The gap in the learning ability of the students was created due to school closure during and after the Covid-19 outbreak. However, no visible initiative was taken to fill up the gap after the schools are opened.
No steps like increasing the educational year and restoring educational activities have been taken to make up for the loss of learning. Even, the education officers at the primary and secondary levels don’t know whether there is any guideline or direction regarding restoring educational activities after the Covid-19 pandemic.
A report titled ‘Restoration of Education after Covid-19 and Future Plans’ revealed the information.
Ganosakkharata Abhijan, a local NGO that works on educational issues published the report recently in coordination with European Union.
It conducted the research from November 2021 to February 2022. The report has been prepared by taking interviews with students, guardians of primary and secondary schools, education officers and technical education trainers, along with taking opinion from the upazila and zilla education officers.
According to the report, lack of learning ability of the students, 84 per cent of guardians of secondary students have employed private tutors. Many of the students took the assistance of coaching centres. Around 47 per cent of the upazila, secondary education officers have recommended extra classes to make up for the loss in learning.
Besides, 88 per cent of teachers of secondary schools and 85 per cent of primary schools informed that they had no guidelines or directions regarding evaluation and making up for the loss of education of the students. Around 90 per cent of officers in primary and secondary levels couldn’t inform anything in this regard, it said.
Denying the allegation, Professor Nehal Ahmed, director general of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE), told Bangladesh Pratidin that it is not right that they have no plan to make up for learning gaps.
“The schools are given the freedom to take decisions in this regard as the gaps vary among the educational institutes. The learning gap in the village students is not the same as students in the city or town. The teachers are taking action considering the condition of the schools and the students.”
The report said that 53 per cent of teachers of primary and 44 per cent of secondary level have given their opinion on extending educational restoration activities to 2-3 years. The guardians of more than one-third of the students of primary and secondary levels have also taken the same stance. However, more than two-thirds of upazila and zilla education officers want it to be extended for 3-4 years.
Shah Rezwan Hayat, director general of the Primary Education Directorate told Bangladesh Pratidin that no decision has been taken to recover the loss of education.
“However, we’re taking steps to overcome it with regular classes,” he added.
Former adviser to the caretaker government and executive director of Ganosakkarota Abhijan Rasheda K Chowdhury said, “Government lacks long-term planning to recover the education losses due to Covid-19 pandemic. It didn’t conduct an educational census to find out the number of losses and even haven’t allotted budget to recover losses in education.”
To minimise the gaps of the students and recover their learning skills, some recommendations have been proposed in the report including keeping the schools open, restoring learning abilities planning or re-considering the school calendar, emphasizing basic skills, expanding tiffin-period activities in schools and financing for restoration of learning ability.
Around 14 per cent of the students who came from slum areas didn’t get back to school when the schools opened after the Covid-19 outbreak. Many of the students are addicted to smartphones, and laptops and this propensity got increased during and after the Covid period.
Guardians of 19 per cent of the secondary school-going students said their children are addicted to smartphones and laptops, while guardians of 28 per cent of the students from slum areas depicted the same problem.
@The article appeared on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on September 30, 2022 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque and Golam Rosul
