Every child understands that 2020 has been life-altering. A billion children missed going to school this year according to a recent United Nations report. Some missed their rites of passage like farewells and graduation ceremonies. However, for the millions of underprivileged children, this new paradigm means something more fundamental and catastrophic. They now have a full sense of an unequal world.
When schools went online, the more privileged students simply turned on their laptops and got on with their studies. But the virus locked out underprivileged children from education entirely. The United Nations estimates that 24 million children face the dim prospect of never returning to school or university. This is in addition to the 250 million children who were already out of school before the pandemic. In Guatemala, for example, 90 per cent of the children never graduate from high school. Parents have to choose the one child who will go to school, to the exclusion of others.
Imagine that your parents migrated to the city to eke out a living. You have a full view of the privileged life of city dwellers. That life is seemingly within reach. But in reality, an iron wall stands between you and everything needed for decent living conditions. There is just one door that could get you to the other side. That door is called education. In 2020, that one door is closed on you. All you can do is wait for schools to reopen. This is how the virus has stripped underprivileged students of the future they have dreamt of. The poignancy of the education wreckage cannot be overemphasised.
The children from low income groups lack basic learning support at home, like physical space and tools for online learning. We are not just referring to vulnerable groups like people of determination or refugees.
In countries like Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia, where governments have taken necessary steps, national television is the main source of remote learning. In Somalia, recorded lessons are loaded on solar-powered tablets. TV and Radio work well for primary and pre-primary schools. Students in secondary and higher education need a lot more engagement.
Parents of the more privileged children in the US have taken matters into their own hands. They are creating learning pods for homeschooling their children in small groups. A few families are pooling resources and hiring retired teachers as a workaround. Parents take turns to monitor the cohort of students in their backyard learning pods. This learning bubble includes families that share safe conditions such as ‘no parent travels to work’.
Startups have sprouted to help students and educators find suitable learning pods, using a set of matching criteria like location and age group. These micro-schools sprouting in rich neighbourhood will further exacerbate the exclusion of underprivileged children from education. Parents from low income families don’t have similar means. Their children have also started part-time jobs – bagging groceries and delivering food – to cover loss of household income. Public schools will be further neglected when the more affluent parents withdraw their children. It is just one of the ways in which inequality will be deepened. The barriers put up by the pandemic will be simply insurmountable.
In the current uncertainty of educating underprivileged children, we need to start with basics. They need laptops, Internet and teachers who can teach them remotely. When the pandemic dust settles, some of these distance learning programmes could become permanent fixtures, giving children access to teachers from anywhere. Studies show that children who have access to computers and Internet, demonstrate faster learning abilities. Online learning can open doors to more targeted education that will make them more employable in a future world that will be unequivocally digital.
Unesco’s 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report states that less than 10 per cent of countries have laws that ensure full inclusion in education. The government in countries facing an education crisis need to act fast and decisively. Ordinary citizens need to step up to create online learning pods for students from low-income groups.
The education crisis will quickly balloon into a full-blown social crisis. The exclusion of underprivileged children from education will mean a fragile and vulnerable society. The stakes are high for entire generations.
(Shalini Verma is CEO of PIVOT technologies)
