literacy and numeracy (FLN) skills for all children before 10. Decentralize decision making. Empower district and block
they start learning other subjects officials to take localized and responsive decisions on school
5. Restructure what children are learning and how they are learning. structures, instructional calendar, and opening and closing
Reduce the core curriculum to a minimal, viable set of learning schools, to counter the impact of varying regional disruptions
outcomes and spread it over multiple years to ensure every
cohort of students gets at least two to three years to compen- Source: (Re)Build Back Better, CSF 2021

quality foundational and higher Although upscale CBSE/
education. Yet in your correspon- CISCE/Cambridge and IB
dent’s four decades in business schools switched smoothly
and education journalism, one to online learning-from-
has never heard captains of India home, with a mere 8 percent
Inc — addicted to bleating for tax of Indian households hav-
concessions — make a strong case ing access to Internet con-
for education reform. In this con- nectivity and digital devices,
nection for the past decade while learning effectively stopped
analysing the Union Budget, your for the majority of India’s
editors have been publishing a 260 million children and
schema for the Central govern- youth in primary-secondary
ment to raise Rs.6-8 lakh crore education, especially in ru-
for investment in education and Children sharing mobile phone: 8 percent connectivity ral India. According to the
healthcare (see box p.45) for several Annual Status of Education Report
years. 9 Provide digital devices & (ASER) 2020, a mere 11 percent of
Although this schema has been sent Internet connectivity to children enrolled in schools country-
to several finance and education min- under-privileged children wide logged into online classes, and
isters, reputed economists (including 21.5 percent accessed one-way video
Swaminathan Aiyar) and industry he Covid-19 pandemic has starkly recorded classes.
leaders for comment and critique, we Texposed the gaping digital divide During the past year, several rec-
have never received a single response. in Indian education. Since March ommendations have been made by
Quite clearly, within the establishment 2020 when the country’s 1.5 million educators and IT experts to bridge
and the selfish middle class there is no schools were ordered to close to check the digital divide. Among them: gov-
will to make small sacrifices for im- the spread of the virus, all education ernment to create a one-time digital
proving public education. delivery moved to the online medium. education fund of Rs.100,000 crore

46 EDUCATIONWORLD MARCH 2022