Schools are slowly reopening as we (hopefully) enter a post-COVID world.
A student who stopped going to school in class 4 is now in class 6. A student who was in class 6 is now in class 8. A complete year lost. Particularly hard hit are rural children, who are typically advancing more in school than their parents and so are able to get less support at home, and who were nearly impossible to reach with online learning.
Basic lessons have to be re-taught. Our project partner Deenabandhu is focusing on bridge lessons for government school children, taking into account the bridge curriculum outlined by the government. Visits to government schools (as part of the Science education project) by facilitators and resource persons from the project have been increased in frequency. Focus is first on 40 schools where they have a good rapport with the government school teachers and who they have been working with for a while.
Reaching 40 schools means helping 4000 children catch up.
Government school teachers are happy to have the guidance.
Smiles on children’s faces as they are back in school are a joy to see!
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India closed most schools, colleges, and other educational institutions in March of 2020, as the pandemic began in an effort to curb the spread of the deadly virus. While many schools in urban or high-income areas moved to online learning, that was not an option to students in rural and low-income areas. The government now says the recent dramatic overall decline in COVID-19 cases made it safe to begin reopening schools. India’s health ministry Wednesday reported 41,965 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours. In May, the daily rate peaked at more than 400,000.