It’s only been a few weeks since regular schools have opened and teachers, parents and educational experts are already noticing a huge gap in children’s learning.
“Most of the children have gone back to their mother tongue,” says Nagsingh G Rao, director of the Child Rights Trust. “Irrespective of the child’s mother tongue, they all spoke the same language in school. Sometimes even more than one language. But, living with his family and little or no schooling at home has taken him away from normal communication. This is clearly seen in young children who spent most of their time indoors.”
The kids have gone back in time. About 1/3rd of class 5 students are unable to read class 2 level class book fluently. They fail to remember letters, numbers, basic math like addition and subtraction and even worse they can’t talk to their friends easily.
Kamala Sri, a primary school teacher in Basarikatte in Chikkamagalur district, says that the confidence of children to write simple sentences has also decreased. “We visited the homes of our students and encouraged them to come to the school. They too happily returned. But as soon as he grabbed the pencil, his smile faded and he was asked what he used to do at home for all these days. They have many things on their mind, but they are finding it very difficult to get them down on paper. We were ready to watch the kids forget the lesson, but that’s a different game altogether. They have lost their basic communication skills,” she adds.
This problem is very common in rural areas as online classes and social meetings were absent for these children. Nagsinghji Rao notes another thing here: Children speak while playing with friends. This is a great exercise in communication. He is lost because the group games did not last long.
The Child Rights Trust has identified volunteers and trained them to help children in rural areas to cope. They have started with having children sit in a group and tell stories. Once the child is speaking confidently, half the game is won, says Mr. Rao.
Experts claim that key learning factors such as focus, being able to sit in one place for hours or think about what someone has said have been significantly reduced in children, especially in children below the age of 10-12 years.
They are starting a new life by befriending old friends, learning what they excelled at two years ago, getting into small fights with friends, learning to ask how to do things. There are many things to do. Kirtana Sharma says how much this will help the kids and how soon something will happen which we don’t know for sure. She is a trained volunteer who helps such children to normalize school life.
Several NGOs and citizen support groups are trying to find ways to help children reach pre-Covid levels. The Child Rights Trust has devised a concept called ‘community school’ where a group of children from neighboring areas are called under one roof and simply motivated to socialize them little by little. Social interaction is something we are working very hard for, say the volunteers. Are the kids still happy going back to school? We must first make school a happy place, textbooks and lessons can wait, the kirtan ends.
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