Page 21 - Print

Education News

Economic Change, Bengaluru. among bona fide educators in the
The consensus among informed state is that assessment of the extent
monitors of education in Karnataka of learning loss is the first step that
is that the state’s politicians, espe- needs to be taken.
cially of the ruling party, preoccupied It is important to note that learn-
with politicking — legislative assem- ing outcomes (basic reading and arith-
bly elections are scheduled next year metic) of primary school children in
— aren’t particularly bothered about Bengal were not satisfactory even in
the impact of the 82-week lockdown pre-Covid times. A 2018 Annual Sta-
of schools during the Covid pandem- tus of Education Report (ASER) sur-
ic. Currently, the major education vey conducted by the Pratham Educa-
issues in the state are de-glorification tion Foundation revealed that only a
of Tipu Sultan in children’s history third of all children enrolled in class
textbooks, and whether hijab wear- III in Bengal were at “grade level,”
ing girl children should be permitted i.e, capable of reading a simple text
into classrooms. of equivalent level of difficulty and
Reshma Ravishanker (Bengaluru) could recognise numbers up to 100
and solve simple two-digit subtrac-
WEST BENGAL tion sums. A subsequent December
Impossible repair 2021 ASER survey shows that three
years later, there was a steep decline
in learning outcomes during the pan-
ITH ALL SCHOOLS IN THE STATE demic. Currently, class III children ing loss of children. If not, the current
reopening from February in government schools able to read education crisis can escalate into one
W16 after a 23-month lock- a simple class II textbook story has of equity, widening the fault line be-
down, classrooms across Bengal are declined from 36.6 percent in 2018 tween haves and have-nots, with dis-
coming to life. But, judging by the to 27.7 percent. A sharp drop in math turbing consequences for the future,”
reports published in local vernacular skills is discernible as well. warns Sarkar.
dailies, a large number of benches in The consequences of the world’s erhaps to make up for the TMC
the state’s 50,000 government pri- longest schools lockdown are likely to Pgovernment’s exaggerated cau-
mary schools are empty. During the be dire. A 2020 World Bank research tion in mandating the longest edu-
pandemic lockdown, with a great paper says South Asian children cation lockdown of all states of the
majority of children in government will be poorer by an average $5,813 Indian Union during the pandemic,
schools having no Internet access (Rs.4.4 lakh) by the time they wrap in the state budget for 2022-23 pre-
and/or digital devices such as com- up work life. They will earn $319 less sented to the legislative assembly on
puters, tablets, or even smartphones, per year, costing children in the region March 11, finance minister Chandri-
an estimated 4.8 million have dropped over $800 billion (Rs.60 lakh crore) ma Bhattacharya made an allocation
out of the school system and are work- in a generation. India will bear more of Rs.43,466 crore, equivalent to 16.8
ing as under-paid domestic, farm and than half of that loss. percent of the state’s total expenditure
factory labour. According to Prof. Pabitra for education (13 percent higher than
In December 2021, seven govern- Sarkar, a renowned academic, former in 2021-22). This percentage alloca-
ment-run junior high schools in East vice chancellor of Rabindra Bharati tion is higher than of all states of the
Midnapore district were shut down University and former vice chairman Indian Union. Yet this larger alloca-
after district officials conducted re- of the West Bengal State Council of tion for education is unlikely to make
opening surveys which found that at- Higher Education, the immediate pri- sufficient impact to make good the
tendance had plummeted to zero. It is ority of the state government should learning loss of children — especially
pertinent to note that if India’s edu- be to initiate a back-to-basics revi- in early childhood and primary educa-
cation sector pandemic lockdown was sion programme in all schools. “This tion — in West Bengal, where teacher
the world’s longest (82 weeks), within implies liberating teachers from the vacancies are estimated at 84,000 and
India, West Bengal’s was the longest burden of syllabus completion, allow- teacher-pupil ratio in K-12 education
among all states (99 weeks). ing them the autonomy to focus on is assessed at 1:59.
Educationists and educators remedial education. The government Decades of neglect of education
across the state are dismayed by the will also need to mobilise resources to under Communist rule (1977-2011)
sheer scale of the challenge confront- tackle this crisis and invest in digital is proving impossible to repair in this
ing them. The consensus of opinion technologies to make good the learn- state, which through the 18th to the

22 EDUCATIONWORLD APRIL 2022