Rights to Education During COVID-19

TISB Grade 10 student, Shubh, has recently done an extensive research on education and the effects of COVID-19, and produced a report called ‘Protecting the Right Education for Children in India and Adapting Our School Education System from the Learnings of COVID-19’. Shubh’s research report evaluates the impact on the Right to Education (RTE) for children in India during COVID-19 as well as long-term risks, as the world adapts and moves forward. The scope of this research includes primary, middle and high school education for students in the country.

We are a young nation with an immense amount of possibilities. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, many of the children who live in rural locations, they lost their basic and vital right to education because they didn’t have the technological means to access online material and to continue their school learning online – Shubh, Grade 10. 

India is the largest education system in the world, with over 400 million children between the age group of 3 and 18. In 2020, the Indian Government adopted the New Education Policy (NEP), setting a new and the most radical path for Indian education since the Right To Education (RTE) act in 2009. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, norms have changed and access to education among India’s youth has been disrupted – affecting hundreds of million children. 

Taking about six months to complete, TISB Grade 10 student, Shubh, carried out research using census demographics, as well as interviews and qualitative methods of government policy, to find out how the pandemic has affected education of less privileged school children. The aim of the research was “to try to evaluate all the challenges faced by children in these troubling times, and the viable solutions to tackle these problems”, says Shubh. “In the beginning it was quite intimidating to have such an ambitious project ahead of you, but as the it went on I became more and more happy with the work and in the end I had an end-product of which I could be proud to call my own work”, says Shubh, who had guidance from Dr Suresh Bhagavatula from from IIM Bangalore, where the report has also been published. 

Based on interviews and research, the analysis in the report examines how the newly approved NEP aligns to the challenges. The report concludes that the pandemic and closure of physical schools has widened the access to education significantly, as only about 20% of families with children in India have access to internet (and only 15% in rural areas), and only about 11% have access to a computer. Many students across India also relies on schools to provide them with the Mid Day Meal scheme, which is now hampered and may lead to significant negative impact on children’s growth and development – leading to stunting and wasting, leading to delayed motor development, impaired cognitive function, poor school performance and larger risk of mortality. Moreover, it also means that socially and economically vulnerable households will need to spend more money on food, causing further economic distress. Furthermore, due to the closure of schools and social distancing, many students miss their friends and feel isolated, lonely and depressed. 

The report “also evaluates the aftermath of what will happen to the education sector after COVID-19 and the long-term risks of not bringing these children back to school”, explains Shubh, who worked with the organisation Zero Gravity to provide school children with free coding classes. Since the organisation shut down its operations as a result of the pandemic, Shubh realised that the children must be struggling because of their lack of access to technology. Therefore, the research and the report also highlights creative solutions that communities of teachers and students have come up with across the country, to overcome the challenges of lack of technology, such as computers and internet infrastructure for online learning.