India’s schoolchildren need their childhood back

Context: The country needs to stop asking whether schools are safe and start acknowledging that in-person school is essential.

Wide-ranging impact of the pandemic on schoolchildren

• Education loss in formative years: Six-year-olds who have spent more time outside the classroom than inside. Five-year-olds who have never been inside school nor ever met their teachers or classmates.
• Deprivation of social contact and loss of essential learning: Alternative channels of learning cannot match the in-person schooling, which teaches children to share, wait for their turn, negotiate, and compromise.
• Nutritional loss: For children from economically weak backgrounds, schools are a key source of nutrition.
• Safety and emotional factor: For some, schools serve as safe spaces from the chaos of their homes.
• Learning loss: For many children, particularly those who do not have educated parents or cannot afford home tutors, the denial of education results in learning losses and, ultimately, denial of a chance to earn a livelihood.
• Gendered pressure on parents to quit jobs: For parents, school closures have added to childcare and teaching duties. Household incomes are reducing amidst rising inflation as parents, mainly mothers, have quit their jobs.

Way forward: There are a host of recommendations on how to open schools safely, including by the World Bank, SRCC Children’s Hospital, Mumbai and the Lancet COVID-19 Commission India Task Force.

• A one-size-fits-all approach across India will not work: In States such as Kerala or Maharashtra, where cases could be surging again, students should stay home, while their counterparts in other States where positivity rates are lower can start going to school.
• Immediate measures:
  • Vaccinate first: Call for lists of school staff and procure full vaccination for them.
  • Bridging information gap: Engage relevant experts to undertake public campaigns to make school staff and parents aware of the low risk of transmission in schools and low severity in children.
  • Restricted re-opening: ICMR suggests first open primary schools and then secondary schools; Restrict 50% attendance or smaller groups of students on alternate days or weeks.
  • Upgrade school infrastructure: To facilitate a hybrid system of learning where parents who do not wish to send their children to school have the choice to continue with online learning.
  • Formulate and issue guidance on COVID-19 protocols to be adopted by schools: Distancing to the extent possible, outdoor classes weather-permitting, masking, hygiene, and proper ventilation.
  • Finalise logistics: Such as packed meals and transport and ensure availability of medical consultation so that staff and parents need not scramble for assistance.
• Other required long-term measures: Greater investment in healthcare facilities, particularly paediatric facilities, and implementation of systems to track the local level of infections.