The Second Wave has impacted us all, but what about school children and drop-out rates?

By Akhila Nair

Education has been the heart of welfare policy in India, with its inclusion in Fundamental Right to numerous policies across states to increase enrollment rates like Mid-day Meals. The policies had shown an impact with a decline in the drop out rate to 0.11% in 2019 from 0.22% in 2016-17. However, the pandemic has brought education again to the surface and highlighted the loopholes of the social and economic policies across India and the world.

UNESCO had stated that 154 crore student’s education has been disrupted across the world due to the pandemic. The virtual classes provided by the schools are not proving to be a viable option for many.

Henrietta Fore, executive director of the United Nations Children’s Fund, stated that “more than 460 million students across the globe don’t have internet access, computers or mobile devices to participate in virtual learning”.

India’s Condition
The 2020 lockdown affected the education of 32 crore students in India. Just as the schools were planning to reopen, the onset of the second wave of the virus at the beginning of 2021 destroyed the hopes of the children, especially those who couldn’t afford online education. Nearly 6 million students were out of school and many news reports indicate a high chance that these numbers might increase in the times to come. Let’s reflect on the reasons behind these school dropouts-

Economic Instability- According to the data by the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy, the unemployment rate in India rose from 6.5% in March to nearly 8% in April, with the loss of 7.35 million jobs. As per a survey conducted by the Delhi government, the capital has an unemployment rate of over 16.25 per cent and because of the financial constraints in the families, 9.75 per cent of children in the age group of 6-17, are reported to be out of school including dropout, discontinued and never attended categories.

Child labour- Article 24 of the constitution prohibits child labour but the pandemic has pushed many into this path. R Karuppusamy, convenor of CACL- Tamil Nadu and Puducherry brought up that “Over the last two decades, we were seeing a decline in child labour and increased school enrollment, but now 76% of school-going children have started working.”

Migration- The lockdown during the first and second wave forced many migrant labourers back to their hometown. Deputy Director of Education at Save the Children, Kamal Gaur quoted that “Studies suggest that on an average 20 per cent children dropout post emergencies, and the last 90 days lockdown has resulted in complete loss of education for these children who are moving with their migrant families,”.

Midday meal and other incentives: Many students who could not receive the benefits of mid-day meal schemes and other incentives from school started working alongside their parents and even took up odd jobs to support their families financially during this economic distress.

Psychological well being- As per a survey by ChildFund India, 64 per cent of children in Rural India fear that if they are not provided with proper support, they would have to drop out of schools. The children should get help with the curriculum and learning gaps they are facing during the online classes. Parents have witnessed negative behavioural changes in their kids. It also stated that online learning came with several psychological challenges and the mental well-being of children was heavily affected by this.

What is the government doing?

To minimize the impact of the pandemic on school education across the country and to prevent drop-outs, the Ministry of Education has prepared and issued detailed guidelines which include:
A comprehensive door to door survey and to prepare an action plan for the enrollment of children by generating awareness among parents.
Students to be provided with counselling and targeted home visits.
Increasing the access of children to digital resources like mobiles, internet, TV, Radio etc. to reduce any learning losses.

Intervention by State Governments

Odisha announced free education to all children who have lost their parents to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Tamil Nadu government declared that all school students from Classes 1 to 8 will be considered ‘pass’, based on the Right To Education Act amid the second wave of the coronavirus in the country.

Conclusion

The Covid-19 pandemic has not only affected the health of the people but also has killed the hopes and opportunities of many. In the current situation, it is high time that the government should announce an education emergency. The central and the state governments should increase their education budget allocation so that there should not be any lack of resources for the needy. At the same time, the government should focus on child’s physiological well being and should provide sessions to overcome the fear of the pandemic.
The government should also focus on the vaccination of children so that schools could be reopened as soon as possible. Children are the future of the country. So supporting a child’s growth means supporting our country’s growth.