Evidence of the irreparable damage done to children’s education and future livelihoods by the prolonged 63 week pandemic phobia closure of pre-primary, primary and secondary schools countrywide, is assuming mountainous proportions. The latest is a report (August 6) of the parliamentary standing committee on education which forthrightly says that with 70 percent of the country’s children and youth unable to access Internet connectivity and digital devices online, education has proved “ineffective”, inflicting huge learning loss on the world’s largest child and youth population of 500 million. Yet despite alarming reports about the massive damage suffered by children — especially in bottom-of-pyramid households without access to digital devices/connectivity and living in overcrowded shanties in urban slums and/or in tiny rural homes — by the prolonged lockdown of schools, state governments have been delaying reopening citing child health safety issues and parental opposition. However, it’s becoming increasingly clear that parental opposition to restarting on-campus schooling is restricted to the urban middle class safely ensconced in fully-wired houses with excellent learn-from-home facilities for children. The large majority of poor parents are ready, willing and able to send their children to school and genuinely believe that their children are safer from the Coronavirus in school where they also receive a free mid-day meal, rather than in overcrowded shanties and slums. Fortunately, the sustained advocacy of educationists, health experts, education NGOs and EducationWorld, PW’s affiliate publication which wrote a detailed cover feature ‘Why Schools Need to Open Right Now’ (EW July), has prompted some state governments to permit on-campus classes. As we go to press, ten states have reopened schools for middle and secondary children. But pre-primary and primary schools are still shut (except in Punjab). Against this backdrop of schools reopening cautiously, we present a timely cover story on how parents should encourage and enable their children’s return to normative schooling. Also with an information overload — not always accurate — in social media about the impact of Covid-19 on children, we present reliable information and expert advice about the low vulnerability of children to the dread virus, and compelling reasons why all parents should support children’s return to on-campus learning — with adequate Covid-19 safety protocols — to ensure their physical, emotional and educational well-being. Benefits far outweigh the risks. Also, check out our informative Health section advising parents about best ways to cope with pandemic-induced health woes such as vitamin deficiencies, sleep deficit and anxiety/depression and Middle Years essay about the numerous benefits of children returning to playing fields and sports tracks.
