The impact of Covid-19 lockdown on children
New Delhi, May 07: While coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, many countries have decided to close schools as part of a social distancing policy in order to slow transmission of the virus.
However, these closure of schools, has affected the education of more than 1.5 billion children and youth worldwide due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
It should be noted that the closures of schools are likely to widen the learning gap between children from lower-income and higher-income families.
While many parents with access to technology and internet are increasingly turning to online education technology to keep their kids learning at home while some may not be able to.
In a recent survey from India Welfare Trust, it has shed light on how children are bearing the brunt of the unprecedented outbreak
According to the survey, 89 per cent of respondents believe that their children's learning will be affected by the delay due to the delay in lifting down the coronavirus lockdown.
The survey was conducted in the 1st week of May 2020. 238 responses were received from 200+ organisations across India.
Take a look at some more questions asked during the survey:
When
do
people
think
schools
will
reopen?
•46
per
cent
estimate
it
for
August
•22
per
cent
think
it
will
be
September
•23
per
cent
think
it
will
be
as
early
as
June
or
July
•9
per
cent
expected
it
to
be
later
or
depending
on
the
zone
or
were
uncertain.
Only
1
person
felt
they
would
reopen
in
May.
•There
were
238
responses
What can help narrow the learning gap?
Helping teachers, followed by parents, were seen as the most important steps to be taken. Schools were next and digital self learning was seen as the least important of these 4 approaches.
Availability of online resources
•
A
vast
majority
felt
that
Online
resources
are
typically
either
paid
or
not
of
very
high
quality.
The
pricing
issue
was
sharply
felt
in
self-learning,
while
the
quality
issue
was
a
significant
concern
for
teaching-learning
aids.
•
About
10%
felt
that
good
quality
resources
were
available
online.
What are the hurdles to enabling learning?
• Basic internet access to children is the biggest hurdle. Parents can't afford recharges and/or the child doesn't get access to the device in urban areas. In many cases, the family may not even own a smart phone.
Availability of "facilitators" to help with the learning process is the next most important need, followed by access to free self learning tools.