Page 61 - EW February 2023

Two faces of K-12 education: minimal SEL skills development

tention. An unprecedented innovative study which assesses collected data from 34,648 students, 1,354 teachers, 553
children’s social and emotional learning (SEL) capabilities, principals, and 4,483 parents of 572 government schools in
CASS 2022 exposes the minimal attention accorded to SEL Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh; 2,627 students,
in government and even in high-ranked private schools. 98 teachers, 33 principals and 379 parents of 26 top-ranked
SEL is defined as the “process of developing social and emo- private schools in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and
tional skills such as self-awareness (understanding emo- Bengaluru over a two-year period (2018-2020). It’s impor-
tions and thoughts), self-management, responsible decision tant to note that the CASS field survey was conducted before
making, social awareness and relationship building skills” schools were ordered to lockdown in mid-March 2020 to
(OECD). check the spread of Covid-19. Researchers shortlisted top-
The detailed six-volume report which measures holis- ranked private schools through a social media poll and the
tic well-being of students under four parameters — social EducationWorld India School Rankings — the world’s larg-
and emotional skills, attitudes, academic achievement and est and most comprehensive school rankings survey which
school climate — reveals that a majority of students in gov- ranks India’s best 4,000 schools in 392 cities and towns
ernment and to a lesser extent in private schools, exhibit countrywide. The study was funded by the Netherlands-
poor SEL development. The voluminous (631 pages) report based Porticus Foundation.
confirms the widely held perception of low learning levels in “The objective of CASS 2022 is to assess the SEL progress
government schools, while even top-ranked private school of school students countrywide. Teaching of affective skills
students are addicted to rote learning. It also confirms that i.e, social and emotional skills and development of positive
a large number of students retain traditional gender, caste attitudes, values and beliefs has been largely neglected in
and communal prejudices and they don’t accept schools the K-12 system. CASS 2022 is India’s first ever study con-
as secure and conducive learning environments. More im- ducted to assess children’s SEL skills. The conclusions of
portantly, perhaps for the first time, CASS 2022 confirms the study are disquieting. Our study found that developing
the critical linkage between SEL and improved academic social and emotional skills is a low priority in government
learning outcomes. and private schools. In particular, inter-personal relation-
To compile CASS 2022, a 600-strong field research team ship development is the weakest. Schools are over-focused

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