Gurgaon: In a bid to assess the impact of the Covid-19 on education, the state education department has sought a report from all districts on the status of school dropouts and switch from private to state-run schools.
With schools being allowed to call all teachers for administrative work, the department has directed districts to also include those who dropped midway due to inaccessibility to online education.
The department has maintained that the second Covid wave has caused disruptions in public education and data collection is the first step towards future planning.
“It appears that we may have to live with the pandemic for some time.
So, it is essential for us to assess the situation and plan interventions accordingly,” said a senior education department official.
According to the officials, the pandemic has had a multifold impact on education.
The transition to online education was not as smooth as it was touted to be, especially in rural belts where the digital divide was substantially pronounced.
A lot of students dropped out after exclusion from online education for over one year.
Around 3,000 children dropped out of schools last year in Gurgaon, the district education department had estimated.
The disruption in education hasn’t been just limited to state-run schools.
The lockdown has added to financial stress on parents, but unlike last year, the government hasn’t offered any rebate on school fees.
Thus, a lot of students have been migrating to public schools.
The department claimed that the status report will form the basis of steps like reaching out to school dropouts and convincing their parents to send their kids back to school.
“Data on these aspects will become the basis of future directions and give us an idea of what efforts we need to put in for different kinds of students.
For students who have dropped out, we’ll mobilise volunteers to integrate them back into formal schooling.
Similarly, mapping trends on the shift from private to government schools will help the department to ensure that the transition is smooth,” said district education officer Indu Boken.