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CS Satheesha spelled “APPLE” in his mobile phone because he was teaching remotely in the only place where he could receive the signal-the tree house in the back garden of southern India.
In the Kodagu district of Karnataka, 8-year-old Shreeshma listened to Satheesha’s WhatsApp voice recordings on her mother’s phone on her porch and repeated sentences such as: “This is a cat”.
In a country where schools have been closed for more than a year, which is one of the countries with the longest suspension of classes in the world, she and her classmates are lucky.
According to a UNICEF report earlier this year, only a quarter of children in India have access to digital devices and the Internet.
Many families sell their property or borrow money to buy smartphones for their children to continue their education.
According to UNICEF data, only a quarter of children in India have access to digital devices and the Internet [Diptendu Dutta/AFP]In some rural areas, children have been trekking in the mountains for miles, through the snake-infested jungle, trying to get in touch with their teachers.
Welfare economist Jean Dreze said that this situation is bound to exacerbate India’s already “extremely unequal” in education, and this inequality has exacerbated India’s class, caste, and gender division.
“In general, privileged children can continue to learn through online education. However, for poor children, online education is fictitious, and most states have not made other arrangements for them,” Drez told AFP.
According to UNICEF, even before the pandemic, more than 6 million Indian girls and boys could not go to school.
Almost 30% of people drop out of school, and the proportion of girls and children from the most marginalized communities is even higher.
The pandemic and the heavy blow to the Indian economy — and the poorest suffering — will only make things worse.
Because the breadwinner is unemployed, many families have no choice but to let the children lay down their books to make ends meet.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that there has been an increase in child marriages—which means one less mouth—and human trafficking.
What is worrying is that even if the school finally reopens, many children will not return to education, resulting in the “lost generation” of unqualified young people.
“If they feel they can’t keep up, they are less likely to return to school,” said Terry Durnnian, director of education at UNICEF India.
Satheesha climbed into the tree house he built in the backyard to provide a better signal for online courses [Manjunath Kiran/AFP]Three kids with a cell phone
According to UNESCO’s data, in the 60-week period and count, only five other countries have closed schools longer than India, affecting 320 million children.
The continued closure is in stark contrast to the relaxation of restrictions in most other areas of activity in India.
Bablu Baghel in Agra, where the Taj Mahal is located, has seen his monthly income of 20,000 rupees (270 US dollars) dry up with tourists visiting India’s top tourist attractions.
The three children of the taxi driver must share his mobile phone to attend classes remotely. He can’t afford another device.
“That’s all we have,” Bakhr told AFP, adding that mobile data costs — once the cheapest in the world — have soared, raising the price of streaming courses.
Imran Salmani, a barber in Agra, whose income has shrunk by 80%, is now unable to afford the re-entry of his two daughters in the new school year.
“I want to go back to school,” Salmani’s nine-year-old daughter Aliya said.
Their school sends WhatsApp images instead of lessons. Parents want to teach their children and submit videos of their classwork. This is a task that both parties are working hard to accomplish.
“I want to give my daughter all the opportunities I have never had before,” Salmani told AFP. “We couldn’t keep up.”
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