Effect of Covid-19 on Child Education for the unofficial zero academic year 2020-21

India has faced many challenges like child labor, child illiteracy, child malnutrition, child deaths, etc. Covid-19 has exacerbated all these portions and almost denied the right to education for children. The nation has developed multiple programs to combat the virus, but the pandemic's effects are still rising. Education is the children's fundamental right, and due to the spread of this virus, the right to education is at high risk, especially for the underprivileged and poverty-driven families. The global pandemic is disrupting the future of many disadvantaged children by restricting access to their quality education and thus violating our children's human rights.

Education right in India during this global crisis

School closures have impacted India's 2030 Education vision and goals to provide quality education for everyone. Child education in 2020 is entirely made through online education. Only the children who are available for digital tools are only able to continue their studies online. This kind of digital literacy is not accessible for every school-going child. Because having a laptop, internet connection, and computer knowledge are mandatory to succeed in this modern education world.

After the first lockdown on March 24, 2020, for 24 days, the schools were closed till now, and the government has denied declaring 2020-21 year as zero academic year. The school closures in India have impacted millions of children's education. This condition has impacted school teachers also, as they urgently need to prepare the online training material. This majorly affected vulnerable children and schools with a lack of digital environmental support.

If the schools reopened, the reports claim that 71% of parents will not send their children. Since the government has refused to stamp 2020 as a zero academic year, they encourage students to conduct online exams or other alternatives. Gone are the days during the lockdown; we must adopt marathon measures to provide quality education to the underprivileged and vulnerable.

The students are asked to return to schools based on their choice by providing Covid-safe environments, but this will not achieve full-merged results. We need to confront a few more challenges to implement social distancing norms. The schools must provide masks, sanitation, and handwashing stations to encourage students to attend schools and colleges.

Primary challenges of right to education in India

#1. Remote Learning:

One of the disadvantages of schools is not providing needful and accessible remote learning equipment for our children. Poverty-stricken and marginalized families, and children with disabilities, living in remote locations, slums, refugees are at the risk of getting the benefits of remote learning opportunities.

 #2. Technology:

ring 2020, 54% of Indians use the internet, and the remaining will not access laptops and smartphones with an internet connection. This gap is more visible in rural areas, separating the Indian children's education between rural and urban areas.

#3. Digital Literacy:

Though we have a few digital learning systems, there is a lack of reliable infrastructure to support the students' training. Indeed, children under the poverty line don't have access to this digital equipment, and the country got very little time to set these education priorities. Internet speed and costs are also a focus for the children to continue their studies during the lockdown period.

#4. Girls Education is adversely impacted:

As we know that gender inequality persists everywhere, and people with a low-income line will support male education and give less prominence to girl education. Previously, schools are safe heavens for girls living in poverty because they are at a high risk of child marriages, child trafficking, violence, and exploitation. Due to this pandemic, girls' education is a bit more severely impacted. Many girls have lost their opportunity to study for a lifetime, and the parents have shifted their settlement plans.

Child labor & teen pregnancy increased due to the situations that emerged due to the Covid-19, and these atrocities are often not reported. Illiterate parents or poverty-stricken families think that girls' role is good enough to care for the family & children, and refuse to allow them for remote education which they can't afford.

How to normalize the circumstances?

A lot more developing countries have set quality education for all as their primary goal, including India. A great budget should allocate to provide quality child education, which simultaneously reduces child labor. We must protect our fundamental right- education for all, even during emergency times. For every vulnerable child to obtain a quality education, the following principles must adhere to

1. Availability: Provide safe digital systems to the students in-person for remote learning. The necessary study equipment needs to be given to the children to encourage safe and happy studying practices.
2. Accessibility: The challenges the vulnerable children & girls face to access the systems must map and track to estimate their learning capacity.
3. Acceptability: The children need to understand the educational materials from the online sessions. These materials are prepared by considering children's culture and understandability.
4. Adaptability: The provided education during this pandemic season must be adaptable to society's needs and support multiple cultural settings.

The above mentioned 4As help balance the inequalities and build a culture blend with cooperation and inclusivity in education systems alongside safeguarding the children's human rights. The current condition may impose children on mental and physical ill-health due to the drastic changes in the education system. 

One year we lost means lakhs of people will lose their right to educational opportunity; hence, we must prioritize child education and eradicate child labor. We shouldn't lose a generation of well-educated children for the effects created by the pandemic. 

ISFH Foundation is determined to protect the education rights of vulnerable children in India. ISFH means India Stands For Humanity, established to save people from their adversaries. Join us, making quality education accessible to every child and provided in a safe environment. Sponsor a vulnerable child study by making your donation to ISFH Foundation. Let's make India a dream place for the world. Visit the ISFH Foundation and Join our Child education mission to educate India's underprivileged and help our nation move up.