Structural Inequalities and the Pandemic
Early in the pandemic, the saying that everyone was in the same boat was heard often. The primary point being communicated was that the virus spared none and did not discriminate between the rich and poor, privileged and marginalised. However, it was soon realised that while everyone was in the same storm, the boats that people were in were vastly different. As Frank Snowden, epidemiologist and medical historian, put it:
epidemic diseases are not random events that afflict societies capriciously and without warning. On the contrary, every society produces its own specific vulnerabilities. Studying them is to understand that society’s structure, the standard of living, and political priorities.[i]
We learnt early from UNICEF reports that the closure of schools due to the lockdown has impacted 247 million children enrolled in elementary and secondary schools. This was not surprising if we recognise that the pandemic heightened existing inequalities and accelerated social and economic trends already in place.[ii]
UNICEF studies show that out of 100 students, 29 per cent of girls and boys drop out of school before completing the full cycle of elementary education, and often they are the most marginalised children.[iii] The report writes that the government of India’s Right to Education Act brought in by the UPA has been “instrumental in the reduction of the number of Out of School Children (OOSC) aged 6 to 14 years, from 13.46 million in 2006 to six million in 2014 (Source: RI-IMRB Surveys, 2009 and 2014).” Of the six million children still out of school, a majority are from marginalised communities, including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and religious minority groups.
Thus, despite the gains, challenges remain:
because most of the children who are in school are not learning at grade-appropriate levels. Poor quality teaching and learning practices result in lower school attendance, and children drop out due to early marriage, child labour or because they are subject to violence or abuse. Seasonal migration, poverty, lack of access to and awareness of social protection measures also lead to children dropping out of school.[iv]
Inequities in access to quality early childhood education
There are approximately 20 million children between the ages of 3-6 in India that are not attending preschool. This is primarily because of a lack of basic infrastructure, qualified early childhood educators and appropriate learning materials. Low school readiness levels in cognitive and language skills prevail for children in government-run Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) and the private preschools (Source: Longitudinal study, Center for Early Childhood Education and Development, Ambedkar University, ASER Centre).
In such a context, the impact of the pandemic was far-reaching and devastating. While online education became the new normal for the privileged, the marginalised were forced to drop out.
“Online education is not an option for all, as only one in four children has access to digital devices and Internet connectivity. Pre-Covid, only a quarter of households (24 per cent) in India had access to the Internet, and there is a large rural-urban and gender divide,” says the UNICEF statement, raising concerns on a higher dropout rate in schools’ once classes recommence.[v]
The Pandemic, Online Education and its Differential Impact
Education in modern societies is often seen as the greatest leveller reaching out equally to all irrespective of class, caste, faith, gender and other inequalities. It is seen as an institution that promotes social equality and mobility. In this context, public institutions of education were an important source of affordable education. What we have witnessed in these times is that the already existing trend of neglecting public education and encouraging private players have grown.
Online education and virtual learning deepened inequalities for many people on different parameters. In the wake of the pandemic, children with disabilities found themselves disadvantaged. Young girls are being married off. Child marriages increased during the pandemic. Desperate parents, left without a livelihood in the middle of a pandemic, are rushing to marry off their underage daughters.[vi]
The unprecedented public health emergency and the subsequent lockdown and recovery measures have disproportionately impacted people with disabilities, who are one of the groups most vulnerable to neglect and exclusion in times of unrest and crisis.
People with disabilities are more likely to experience higher unmet health needs due to inaccessible facilities, financial barriers, lack of accessible transport and previous negative experiences with the healthcare system.[vii]
Children with a disability across several states in India face a considerable risk of dropping out of school. They are unable to cope with the online/digital medium for their classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. [viii] Families belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities suffered an acute financial crisis in the wake of the pandemic. Students of SC and ST communities urged the Directorate of General Education (Higher Secondary) to grant fee waiver for the first-year improvement / supplementary exams given the financial crisis facing families following the pandemic outbreak. [ix]
That class, caste, gender and disabilities affect life chances and access to education was known. But the scale and intensity of their role were dramatically visible during the pandemic. Unfortunately, even as studies show this, the dominant buzz in the public discourse is about the possibilities of online education. This period has thus witnessed the emergence and growth of many online educational platforms such as Unacademy, Google for education, Byju’s, Brainly, etc. [x] There are possibilities for online education, but to assume that everyone can access it equally is wrong. Such an assumption violates the right of everyone to education in a democratic society.
