For representational purposes (Photo | EPS)
For representational purposes (Photo | EPS)

Learning loss — A major concern schools must address once they resume regular classes

The sudden closure of schools and the prolonged lockdown owing to the pandemic has deepened the learning loss among students.

CHENNAI: The sudden closure of schools and the prolonged lockdown owing to the pandemic has deepened the learning loss among students. To combat this, schools, when they reopen, should focus on foundational reading and arithmetic and recap the concepts taught through distance education, experts told Express ahead of the International Literacy Day on Tuesday.

Learning loss is defined by reversal of academic progress that usually occurs during summer breaks or prolonged hiatus in education.Many studies internationally have shown that learning loss is greater among the economically disadvantaged. Adding a pandemic to the mix has only deepened the problem.

Foundational skills

Schools, when they reopen, must immediately focus on foundational skills which include basic reading and arithmetic, in order to compensate for the learning loss, says Rukmini Banerji, chief executive officer of Pratham Educational Foundation, a non-profit organisation that helps conduct the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER).

This strategy was successful in ‘Graded Learning Programme’,  a collaborative effort between Pratham and the Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Department, implemented across the State in 2019. Data from the programme suggested a summer loss in reading abilities over three months among Grade 3 students in UP.
The programme used a ‘Teaching-at-the-Right-Level’ approach, wherein students are classified according to their reading and mathematical skills, not age, as is the traditional practice. 

The programme, conducted between January and May 2019, not only cushioned the loss but also caused a learning gain.A similar programme can thus undo the loss caused by the lockdown, which Pratham estimates, will be deeper than “summer loss” noticed among students after summer vacations.M Anandakrishnan, educationalist and former Vice-Chancellor of Anna University said the State should acknowledge that some children will suffer the disadvantage of schools being closed.

“There is no alternative to keeping schools closed right now. Therefore, the State should immediately constitute a committee comprising educationalists to explore meaningful alternatives that will boost literacy among schoolchildren,” he said.For kids to read and write they must be trained to do so repeatedly, said Preetha Ganesh, vice-president, Vels Group of Institutions.

“The lockdown has been particularly difficult for those from rural areas. Children best learn when they are in the 3-6 age group. They need to be continuously taught to read and write at this age,” she said, adding that schools too can better assess conceptual learning by students only when they are equipped with foundational skills.

Basic literacy is inevitable for learning and after that benchmark is achieved the focus should be moved to subject comprehension and association between various concepts, said Sheela Rajendra, dean and correspondent, PSBB group of schools. She said that even when schools reopen, teachers should not pretend that the jump from online to offline mode of education is seamless.

‘Revisit all lessons’

“Schools must recap and revisit all the lessons that were taught remotely during the lockdown so that students warm up and have a baseline to begin with,” she asserted. It is the responsibility of teachers to assess the learning gaps individual students have and bridge them before racing to complete the annual earmarked syllabus.

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