From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI [Nov 10]: Meghalaya Government might have adopted a cautious approach in opening schools in the state albeit partially, but students here seem to be in a better position than their peers in the rest of the country with more access to smartphones and study materials during the COVID-19 induced online classes, according to the first-ever ASER 2020 phone-based survey.
The survey examined the effects of the pandemic on schooling and learning opportunities of children across the country was apparent. Although a lot of digital content has been generated and transmitted to help children continue to learn, there is limited evidence on the extent to which this content is reaching children; whether they are engaging with it; and the impact it is having on their participation and learning, according to the sources.
In Meghalaya, there has been an enormous increase in the availability of smartphones at home for enrolled children – from 41.3% in 2018 to 72% in 2020. In fact, availability of smartphones in the state was one of the highest in the country, the study said.
More than 97% of children have textbooks for their current grade in both private and government schools in Meghalaya, which is also higher than many states, the study said. In the hill state, the proportion of boys enrolled in government schools rose from 35.7% in 2018 to 45.6% in 2020 and the proportion of girls enrolled in government schools rose from 35.7% to 40.6% during the same period.
Interestingly, in Meghalaya, the difference between government and private schools was less pronounced with 61% children in government schools receiving materials and activities through WhatsApp compared to 58.8% in private schools. In many parts of the country as usually believed there is wide difference between government schools and private schools.
Conducted in September, which was the sixth month of school lockdown, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) explores provision of and access to distance education mechanisms, materials and activities for children in rural India, and the ways in which children and families are engaging with these remote learning alternatives from their homes. It reached a total of 52,227 households and 59,251 children in the age group of 5-16 years, as well as teachers or head teachers from 8,963 government schools offering primary grades.
About one in every 10 rural households across the country bought a new phone to support their child’s education after schools closed in March, the study said. The survey aimed to explore the challenges faced by students, teachers and parents during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent school closure.
The survey tried to explore ways in which students managed studies during the school closure and the means that they had access to. It found out that over 60 per cent of students had access to smartphones at home. According to the ASER report, the percentage of rural students having smartphones increased to 61.8 per cent in 2020 from 36.5 per cent in 2018, in both government and private schools.
In the same categories, almost one in 10 households bought a new phone to support their children’s education. Among those who bought a new phone, more than 80 per cent of people bought a smartphone. The survey also reveals that a portion of rural children who did not have access to smartphones were able to manage studies using neighbours’ phones.
According to the findings, 12.7 per cent students from both government and private schools used their neighbours phone to study during the lockdown. “Whether acquired before or after school closures in March 2020, more than 80 per cent of children have textbooks for their current grade. This proportion is higher among students enrolled in government schools (84.1 per cent) than in private schools (72.2 per cent),” reads the report.
The material included textbooks, worksheets, online/recorded classes, video or some other form of virtual lessons. “Overall, approximately one third of all enrolled children received some kind of learning material or activities from their teachers during the reference week,” the survey said.
Students received study materials in a variety of ways, like WhatsApp, phone call and personal visit. But, of all the mediums that were used, WhatsApp was the most commonly used medium for sharing learning material and activities. “A higher proportion of students enrolled in private schools received material through WhatsApp than their counterparts in government schools. Accessing material via phone calls/personal visits was more common among students in government schools,” the survey added.
“Although only a third of the children had received materials from their teachers during the week preceding the survey, most children – 70.2 per cent did do some sort of learning activity during that week,” the survey report read. “The major types of activities done involved textbooks (59.7 per cent) and worksheets (35.3 per cent),” it added.
The survey adopted in many government programmes and policies also pointed that children in private schools were much more likely to have accessed online resources than those in government schools. For example, 28.7 per cent of children enrolled in private schools had watched videos or other pre-recorded content online, as compared to 18.3 per cent of government school students.
The Meghalaya Government allowed schools to reopen in September, the day ‘Unlock 5’ came into being across the country, but disapproved of regular classes in any educational institutions any time soon in view of the pandemic.
Schools, however, were permitted to open for activities like student-teacher counselling, assignments and submission of work by students of Class 6 and above.