Schools and colleges were shut down across the globe during the first quarter of the year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Later on, some countries like Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, Japan and South Korea reopened junior sections of schools as they believed that small children were less vulnerable to the virus. But some of them quickly backtracked as they got to know that the incidence of coronavirus cases were prevalent amongst children of all age groups, with higher rates amid senior children. Time and again, leading scientists of the world have been cautioning against the re-opening of schools and colleges as they fear inconceivable post-Covid complications even in younger age groups.
It is an irrefutable fact that school closures have clear negative impacts on the cognitive and non-cognitive development of the children. But the present circumstances have forced different countries and even counties across the country to follow different policies to contain the spread of the virus. It, therefore, does not warrant to make inter-country comparisons and draw inferences on the lines of any individual country or group of countries because of the varying conditions of the pandemic, standards of infrastructural facilities and number of children in classes.
The number of coronavirus cases has been surging at an alarming rate across the world. India has reached the second position in terms of the number of coronavirus cases touching the 90,04,365-mark and the third in terms of deaths crossing 132,165. Both the central and the state governments have taken all possible measures but the pandemic is showing no signs of slowing down. Like others, we are also finding it difficult to have a uniform policy for reopening schools and colleges across the country. While some states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Assam have reopened educational institutions, there are others like Delhi, West Bengal, Odisha and Maharashtra which have not yet decided to reopen. There is a third category as well like Tamil Nadu and Goa that have taken a U-turn. It appears that some more states are likely to take a U-turn in the wake of the rising number of cases. The decision to reopen schools in the states of Haryana and Andhra Pradesh has patently backfired. A couple of days ago, around 900 school teachers and 600 students were found to be Covid-positive in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Haryana has already backtracked in certain pockets and is likely to go in for full closure after hundreds of students and dozens of their teachers tested positive for Covid-19.
Fearing the onslaught of the coronavirus, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has brought out comprehensive guidelines for the reopening of colleges and universities. These guidelines have emphasized upon developing a customised plan and reopening institutions in a phased manner as per the prevailing social and physical conditions. There might be very few institutions with the right kind of capacity and technology to adhere to these guidelines while others will have to mobilise their resources to ensure their implementation.
It is not possible for a diverse country like ours to replicate the South Korea model or, for that matter, even the China model, which basically means testing of children on a regular basis and, in the event of spotting a single case, ensuring complete lockdown of the entire district and testing every single individual within a short span of time. It is, therefore, safer to consider it a free year rather than pushing the country into an endless socio-economic crisis. Let the entire lot of school children fall behind for a year. In the long span of life, this one year would be inconsequential. It is much better to lose one year than to make children suffer from ailments like cirrhosis and pulmonary fibrosis, and make them live on oxygen support for the rest of their lives.
The hard work of several brilliant scientists, who have been burning the candle at both ends, has brought some solace for billions of people living under constant threat of serious health consequences. Hopes are rising that some safe vaccines will now be available. The good news is that, among others, there are three vaccines which are likely to pass scientific protocols anytime soon. Of them, the Pfizer vaccine is claimed to have an extraordinarily high degree of efficacy (95%) across all age groups but it would require incredible refrigerating capacity at minus 70 degrees Celsius. The other one is the Moderna vaccine with 94.5% degree of efficacy. It is reported that it can be easily stored under refrigeration conditions at 17 degrees Celsius up to thirty days and at room temperature for up to 24 hours. There are some more vaccines which are fairly at advanced stages. It looks like the Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford vaccines might make it happen but they will take a sufficiently long time to provide succour to the common man.
In such a situation, when the positivity rate of the coronavirus continues to rise, hospitals are completely overwhelmed, pollution levels are soaring, a dark winter is ahead and vaccine delivery is still an issue, it may be too risky to reopen schools and colleges. The only rational argument for opening schools might be that children sitting at home would lose a year otherwise or regress from whatever they learnt the previous year. But it is not prudent to attach so much significance to annual progression in these trying times. Surely, it is difficult to have a broad-stock opinion on a subject like this which requires a nuanced opinion but then it has risks of losing out to other complex issues. All said and done, the fact remains that the country is facing a serious health crisis and therefore the decision should be driven purely by the sole consideration of the well-being of the child, which is the purpose of education. It requires a fundamental shift in the thought process, which should be guided by the dictates of scientists and medical practitioners known for their integrity and courage. At the same time, the academic community should also rise to the occasion to come up with alternative measures to address the issue of loss of learning.
The idea of the right kind of remote learning is not scalable in India because of the sheer size of the student population, lack of trained teachers, inaccessibility to proper electronic devices and connectivity. It may be appreciated that with small children it is not only the delivery that matters, but there are other vital factors linked with the basic realities of teaching and learning. One can definitely rush it through smart electronic devices, but it will be for how many and at what cost? If remote learning is going to be in the range of only 10% to 12% of classroom learning, then it is better to make it a free year for small children, especially at the elementary level.
The second option may be to revamp the existing curriculum in a manner that it takes good care of all enabling concepts which would be essentially required for the acquisition of competencies and skills in the upcoming academic calendar. Once this crisis is over and after proper vaccination, the engagement of children with the revised curriculum can easily refresh previous concepts. This exercise could be accomplished within two to three months’ time, during which children can easily overcome the learning loss. The remaining period of seven to eight months could then be singularly devoted to the teaching and learning of course contents of the next class. One should not mind even if it cuts into some portion of conventional vacations. This approach can be applied across all stages of education.
The mentality that losing a year is going to be a catastrophe needs to be allayed in view of the severity of the coronavirus pandemic. The real catastrophe will be if we lose 10% to 15% of educators in this battle and fail to protect 15% to 20% of our children from getting into long-term health issues. Losing a year will eventually protect us from even more severe calamities. Reopening of institutions may be considered only when the risk of the propagation of coronavirus is diminished and we reach the minimum threshold level of comfort certified by scientists and medical professionals. The focus, therefore, must be to strategise how to revamp the curricular provisions and accelerate the pace of teaching and learning in post-Covid times.
The writer is former Chairman, UGC. The views expressed are personal.
