The mega Rs.20.97 lakh crore Covid-19 economic aid package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 12, provided tax breaks for small businesses, incentives for domestic manufacturing and free foodgrains for the poor. However, it totally ignored the pandemic-battered education sector – Summiya Yasmeen The raging Covid-19 pandemic has pushed Indian education into a state of chaos. Closed since early March to check the spread of the deadly Coronavirus which has claimed 108,000 lives and infected 7 million people across the country (October 10), India’s 1.4 million Anganwadis (government run child nutrition and early childhood education centres), estimated 60,000 private pre-primaries, 1.5 million K-12 schools, 41,901 colleges and 1,028 universities are experiencing huge disruption in education delivery. In the country’s 1.2 million state government schools, learning has all but stopped, with a few states such as Kerala and Delhi broadcasting token classes over television and radio. Moreover, with 214 million children enrolled in anganwadis and government primary schools deprived of nutrition and mid-day meals for six months, child malnutrition has scaled new heights. The country’s 450,000 private schools, especially budget private schools, are also in deep trouble with thousands confronted with the prospect of bankruptcy, as unpaid tuition dues have accumulated during the past two quarters following confusing and contradictory fee deferment directives passed by several state governments during the lockdown, even as these directives mandate schools to continue paying teachers’ salaries and provide online education. A recent report of the Hyderabad-based Cerestra Ventures estimates that over 1,000 private schools are up for sale countrywide with managements having suffered massive revenue loss. Moreover, according to the Delhi-based National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA), which has a membership of 60,000 budget private schools (BPS) countrywide, “hundreds” of BPS have already shut down across the country. Likewise the Telangana Recognised Schools Management Association estimates that 2,000 BPS have closed statewide as on September 24. In light of this unprecedented distress and turmoil in Indian education, child rights activists, K-12 education leaders, private school managements and teachers associations have been petitioning — and continue to petition — the Central and state governments to urgently provide bridge finance, loans and/or grants to ensure learning continuity of the country’s 260 million school-going children of whom 47.5 percent are in private schools. But, this SOS chorus has fallen on deaf ears. The mega Rs.20.97 lakh crore Covid-19 economic aid/stimulus package — “equivalent to almost 10 percent of India’s GDP” — announced by prime minister Narendra Modi on May 12, and christened Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (ABY), provided tax breaks for small businesses, incentives for domestic manufacturing and free foodgrains for the poor. However, it totally ignored the pandemic-battered education sector. In sharp contrast, governments worldwide have provided substantial grants, loans and financial aid to schools and higher education institutions. For instance, the United States government in its $2 trillion (Rs.146 lakh crore) Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, passed on March 27 allocated $31 billion (Rs.2.35 lakh crore) to education. The law provides $13.5…
