Amidst the nationwide lockdown, schools and universities are depending on the online modes of teaching in order to maintain continuity of education. Schools are launching apps, conducting classes over Google Hangouts or Zoom, and sending interactive worksheets and videos for learning.

Even though internet-based teaching is the most appropriate stop-gap arrangement now, it has highlighted the inequalities in the education system. A majority of the student population is being left out in the pursuit of basic education.

Municipal schools in Maharashtra, like in the Amravati district, are relying on the most basic internet app, WhatsApp, to connect to their students. Across the district, municipal school teachers have been asked to make WhatsApp group of all parents in their respective classes and send them lessons that children can learn at home. This was the simplest tool teachers in rural and semi-urban regions like Amravati could use.

Teachers are taking help from the central government’s digital learning portal DIKSHA, which has lessons in multiple languages for all classes from primary to senior secondary. Some teachers are also making videos for practical concepts like teaching photosynthesis or geometry. These videos are then shared on the WhatsApp groups to connect to their students.

But not to all.

Digital Divide

Gopal Kamble, Principal of the Upper Primary Hindi School in Hazibazar in Amravati, said while teachers have been enthusiastic in preparing lessons and circulating through WhatsApp groups, they are only able to reach out to a section of their students.

“Out of 716 students enrolled in the school, 450 of them do not have access to smartphones and hence cannot use WhatsApp. We are just not able to send learning material to them,” Kamble said.

About 9,000 students from poor families are enrolled in various municipal schools in Amravati. Of these, just over 2,500 have access to android phones. That’s a mere 27 percent.

Without access to any form of smartphone or internet, 73 percent of municipal school students in Amravati and a similar large percentage in other municipal and government schools across the country, are missing out on their education during the lockdown.

The municipal schools were in their final term when the lockdown came into effect. Kamble says while a majority of the year’s curriculum was completed, the month of March and April are used to revise concepts and introduce students to newer subjects that will be part of the next year’s curriculum. These are important to bridge the gaps found in learning levels in government schools, where more often than not students of different age groups and grades study in the same classroom.

Kamble said the majority of students in his school come from minority communities and their learning is not at grade level. The school runs learning camps in the month of May and June for slow learners. “If schools reopen, we will have to do extra hours from July for students of our learning camp and even those who are missing out now because they do not have access to WhatsApp.”

Amol Bhuyar, a teacher at the primary school in Warud village in Amravati, said he is just able to send revision lessons to his students of class 1 to 4. Only 15 out of the 40 students in his school have access to smartphones or WhatsApp. “It is difficult to teach new concepts online and most of my students are not able to access the videos we are sending. We have made a group with 15 parents who have WhatsApp and I am sending some videos from DIKSHA app also.”

Patchy internet connectivity is adding to the challenge. Bhuyar, who had innovated his teaching methods by bringing an Amazon Alexa device in his classroom two years ago, says internet connectivity is a major hurdle in rural areas like his.

Only 36 percent of the Indian population, about 385 million above the age of 12, has access to the internet, according to the India Internet 2019 report by IAMAI and Nielsen. However, the access is not uniform with just 27 percent in rural areas and 51 percent in urban areas getting access to the internet. WhatsApp has over 400 million subscribers in India, the majority in urban parts of the country.

For Premsu Thombare, a teacher at primary school in Kachurna, Amravati, connectivity hurdles are taking a toll. We are sending daily, subject wise-lessons. “Sometimes I do video call with my students to explain some lessons or concepts but the video quality is very poor. Network doesn’t support all our efforts.”

Dependence on Parents

Teachers in Amravati municipal schools say parents who are daily wagers and most often uneducated themselves are finding it difficult to manage their children’s studies at home.

“We have to constantly call the parents to remind them to get their children to do the exercises we are sending. Some parents are receptive, some others don’t pay much attention,” Bhuyar said.

A few parents who we spoke to were enthusiastic about WhatsApp lessons, but added they couldn’t assist their children in studies.

Waqar, a class 7 student is now taking out an hour every day to study from his father’s mobile phone. His mother Shaheena Parveen told us over the phone that she does not know what lessons are being taught but was relieved that children are at least being taught something.

“Otherwise full day they were loitering around, playing. Now with lessons coming on WhatsApp, children are also feeling responsible.” Both Shaheena and her husband Sheikh Pir Mohammad, a daily wage labourer, are uneducated.

Abdul, who runs a tea stall outside Amravati station says since he is at home now, he is able to follow his child’s lessons. “I don’t understand much of what he studies, but I can at least ask him to sit down for an hour with his notebook and write lessons that teachers are sending.” Shahad, Abdul’s son studies in class 6.

According to the NSSO survey of 2017-18, nearly 45 percent of India’s population above 15 years of age is either illiterate or has just attended formal primary education. In rural India, almost 70 percent of people above 15 years of age are either “not-literate” or have education only till middle school. This section may not have the required level of education to teach their children at home.

“Obviously the hours spent in school makes for better learning. The concentration and involvement in the classroom are different. Here we cannot even assess the learning level. When schools open a lot of students will be lagging in their learning. But we are at least trying to keep the continuity in the education, as much as possible,” Thombare said.

First Published:Apr 27, 2020 6:39 PM IST