With school closure, lack of gadgets, children left to their own devices

To Santhosh and Saranya, schooling has already become a distant memory; it’s been 16 months since they received any kind of education.
ILLUSTRATION: SOUMYADIP SINHA
ILLUSTRATION: SOUMYADIP SINHA

CHENNAI: I want to be an aeronautical engineer,” said 13-year-old Santhosh as he poured batter on a sizzling pan. His sister, 11-year-old Saranya, who wanted to be an actress, was busy washing plastic plates nearby. 

“My sister and I never scored below 95 at school; it’s always 98, 99, or 100,” he said as he served a hot dosa to a customer at their little eatery. The siblings’ mother, who is chopping onion nearby, looks up momentarily, helplessness on her face. 

To Santhosh and Saranya, schooling has already become a distant memory; it’s been 16 months since they received any kind of education. Instead of fussing over classes, lessons, and exams, they spend their days in this sweltering kitchen, surrounded by clouds of steam and dirty dishes. “I promised my mother that I will never play games and use the (smart) phone only for online classes. But, she said we don’t have enough money to buy it,” Santhosh said, managing a weak smile. 

Residents of a tenement of the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) at Perumbakkam, Santosh’s family lost their primary income with the lockdown, and, like many others in their area, set up a push cart, selling batter and eggs in the locality in the beginning of the lockdown to scratch out a living. They later turned it into a little idli-dosa stall.

Santhosh and Saranya wake up at six every morning and wait for the elevator to be turned on in their block. They load the batter, gas, cooking vessels, and other equipment onto the elevator and bring them downstairs to their parents who would have been up since 2 am, grinding chutney and washing vessels. After the shop closes at 11 am, the children go to the market and buy groceries for the shop’s evening run. 

“We return home, have lunch, and take a nap by 1 pm and wake up by 4 pm to help our parents for the next run. My parents do most of the works, but they cannot run the business without our help,” said Saranya, whispering that her father did no longer received work as a mason. “So we cannot afford to lose this shop,” she said.

Rueben and his family
About 10 km away, 13-year-old Rueben* was busy at his mother’s petty shop on the East Coast Road. “Four teas for Mohan Anna and two for Murali,” he shouted the order to his mother. Asked about his education, he said proudly: “Of course I attend online classes! I go to a private school. We have video classes for one hour every evening, so I work here in the mornings.” 

But, when asked which subjects were being taught online, Rueben fumbled for an answer, eventually admitting that he didn’t know. “I don’t understand what they teach as I do not get a proper internet signal (network coverage). The class keeps breaking,” he said. 

Rueben and his family live at the TNSCB tenements at Chemmenchery. “We have to go to the fifth floor to get a proper signal,” he added, just as his mother called him to say that the orders were ready. Santhosh, Saranya, and Rueben are among the thousands of children in the State who have lost touch with learning because of the school closure. Many have already been pushed into ‘marriage’ or to take up works to support their families.

According to M Suresh Kumar, a member of Tamil Nadu Malaival Makkal Sangam at Anaimalai near Coimbatore, nearly 40 students there have had no education during the pandemic. Six Class XII students from Anna Nagar dropped out as they had no electricity connection to continue their education. They are now going to work to support their families. “Students from 17 other tribal settlements have been affected,” he added.

Connectivity problem
Less than 18 per cent of government schools in the State have internet facilities, according to data published in the Unified District Information System for Education Plus report (UDISE+) 2019-2020, by the Centre. While a large proportion of the population does not have access to a stable internet connection, teachers from only one in every five government schools can conduct online classes even if they wanted to.

According to the findings of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), released in October 2020, at least a quarter of students in the State did no learning activity during an entire week of the survey period.  Only about 20-25 per cent of students did more than three learning activities that week. As for government schools, only 14.6 per cent of students watched video classes and only 5.3 per cent attended live online classes. 

Doing their bit 
Meanwhile, several teachers are doing their bit to cushion the impact of school closure on students’ future. R Saratha, headmistress of Thondamuthur Panchayat Union Primary School (PUMS) at Kuppepalayam, holds offline classes for her 15 students at their village five days a week. Similarly, P Karuppasamy of Somayampalaym PUMS takes offline classes for students’ at their homes. “If primary-school students take a break for one or two months from their education, they will forget the reading and writing skills that they had developed,” he said

School closure in the State means a complete disconnection from education for many underprivileged children. With no access to any device to learn online, they have few options but to start working and support their impoverished families. Express’s Sushmitha Ramakrishnan brings you the ground report 

*Names changed With inputs from Coimbatore. 

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com