Learning gap and holidays pose challenge for course completion

Nagpur: Learning gap, a term broadly used for negative impact of school closures on academic ability of students, is posing a challenge for completing the curriculum at schools, say teachers. Add to this the regular holidays plus unscheduled closures due to heavy rains or flooding and the problem is compounded multifold for teachers.
Ashnarayan Tiwari, principal of Adarsh Vidyalaya (Gandhibagh) said, “It is a big challenge for all schools and the issue is being addressed at multiple levels. The common action plan for all teachers is to familiarize students with the basics. Due to this learning gap, students have fallen out of the habit of writing, reading and their attention span has decreased.”
And the problem is separate for primary and high school/junior college students, the two extreme poles of the school system. Tiwari said, “Those who are in Std X now have landed without attending regular classes in VIII and IX. And everyone knows that Std IX is the base for X. Though online classes were going on, we all know it was a not a success because of poor net connectivity and even non-availability of smartphones with students.”
For students in primary section, the problem is even more severe. A primary section class teacher said, “I told my principal that it feels we are working thrice as hard. Just one day of teaching now drains away all of my energy because these students do not know anything.”
To put her problem into perspective, consider this. Students who are currently in Std III, last attended regular physical classes when they were in KG-2. “Can you imagine that? Students have missed two years of education and have been fast tracked by our schools to keep the system moving,” said the teacher who did not wish to be identified.
“In Std III, I am now literally teaching 5% of my students how to write properly. This is a disaster and I do not understand how we can complete the course in an honest way,” she added.
Another teacher said, “Holidays are galore in our education system which further hampers the teaching system. Look at this current week itself, it was filled with holidays. Then earlier this month many students did not come because of heavy rains and at least on one day, our school was shut because of weather warning. We will struggle to complete the course, without doubt.”