Page 14 - EducationWorld June 2020

Education News

DELHI tion consequences of the prolonged
Restart dithering break that 250 million children are

being forced to take from formal
schooling.
Meanwhile, although children in
the metros and tier-I-II cities are
maintaining learning continuity
through a swift and amazing switch
to digital online learning, children
in tier-III-IV cities and towns and
rural India are disadvantaged by
poor Internet connectivity and ac-
cess to digital devices, apart from
untrained teachers. Though the
Union HRD ministry in association
with state governments is attempting
to maintain learning continuity in
small towns and rural India through
television and radio channels, not a
few educationists are skeptical about
the efficacy of these arrangements
Primary school children in Delhi: vulnerability fears. Inset: Manish Sisodia for K-X education in particular. “It’s
important not to be seduced by tech-
s india gradually unlocks number of parents who are nervous nology platforms. Online education
from the 68-day national and dithering on the issue of sending is at best a stop-gap arrangement.
Alockdown which began children, especially preschool and Technology companies are pushing
on March 25, the Covid-19 spike primary children, to school because it to make money,” opined Prof. R.
continues to climb steeply. Never- they are convinced youngest children Govinda, former vice chancellor of
theless, two national school boards can’t observe social distancing rules. the National University for Educa-
— CBSE and CISCE — scheduled Activist-lawyer and president of tion Planning & Administration and
their pending school-leaving board the All India Parents Association one of the authors of the RTE Act,
exams for classes X and XII for the Ashok Agarwal is dead set against 2009, in a recent webinar.
first fortnight of July. Now all eyes completion of pending examinations Even as educationists are dither-
are on guidelines and likely dates for and early reopening of schools, and ing over the issue of when to reopen
reopening the country’s 1.5 million recommends automatic promotion of the country’s 1.5 million schools,
schools. all students to the next higher class. Manish Sisodia, Delhi state’s
According to insider reports, the Private school promoters and deputy chief and education minister
Union HRD (human resource devel- managements who are losing money who has played a major role in vault-
opment) ministry is preparing guide- hand over fist due to the continu- ing Delhi state government schools
lines for restarting schools. The au- ous lockdown of schools — they are to the top of the annual Education-
guries are that secondary and higher not only obliged to continue to pay World league table of government
secondary classes will be in the full salaries to teachers and support schools, is advocating transforma-
vanguard of students returning to staff, as per a directive of all state tion of the Covid-19 threat into an
schools. An SOP (standard operating governments, they are also incurring opportunity for radical reform of the
procedure) manual centred around premises and property maintenance country’s K-12 education system.
33 percent daily student attendance expenses — want schools to reopen In an open letter to Union
is believed to have been finalised. asap. HRD minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal,
The word is that schools will reopen On the other hand, epidemiolo- published as an op-ed essay in the
according to the zones they are in, gists, medical and health experts annual Hindustan Times (June 6),
with those in green and orange zones are wary about early exposure of under the title ‘Covid-19: A historic
the first to open. However, the guide- children, especially preschool and opportunity to redefine the Indian
lines will have to be cleared by the primary children, to the coronavirus school system,’ Sisodia implored
ministries of home affairs and health which is still mutating. Coterminous- Pokhriyal to avail the opportunity
and family welfare. ly, educationists are worried about to recast K-12 education. “We can
Meanwhile, there is a substantial the social, psychological and educa- transform schools from being mere

14 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2020