Parents see decline in learning, behavioural changes in children during Covid-19 pandemic: Study

In Karnataka, 80% of households surveyed by the NCEE said their child’s ability to read and write had declined, stayed the same or could not be determined

During the troughs and crests of each wave of COVID-19 over two years, parents, especially those from lower socio-economic groups who were struggling to make ends meet with the threat of job loss and pay cuts, watched helplessly as their children struggled with online classes. Poor parents are desperate about the future of their children and fully conscious of the devastating toll that prolonged closure of schools has taken on the learning, socio-emotional development and behaviour of their children, said authors of the study Cries of Anguish. 

In a survey carried out in Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, the National Coalition of the Education Emergency (NCEE) learnt that most parents said their child’s ability to read and write had declined, stayed the same or could not be determined, compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Among the households surveyed in Karnataka, 69% of respondents fell in this category, with 80% having enrolled their children in public schools. In comparison, 59% of parents whose children were in private schools said they observed a decline in their child’s ability to read and write or lack of improvement, or could not determine any change. 

Over 500 households were surveyed through face-to-face interviews in villages and urban areas. Together, these households had about 900 children in the 6-18 age group. In Karnataka, the survey was conducted from October to November 2021 in two districts, with a focus on underprivileged urban settlements (in Bengaluru) and villages. A hundred households, with 176 children, were surveyed. Of these, 150 were enrolled in schools.

Parents noted that children had forgotten letters of the alphabet. “The concerns were about the lack of practical, experiential learning, the fact that children will not be prepared for exams, and that the extent of the gap is so high that they may not be able to catch up,” said the authors.

Access to textbooks was another problem. In government schools in Karnataka, only 64% of parents surveyed said their students had access to all textbooks while 27% had ‘some books’. In private schools, 72% of parents said they had all the textbooks.

The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the extent of chasm between higher and lower socio-economic groups. The authors said opinions about online education are unequivocal: that children learnt virtually nothing. Parents are overwhelmingly in favour of keeping schools open for in-person learning.