The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated educational inequalities and highlighted the existing gaps in learning and teaching methods. In December 2020, Dream A Dream conducted a focus group consultation with young people and teachers to share our insights with the UNESCO’s International Commission on the Futures of Education, an initiative to rethink the broad purposes of education and reimagine the future. In this article, we present findings from two focus group consultations on the concerns and hopes of young people and teachers related to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on education. The participants in both groups were from government schools, low-cost private schools, B.Ed colleges and community colleges.
What challenges are young people facing?
Loss of learning
The most immediate repercussions of the pandemic have revolved around the loss of learning due to extended school closures in 2020 and 2021. While private schools managed to quickly switch over to distance or remote learning, government schools struggled to find means to hold classes through live sessions on YouTube, recorded videos and circulating exercises on WhatsApp and SMS. But students belonging to the economically weaker sections and disadvantaged groups who do not have access to smartphones, laptops, internet connectivity or adequate broadband bandwidth have missed out on online classes. A young participant shared that “I struggled to attend online classes due to poor internet connection. Whatever is taught in the online class does not make sense to me as teachers put us on mute and our doubts are not addressed”. Teachers in the FGD stated that India’s rural-urban divide is adversely impacting the education of children who hail from rural background. The ASER 2020 Survey revealed that 1 in every 10 rural households across the country bought a new smartphone last year. While the percentage of students (government and private schools) having access to smartphones has increased from 36.5% to 61.8%, it is noteworthy that 12.7 per cent of students used their neighbours’ phone to study during the lockdown. These findings demonstrate that a large section of the student population does not have access to online teaching.
Loneliness and distress
A long period of disengagement with the school routine is detrimental to the holistic development of students. As noted by one of the participants, “there has been a sudden break in my career plans. It will take more time to achieve my goals. I might have to possibly take a year gap or repeat the same class as I could not attend college this year”. Expressing his concern, another participant shared that “I don’t have anyone to reach out to for support. I will have to find the solutions to problems on my own”. These voices reflect how the pandemic has amplified student loneliness and distress. This feeling of anxiousness and helplessness highlight the lack of adequate social and emotional support in the education sector. The pandemic has restricted children and young people inside homes for a considerable long period. Being forced to stay indoors while witnessing their family members get infected with the virus and struggle to arrange medical aid can lead to adverse impact on the mental and emotional well-being of young people. Physical and social isolation has lead to anxiety, stress and depression among students.
Loss of livelihood
One of the major concerns expressed by young people in the FGD centred around how they have suffered tremendous economic losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Families have suffered from enormous financial and emotional stress as daily wage and migrant workers have lost their source of income and livelihood due to prolonged period of lockdown. One young participant noted that the financial hardships have impacted his personal educational goals.
How do young people and teachers reimagine education post COVID?
Socio-emotional support
The pandemic has shown that just teaching cognitive skills is not enough in schools, there needs to be a focus on non-cognitive skills as well. When schools reopen, teachers will need to be mindful to not pressurize students by rushing through the syllabus and holding extra classes to cover up the loss of learning. This will only hamper and hinder the process of enabling children to feel safe and happy in schools. Teachers and young people in the FGDs highlighted that integrating social and emotional learning in teaching methods in classrooms is of great value and need of the hour. One of the young participants remarked, “Education should help improve and develop life skills among young people. It should also teach us basic skills which enable us to acquire knowledge to deal with daily challenges in life”. Social and emotional learning programs help promote empathy, compassion, creativity, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking among students. As noted by a teacher in the FGD: “The National Education Policy emphasizes on the fact that educational practices must develop the creative potential of each individual by focusing on both cognitive and socio-emotional capacities of learners. We need to implement this effectively”. Similarly, another teacher reflected: “The government is now looking at education with a 360-degree view, which aims at holistic and well-rounded development of children. Earlier, the focus was only on the main subjects and this was limiting our view. We are hopeful that the gap between academic and extra-curricular subjects will be reduced”.