The Importance of a Classroom for Learning
So far, we have been focussing on inequalities. This should not suggest that this is the only issue at hand. The classroom is a dynamic space for learning. The classroom is the real, tangible place to teach and to learn. It is where teachers engage students, encourage participation from the entire class, and expand on students’ thoughts and ideas. These interactions cannot be duplicated in a virtual classroom.
Teacher-to-student interactions, along with student-to-teacher and student-to-student interactions, are all part of the learning experience. Spontaneous and random interactions via questions or stated opinions are necessary for presenting a full scope of the subject being taught.
Whether learning is online or not, the process of establishing a sense of a group of learners is both a challenge and in itself a learning experience. Learning is context and situation specific.
Online learning provides a material-based educational experience. Although it can be a materials-rich and stimulating learning situation, it can also be a socially impoverished and lonely learning situation. It is for the learners to depend on another important construct, the learner’s learning style preference.[xi]
The benefits of belonging to the community have been referred to as collective good. Physical interaction in a classroom cannot be replaced entirely by online learning. Some studies argue that computer-mediated communities cannot ‘foster substantive and genuine personal relationships ‘legitimate social bonding’.[xii]
Vygotsky (1962) theorised that learning is characterised by collaboration, communication and interaction. A basic perspective is that human interaction is essential in human development.[xiii] Lerman (1996) stated that language is not seen as giving structure to the hitherto awakened cognising mind; instead, the mind is made in rambling action-based practices.[xiv] Another significant aspect of Vygotsky’s work is the idea and conception of the ‘zone of proximal development – the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential problem solving under guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers which somehow develops lack of competition and introvert tendency. [xv] Classroom interaction alone can make this possible.
[i]https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-pandemics-change-history, accessed on 7th March 2020.
[ii] https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/247-million-schoolchildren-in-india-impacted-by-covid-induced-school-closures-unicef-219998, accessed on 7th March 2020.
[iii] https://www.unicef.org/india/what-we-do/education, accessed on 7th March 2020.
[iv] https://www.unicef.org/india/what-we-do/education, accessed on 7th March 2020.
[v] https://indianexpress.com/article/education/closure-of-schools-due-to-covid-impacted-247-mn-children-in-india-unicef-7213178/, accessed on 7th March 2020.
[vi] https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/11/05/931274119/child-marriages-are-up-in-the-pandemic-heres-how-india-tries-to-stop-them, accessed on 7th March 2020.
[vii]People with disabilities are more likely to experience higher unmet health needs due to factors such as inaccessible facilities, financial barriers, lack of accessible transport and previous negative experiences with the healthcare system.
[viii]https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/43-lakh-disabled-students-across-states-may-drop-out-unable-to-cope-with-online-education/story-ZAg4a1nyWDluuq4BfV2V0K.html, accessed on 7th March 2020.
[ix]https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/sc-st-students-urge-government-to-waive-fees/article33098169.ece, accessed on 7th March 2020.
[x]https://www.thetoptens.com/online-learning-platforms-india/, accessed on 7th March 2020.
[xi]https://ascilite.org/conferences/brisbane99/papers/lynch.pdf, accessed on 7th March 2020.
[xii]https://ascilite.org/conferences/brisbane99/papers/lynch.pdf, accessed on 7th March 2020.
[xiii] Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and Language. Cambridge: MIT Press.
[xiv] Lerman, S. (1996) Intersubjectivity in Mathematics Learning: A challenge to the radical constructivist paradigm. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. 27:133–150.
[xv]https://ascilite.org/conferences/brisbane99/papers/lynch.pdf, accessed on 7th March 2020.
***
Nupur Pattanaik teaches in the Department of Sociology, Central University of Odisha.