The Boring Blank Board

They are the same person and yet they are not. All that remains of their old lives are memories from school—sharing lunch, playing games, or simply spending time with friends in a room filled with maths, history, and side-splitting anecdotes. As schools closed this spring because of the coronavirus restrictions and online classes became the norm, children discovered that the “new normal” is anything but. There are upsides to being home, like getting to do schoolwork wherever they want—even the front lawn sometimes. But they miss their friends. Many kids seemed to have made the most of what feels like an extended vacation, but for some the novelty has worn off and they want classes to start again. When the government gave the green light to phased opening of schools this October, some realities have emerged: the students will look for the familiar when they go back. Will they get it? It was the obvious question and the most consequential, but has a fairly unconvincing answer. Some say they should return to school as normal, wear masks and teachers can enforce social distancing, although experts argue that it is still unsafe to do so.

According to UNESCO, school closings affected nearly 275 million students across grades, from pre-school to secondary. Besides, there are millions whose parents cannot afford online classes. One such girl is Narayani, class 9 in a UP government school in Ghazipur. Her parents are barely literate and poor. They don’t have a smart phone, let alone WiFi or a computer. Her school reopened on October 19 and she is attending classes regularly since. “It was distressing for me to study alone at home. I am facing difficulties in mathematics,” she says. Her teachers stepped in to fill that critical need. Complicated by social distancing mandates that require smaller class sizes, Narayani and her classmates seldom talk during breaks, eat lunch separately. Some students even go on alternate days. “This is boring, I miss reading, writing and playing with my friends. There is fear of contracting the virus. Sometimes, I feel it was better at home. Yet, I attend classes as I have a lot of catching up to do. Else, how will I clear my exam?” The consensus is most students have lost significant academic ground. But still unresolved are questions of how—or even whether—teachers should try to make up for lost learning after the lengthy pandemic-induced absence.

How will educators make school something that feels meaningful; that students are excited to go back to? They can spin when there is spin—that’s children. But most young people have gone through a traumatic experience. “The lockdown is harming their physical, cognitive, emotional and social wellbeing as they continue to remain cut off from the world outside. They are emotionally detached because there is no opportunity for sustaining attachment. They are becoming self-centric staying home,” says Sujatha Sharma, a Delhi-based clinical psychologist and founding director of mindspecialists.com, an initiative of the RAHAT Charitable and Medical Research Trust to spread awareness on mental health.

Cooped up in their homes, attending online classes and spending almost all their waking hours in the digital world are bound to affect children’s ability to perceive reality, and trigger personality disorders. Children experience a spurt in hormonal changes during adolescence. Many children are gaining weight and facing obesity because of restricted physical activities. “The more time they spend in the digital world, the more they are going to miss crucial social cues, social sensitivity, and social messaging what people get through body language,” Sharma says. What she means is friendly interactions are brain food for kids, and most of them will end up dumb without social stimulations. She says schools will have to work out a social rehabilitation programme when kids go back to classes. “To ensure these children grow up to be healthy, socially independent, well-adjusted adults, schools will have to make sure additional social-cultural activities like plays, dance theatre, and camps are conducted. It can’t be a business as usual, like completing a syllabus and holding exams,” she suggests. Educators have similar views: don’t pile on additional schoolwork.

Students of classes nine and 12 are the most affected by the lockdown and there are over 130 million of them in India in this bracket. Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh have allowed reopened schools in phases, especially for these students. Maharashtra has similar plans but many states are still debating whether to unlock, or not. Education officials in West Bengal say the government could let colleges to open in December, but not schools until at least January. Teachers of state-run schools in Bengal acknowledge that their online classes are not reaching students in the villages as most don’t have smart phones. But education minister Partha Chatterjee is categorical about letting schools open: “We don’t want to take a risk with children.”

As per guidelines issued by the Union government, students will be allowed to attend classes only with the written consent of their parents. The safety protocol mandates schools to check temperature of students and ensure they wear a mask and use hand sanitisers. But most parents in cities that have recorded a fresh Covid surge feel that’s not enough. They have started an online campaign, accusing governments of playing with the lives of children. They want schools to reopen after a Covid vaccine is found and become available. Their fears are not unfounded. As many as 575 students and 829 teachers tested positive for COVID-19 in Andhra Pradesh within a week of schools reopening on November 2. State officials refused to buckle under pressure, saying the number was “not alarming” and there are no plans to shutter schools again. But in Himachal Pradesh, the government had to roll back its decision to open schools after more than 200 teachers and about 100 students got infected. The state quickly announced a 14-day special vacation from November 11 to 25. Car pools that teachers take to and from schools are the prime suspect in spreading the disease in Mandi district. Only 80,000 students attended classes between November 2 and 10 in a state that has 3.25 lakh in classes nine to 12. “Safety of the students was the reason why attendance was not made mandatory,” says Rajeev Sharma, the state education secretary.

The resistance to school reopening is hardly visible in the countryside, though. Poor parents who cannot afford a smart phone or laptop want their kids back in school. The pandemic has heightened the disparities. In rural Uttar Pradesh, for instance, the number of students turning up to attend in-person classes is higher than cities and semi-urban areas. Given the digital divide and Bengal’s rel­uctance to reopen schools, schoolteacher like Kazi Masum Akhtar, a Shiksha Ratna awardee in 2016 and a Padmashri in 2020, have created WhatsApp groups where teachers upload video and audio lessons and assignments for students. Still, half of his 150-odd students at Katjunagar Swarnamoyee Vidyapith in Jadavpur, Calcutta, can’t access the material. Even students in schools that managed to issue video lessons and assignments and transited to distance learning early on will have lost out from shortened sessions and limited interaction with teachers. The vast number of students still without technology and those who have all but vanished from schools’ radars will have fallen even further behind. The effects of the lost learning could be felt for years.

In August, the Karnataka government started an education outreach programme to ensure that learning wasn’t interrupted for students of government schools, especially those from socially weaker sections. Under this programme, called Vidyagama, teachers would travel and engage with children at designated locations near their homes for a couple of hours—the academic activities took place in small batches usually at open public spaces. But in October, following reports that 34 students in two districts tested positive for Covid, the department temporarily suspended the programme. Karnataka minister for primary education S. Suresh Kumar said his department is reviewing the situation and considering the experience of some states that have reopened schools. Currently, e-learning modules are telecast on Doordarshan’s Kannada channel, Chandana, for high school students.

Though online classes are going on, these would benefit mostly students in urban settings and those studying in private schools, says Hubli-based Basavaraj Gurikar, vice president of the All India Primary Teachers Federation. “Besides, there are government schools with less than 50 students. It should not be a problem to open these,” suggests Gurikar. “We are not suggesting that all classes be conducted simultaneously but it can be done in a staggered manner.”

The year is lost already. With the education community rallying for children and doing whatever it takes to ensure some sense of normality in an otherwise abnormal time, helping students feel connected, develop inter-personal skills and inspire confidence is as important as learning the multiplication table or a verse. Because most children, nothing, including the television shows and computer games, beats school, which they once despised for being too routine and tedious. There will obviously be barriers, but the kids of the pandemic will have to be taught to live with them.

Inputs from Snigdhendu Bhattacharya, Ashwani Sharma,  Ajay Sukumaran