This Dangerous Unlearning

Context: Independent India is facing its most dire educational emergency. It needs fixing right now.

Challenges before education system due to pandemic

• Long and unprecedented shutdown of schools, created an emergency in education system.
• Massive learning loss: Two kinds of loss of learning
  • Children have not learnt what they would have learnt in 18 months, had schools been open. 
• Most children have forgotten a lot of what they knew when the schools shut in March 2020. 
• Limitation of continuing education through online classes due to
  • Lack of access to resources needed to facilitate proper online learning to majority of children.
  • Suboptimal and limited efficacy of online learning.
• Increased Educational inequality:Except for children from privileged homes, with abundant support of social and economic resources, all children are facing adverse circumstances of learning loss. 

Way forward

• A new beginning: To cover pandemic-hit learning, teachers and schools would require support, including appropriate teaching and learning material, and an enabling environment.
  • Teachers and schools must be given enough time to recover this phase. 
• Reconfigure syllabus for all classes to make it content-light, without compromising on competencies appropriate for that class.
• Proper implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and measures of Kasturirangan Committee Report
  • Focus on language and mathematics for early classes, a reimagined curriculum and syllabus, and substantial investments in early childhood care and education.