Page 62 - EducationWorld Oct 2021

Special Report

lags way behind Silicon Valley, USA.
Most children in our member schools
have no choice but to learn from pre-
recorded lessons because live classes
are regularly disrupted by poor Inter-
net connectivity. Moreover, costs are
very high when online video classes
are conducted on platforms such as
Zoom, and often even middle income
families cannot afford them. The state
government has never tried to resolve
this Internet connectivity problem nor
address the issue of lack of digital de-
vices in poor households during almost
two years of schools lockdown. There is
no political will to bridge the digital di-
vide in education in India’s IT capital,”
Ahmed: massive school dropouts Shashi Kumar: political will deficit laments D. Shashi Kumar, general
secretary, Associated Managements
The damning conclusions of the member schools, and managing trustee of Primary and Secondary Schools of
IMAI survey are confirmed by the Uni- of the Bangalore Public School which Karnataka (KAMS) which has 3,600
fied District Information System for has 700 children and 25 teachers. member schools statewide.
Education (UDISE+). Its 2019-20 re- The shocking neglect of children’s Inevitably, children from bottom-of-
port says that only 7.7 percent of gov- education in India’s premier IT city is pyramid households in India’s IT city
ernment schools in Karnataka have confirmed by another report submit- have been hit hardest by the pandem-
Internet access and only 34.3 percent ted to the Karnataka high court on July ic. “Out of the 750 children of migrant
have functional computer facilities. 16 by the Associated Managements of labour we work with, we were able to
Primary and Secondary Schools, Kar-
“ BENGALURU MAY BE In- nataka (KAMS). The survey reveals we had to give up online classes and opt
connect online with only 22. Therefore,
dia’s IT capital but it’s not
that 60,094 students dropped out of
for in-person education for all 750 stu-
a role model for IT-enabled
academic year ended April 30, 2021.
such as rented warehouses and temple
new technologies educa- 250 budget private schools (BPS) in the dents using community learning spaces
tion. Since the pandemic forced the Aggregate enrolment of the schools grounds. It will take years to bridge the
closure of schools, the digital divide surveyed plunged by 33 percent from digital divide in education. The best op-
in education has become stark. Low- 185,933 in 2019-20 to 125,839 in 2020- tion is to immediately reopen schools
income households — the majority 21. The major reason for this sharp from pre-primary to secondary so that
— don’t own computers, laptops and drop-out of children from school is that remedial programmes can be started to
smartphones and at best have to make lower middle and working class house- address the huge learning loss children
do with one smartphone shared by all holds have suffered severe income and have suffered over the past year,” advis-
family members including children. employment loss during the pandemic es Somya Nand, co-founder of Gub-
That’s why when schools were ordered and couldn’t afford even the modest bachi, a Bengaluru-based NGO which
to close and learning moved online, tuition fees — the lowest worldwide — has been providing bridge classes for
there was mass dropout of children that BPS levy. Moreover, they can’t af- children of migrant communities since
from the school system. For instance ford Internet connectivity and digital 2015.
in 2020-21, the enrolment in nurseries devices required for online learning, The appalling indifference to main-
of private budget schools was just 2 per- say KAMS spokespersons. taining learning continuity of children
cent and 10-15 percent in other private “Thousands of children have in government and BPS displayed by
schools. The city’s 4,000 private bud- dropped out of government and private the Karnataka government and IT in-
get schools which provide affordable schools in Bengaluru because their par- dustry leaders and professionals hasn’t
education to children of low-income ents cannot afford to buy smartphones, only imperilled the future of 9.5 mil-
households are reporting only 20-30 computers and tablets and pay monthly lion children in government, aided and
percent attendance for online classes,” Internet data charges. Internet connec- budget private schools, it has also hard
says Afshad Ahmed B.Z, president, tivity is also a big problem. The city may hit the teachers’ community.
Private Schools and Children Welfare be India’s Silicon Valley but in terms When government peremptorily or-
Association, Karnataka, which has 500 of Internet speed and connectivity, it dered closure of schools countrywide in

62 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2021