Economically Weaker Section students are among the hardest hit in the course of the pandemic

Vinod Kakumanu
Dec. 30, 2020, 11:52 a.m.

According to a government survey, as many as 27 percent of children in center funded government schools do not have access to devices that are critical to participate in the online classes.

The survey in question has indicated that the most affected ones are the children of the migrants. The lack of awareness about the educational resources offered by the state governments coupled with their dropout status from their home town schools lead to the situation of academic deprivation.

The Delhi government has recently disclosed that around 15 percent of the children enrolled in the government schools have become untraceable i.e. they are not attending the e-classes and could not be contacted, primarily due to migration. The number of government schools in Delhi is around 1100 and 1.5 million students are enrolled in them.

As if the government statistics were not bleak enough, the surveys done by private bodies and civil society organizations indicate that the number of children devoid of education during the pandemic is much higher. The number of students from EWS is around 80 percent who are the hardest hit.

An ed-tech platform, Buddy4study indicates that as many as 30 percent do not have access to the online medium.

Another reason for the students missing online classes is that there is only one device in the family and there are siblings who need them.

According to a May-June study by CRY, as many as 94 percent of children in southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana have inadequate access to smartphones and the internet. A majority does not have phones for exclusive use. This is evidenced from the figure—55 percent have access for 3 or fewer days a week and 77 percent for less than 2 hours a day.