Pandemic disruption learning losses: Don’t leave the vital task of recovery half-done

livemint.com:

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. In March 2020, about five years ago, schools were shut because of covid. Thereafter, school operations remained unstable, opening and shutting periodically.

The cataclysmic second wave demolished efforts and hopes to get children back into schools. Only by April 2022 did things return to ‘normal.’ This disruption of schooling for nearly two years led to a massive loss of learning. What was supposed to be learnt during this period was not.

In addition, children forgot a lot of what they had learnt previously. Have we been able to recover this lost learning for our children in the three years that have passed? The answer is ‘no.’ Even in states that have done the best, the learning recovery isn’t full. Two things need to be noted.

First, there is a noticeable variance in learning recovery across classes. The worst affected, where recovery has been the least, are students now in class 5. These children had just been admitted to schools when they were shut in March 2020.

So, their first two years of schooling were through that period of severe disruption. Second, there is large variance across states and Union territories (UTs). School systems are run by states and UTs and their capacity and effectiveness varies significantly.

Some of the difference in recovery can be explained by this difference in systemic capacity, but I suspect that most of the difference is explained by the differing responses of states to the loss of learning. Here, I am not referring to the absolute level of learning of school children, which is largely a result of the systemic capacity in that state. But to recovery of the learning that was lost to the pandemic.