Education Debacle

A response to The Island editorial, ‘Stop brawling in a graveyard’

By Dr Tara de Mel

The editorial of The Island (01 Sept.) succinctly and accurately describes the education debacle a la Sri Lanka.

Long-term school closures since March 2020, the interruption of even the smattering of internet-based education using WhatsApp notes and Zoom classes that fewer than 50 percent of students accessed since about two months ago, and the frustration of the entire teacher-principal population due to unrectified salary anomalies and scant respect by authorities, describe a sad story and a systemic collapse of the education system of this country.

The Covid Delta wave has not only engulfed Sri Lanka. It’s galloping it’s way through every country, rich and poor, East and West. Yet, most countries have considered the education debacle of long-term shuttering of schools, with the gravity it deserves. They vaccinated their teachers early and some countries are well en route to vaccinating senior school students as well. They have planned extensively for using diagnostic tests to identify Covid learning losses, developed methods for targeted instruction bearing in mind deprivation of education for long periods, and have begun training teachers since few months ago, on how to manage reintegration of students into school and how best to deliver post pandemic education.

School re-opening this month is on the cards in several states in India (https://www.livemint.com/education/news/schools-to-reopen-in-these-states-from-tomorrow-full-list-here-11630373530981.html

https://www.livemint.com

/education/news/schools-to-reopen-in-these-states-from-tomorrow-full-list-here-11630373530981.html

https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/how-up-primary-schools-are-preparing-to-reopen-from-sept-1-1847491-2021-08-31 ), the UK (https://www.bbc.com

/news/education-51643556) and the US.

Canada and most other countries are due to reopen schools in the Fall. The Canadian Chairman of the Worldwide Commission to Educate All Kids Post-pandemic, Irvin Studin, describes this period as the ‘darkest pedagogical period in modern history’ (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-how-to-fix-canadas-education-catastrophe-in-five-steps/).

Canada has about five million school children. About 200,000 of that group had no access to any form of internet-based education during the pandemic, and were totally ousted from all forms of education. Yet, they have rebounded with vigor and are reintegrating children into schools with clear plans : (https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ottawa-carleton-district-school-board-passes-mandatory-covid-19-vaccinations-for-staff?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1630465823) .

Indeed, ‘Studin’s Law’: never to close schools again, unless there’s a catastrophe like war – is likely to be taken seriously. At least in that country.

Back home, teacher unrest boils over and trade union action worsens. Efforts taken to address the genuine grievances faced by teachers are too little, too late. Even the enthusiasm teachers had during the past 16 months, reaching out to students in their own little ways and spending out of their own pocket for devices and internet, are likely to have waned. Vaccination of teachers began very late, and as of now we are unaware of what percentage of teachers have received double-dose, or at least one dose of the vaccine. Senior student vaccination plans, if any, are unknown. Examination schedules published and retracted every few weeks or months, have left students and parents in a massive confusion. Meanwhile the school-drop-out rate, when compared to the pre-Covid era, is probably twice the number.

The pandemic has left the Sri Lankan education system destabilised, crippled and with no strategic direction. Clearly the Government has lost the plot – at least in Education.

The Covid Generation – a total of about 500 million globally, and 4.3 million in our own country, will comprise a group of under/uneducated young people who will eventually enter society with multiple handicaps. They will enter a society which has been already challenged by the pandemic : economically, emotionally and socially. Apart from pedagogical disaster and total collapse of the system, let’s not forget the emotional damage suffered by children who have been trapped in abusive and dysfunctional homes for months, struggling to cope in a milieu devoid of social interaction and joyful times with peers.

The deadly Delta, like all other waves we’ve seen since March 2020 will abate, albeit not immediately. We need to be prepared sufficiently to speedily re-open schools, at least in stages, at the first possible opportunity with all safe guards in place. Expediting vaccination of all educators and school communities, therefore becomes top priority. Masking, social distancing, flowing water on tap and other measures necessary for hygiene, and encouraging and incentivising school Principals and provincial authorities to work with regional health services in preparing student-reintegration plans with exceptional speed is a must. We should bear in mind that ‘TV-based education or radio-based education’ is just a one-way transmission of material only, and a feeble attempt at covering syllabuses, These methods were used by most countries as a stop-gap or interim measure, until in-person or physical teaching-learning starts in an actual school. ‘Home-based’ or ‘hybrid’ learning are all failed improvisations of the pandemic period, leading to scholastic and pedagogical debacle.

Education Reforms proposed by the present Government is supposedly based on a series of initiatives targeting ‘authentic education’ as the end goal. This will be possible and will succeed only if school education in a real sense, facilitated by a group of contended teachers, is on the cards. Not otherwise.

There’s no way we can hope for a 21st Century education system with smart learners and a smart Nation as a product, if we carry on like now.