Rote Learning vs. Meaningful Learning
The future of learning in the post-Covid-19 world should be inclusive, accessible and interesting. While expressing their hopes for the future, young people and teachers expressed their desire that teaching methods for academic subjects can be more relatable and connected to the daily lives of students. One teacher noted: “The curriculum should be revised and include practical aspects of daily life which is relatable to children. We need to move away from rote learning and make way for practical learning”. This opinion was also reiterated by a student who stated: “We do not need bookish education and rote learning. It restricts the ability of children to explore concepts. Education should aim at developing conceptual understanding of children and focus on the experiential model of learning and teaching. Difficult and complex concepts should be taught and communicated in practical ways, such as interactive seminars to ensure better learning”. Young people were of the opinion that the existing curricula and teaching methods of subjects like History and Mathematics do not help them in their daily lives. What we learn and how we learn needs to change from abstract theoretical approaches to practical, fun and relevant learning methods. One young person stated that education systems should remove set boundaries and suggested, “We should have the freedom to choose. Not everyone wants to be a doctor or an engineer, some are interested in sports or cinema. Young people need to have the freedom to choose their field of interest and pursue it further. For this, the education system needs to provide students with diverse opportunities”. Now is a good time to teach concepts like inter-connectedness and inter-dependence through practical examples from the pandemic to increase their understanding of issues around sustainability, climate change and global citizenship. The pandemic has taught children more about health crisis than what textbooks could ever do. It is essential to integrate real-life experiences into teaching and learning methods to make the curricula engaging and relatable for students.
Reduce the digital divide
There will be a lot more use of technology in education policy discussion and digital learning will be common in the post-Covid-19 world. However, policymakers need to ensure that the new normal does not perpetuate inequality. Poor infrastructure, lack of adequate drinking water supply and access to electricity, teacher shortage are still dominant and persistent challenges in several Indian states. Like a teacher shared that “Opportunities for children in villages are far lesser when compared to cities. Universalization of education across the country is required so that equal opportunity exists for all children. This will reduce the need for children to move to urban areas for better education”. Another teacher noted that “Teaching and learning processes must address the socio-economic disparities and be mindful of the diverse socio-cultural background of learners”. To use technology effectively, we need to first address these issues.
Grades vs Learning
We need to rethink the examination-oriented education system. There has been a lot of hue and cry about the postponement of board exams due to the rising COVID cases in the second wave in India. It is appalling to note that we expect students to appear for a 3-hour sit-in examination despite the disruptions in their normal school routine and affected accessibility due to possible medical situations or financial crisis at home. The fact that education ministries have failed to come up with any alternatives to the existing examination system highlights our dependency on it. It is time we rethink the relevance of examinations which are essentially based on memorizing facts and reproducing information. One teacher strongly stated:
“The examination system should be removed in order to ensure learning for life. Learning should not be limited to scoring high marks in exams. We need to promote learning based on age-appropriate education and the interests of the children. We need to find out the exact age at which children can be helped to choose their paths in life and take appropriate steps to facilitate this”. Similarly, another teacher said that students should be liberated mentally, “At present, when children score poor grades, they are subjected to trauma from teachers in school and their parents at home. If we provide space for children to ‘be’ themselves, they will be happy to go to school, happy to learn and also happy to face the world that we live in”. One teacher stressed the need to develop responsible and autonomous learners and suggested that education should enable children to understand their strengths, talents and interests. Towards this, teachers should be trained to recognize the interests and talents of children and enable them to showcase their skills. Parents and teachers should collectively encourage and make children take their own decisions and provide the required support.
Since the focus group consultations took place in December 2020, the views of teachers and young people are based on experiences from the first wave of the pandemic. The second wave of the pandemic has been devastating for children, parents and teachers. We are living through a tragedy, the effects of which are going to haunt us for a long time. Our immediate efforts must include steps to address the anxiety, stress and fears of children and young people by providing social and emotional support to them. Schools should prioritise. wellbeing over academics and provide spaces for children to feel safe and happy. While we reimagine education and its objectives in the post-covid world, we need to be mindful to formulate child-centred policies and implement them effectively to empower learners to make informed decisions in life. There should be an adequate focus on the development of children from vulnerable backgrounds and children with special needs to ensure no one is left behind.
Angana Das is a Consultant with the Monitoring, Research and Impact team at Dream a Dream