Learning Losses : What to do about the Heavy Cost of COVID on Children, Youth, and Future Productivity
Recently, the Finance Minister participated in a discussion on a research paper titled “Learning Losses : What to Do About the Heavy Cost of COVID on Children, Youth and Future Productivity”.
Learning loss due to school closures is one of the biggest global threats to the COVID-19 recovery.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNNICEF), this type of learning loss could cost this generation of students about $17 trillion in lifetime earnings.
In India, according to the National Achievement Survey for the year 2021, the average performance of students has fallen by 9% as compared to the year 2017.
In addition, limited accesses to digital devices and lack of connectivity have also severely hampered distance learning.
Key steps taken by India to overcome learning loss
- India has launched the National Foundation Learning Study for Class 3 students. It is based on the Global Proficiency Framework.
- Teach at the Right Level: Under this, children are divided into instructional groups based on their learning needs rather than their age or class.
- Alternative Academic Calendar: Contains week-wise plans incorporating curriculum-based learning outcomes.
- DIKSHA: It has been identified by India as one of the 12 Digital Global Goods. It provides QR code based text books to primary school children.
- ‘Vidyanjali 2.0’ initiative to connect volunteers with schools and ‘Nishtha’ initiative for integrated teacher training has been launched.
Source – The Hindu
