Changes

After months of being closed, schools are now being opened and different schools are exploring different approaches to bringing students back to classrooms. While the parental consent is mandated for students to return to school, this begs the question of meaningful choices do the parents really have.

After months of being closed, schools are now being opened and different schools are exploring different approaches to bringing students back to classrooms. While the parental consent is mandated for students to return to school, this begs the question of meaningful choices do the parents really have.

A lot of discussion has been going on around the sanitising of the premises, whether children should come full days or all days and the use of masks and the distribution of fund.  Another issue that has engaged the minds of many among the education system is the question of syllabus.  However, the  question to be asked now, that is more relevant than ever, is how can we rebuild the relationship that the children have with learning, and with school? While this question is relevant for all children - for all ages and across different strata of society - it assumes an urgency in the case of children who have had no access to any form of learning experience.

A lot of discussion has been going on around the sanitising of the premises, whether children should come full days or all days and the use of masks and the logistics of student arrangements.  Another issue that has engaged the minds of many among the education system is the question of syllabus.  However, the  question to be asked now, that is more relevant than ever, is how can we rebuild the relationship that the children have with learning, and with school? While this question is relevant for all children - for all ages and across different strata of society - it assumes an urgency in the case of children who have had no access to any form of learning experience.

Many children who go to government and government aided schools have been out of school and deprived of any learning experience for over 10 months now.  The issue is not so much of the learning loss - with reference to what they are supposed to have learnt in schools -  as it is of the deprivation at multiple levels that these children have had to face - deficiency in nutrition, loss of a safe space and the loss of an opportunity to have some semblance of normalcy in their childhood.  While the more fortunate among the children have made the seamless movement into a new normal, the children from the more marginalized and vulnerable groups of society have received the short end of the stick. The Vidyagama that started and stopped due to public health concerns is now being revived and it is important to design a program for enabling these students to succeed.

Many children who go to government and government aided schools have been out of school and deprived of any learning experience for over 10 months now.  The issue is not so much of the learning loss - with reference to what they are supposed to have learnt in schools -  as it is of the deprivation at multiple levels that these children have had to face - deficiency in nutrition, loss of a safe space and the loss of an opportunity to have some semblance of normalcy in their childhood.  While the more fortunate among the children have made the seamless movement into a new normal, the children from the more marginalized and vulnerable groups of society have received the short end of the stick. The Vidyagama that started and stopped due to public health concerns is now being revived and it is important to design a program for enabling these students to succeed.