OdishaPlus Bureau
With countries across the world grappling to their ‘back to school’ plans, a new UNICEF report titled ‘The Remote Learning Reachability’ has claimed that a third of the world’s school children, accounting to 463 million students, were deprived of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Disrupted education has emerged as a humanitarian crisis
Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director said, “For at least 463 million children whose schools closed due to COVID-19, there was no such a thing as remote learning. The sheer number of children whose education was completely disrupted for months on end is a global education emergency. The repercussions could be felt in economies and societies for decades to come.”
Sub-Saharan African students worst hit
The report that was derived from the surveys of 100 countries is based on the global representative analysis on the availability of home-based technology and tools needed for remote learning among pre-primary, primary, lower-secondary and upper-secondary schoolchildren. The report includes multiple criteria like access to television, radio and internet, and the availability of curriculum delivered across these platforms during school closures. Although the numbers in the report present a concerning picture on the lack of remote learning during school closures, the bigger picture is even more frightening.
Even when children have the technology and tools at home, they may not be able to learn remotely through those platforms due to competing factors in the home including pressure to do chores, being forced to work, a poor environment for learning and lack of support in using the online or broadcast curriculum. The report highlights significant inequality across regions. Schoolchildren in sub-Saharan Africa are the most affected, with half of all students cannot be reached with remote learning.
Poorer households and rural living are the biggest liabilities
The report also states that the school children from the poorest households and those living in rural areas are by far the most likely to miss out during closures. Globally, 72 per cent of schoolchildren unable to access remote learning live in their countries’ poorest households. In upper-middle-income countries, schoolchildren from the poorest households account for up to 86 per cent of students unable to access remote learning. Globally, three quarters of schoolchildren without access live in rural areas. The varying rates of access across age groups, with the youngest students most likely to miss out on remote learning during their most critical years of learning and development.
- Around 70 per cent of schoolchildren of pre-primary-age – 120 million children – cannot be reached, largely due to challenges and limitations to online learning for young children, lack of remote learning programmes for this education category, and lack of home assets for remote learning.
- At least 29 per cent of primary schoolchildren – 217 million students – cannot be reached. At least around 24 per cent of lower-secondary schoolchildren – 78 million students – were not reached.
- Upper-secondary schoolchildren were the least likely to miss out on remote learning with at least around 18 per cent – 48 million schoolchildren– not having the technological assets to access remote learning.
Scenario in India: Marginalized community worst sufferers
The current scenario in India regarding the ease of access is no better. With 1.5 million schools shut across the nation due to COVID-19, 286 million children from pre-primary to secondary levels, (including 49% girls) were directly affected; adding to 6 million students who had dropped out of schools prior to the COVID-19.
The government of India along with the cumulative efforts of the state governments have have introduced several initiatives through digital and non-digital platforms to facilitate continuity of learning at home, such as the Diksha Portal (online), Doordarshan and Swayam Prabha (TV channels) and the National Repository of Open Education Resources; Alternate Academic Calendar and other state platforms/initiatives.
The report states that approximately a quarter of households (24%) in India have access to the internet and there is a large rural-urban and gender divide. The learning gap is likely to widen across high, middle and low-income families, as children from economically disadvantaged families cannot access remote learning. Students and girls from most marginalized communities do not easily have access to smartphones, and even if they do, internet connectivity is poor, and quality education content is often not available in vernacular languages coupled with access to other forms of remote learning giving rise to inequality in access to education.
Need for democratizing safe access to remote learning for all children
UNICEF India Representative, Dr Yasmin Ali Haque said, “We know that in any crisis, the young and the most vulnerable suffer disproportionately. Schools are closed, parents are out of work and families are under growing strain. An entire generation of children have seen their education and learning interrupted. Access to digital education is limited and by itself cannot solve the learning gap. Blended approaches are needed involving communities, parents, volunteers to reach children and support their learning in these times.”
