Lok Sabha Question No. 126 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-19
Subject: COVID Impact on Education
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Sudheer Gupta, Komati Reddy Venkat Reddy, Manne Srinivas Reddy, Geetha Viswanath Vanga, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Bidyut Baran Mahato, Shrirang Appa Barne, Sanjay Sadashivrao Mandlik

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 126 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.07.2021

## COVID Impact on Education

126. SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:

SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU:

SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:

SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE:

SHRI SANJAY SADASHIVRAO MANDLIK:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has noticed any impact of COVID-19 on education from primary to secondary and other higher level courses and its impact on the students;
- (b) if so, the details thereof, course-wise;
- (c) the steps taken/being taken to help students at each level with regard to reduction of fee, syllabus, teaching hours;
- (d) whether it is also true that the economic impact of COVID-19 could push more children into employment and if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether it is a fact that many children are at risk of not returning to school next year due to the economic fallout of COVID-19 and if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) whether the Government has any plan to prevent children drop out of school on account of the above reason and if so, the details thereof ?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF EDUCATION (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

(a) &  (b) Education  being  in  the  concurrent  list  of  the  Constitution  and  majority  of  the schools, colleges and university are under the domain of respective State and UT Governments. The  spread  of  COVID-19  pandemic  has  also  had  a  severe  impact  on  education  as  schools, universities  and  colleges  closed  their  premises  and  states  shut  their  borders  in  response  to lockdown measures. This has interrupted the learning and led to disruption of education system in the country.

The Central Government is constantly advising States/UTs through guidelines and meeting with respect to interventions for reducing impact of pandemic on education. The guidelines issued so far as follows:

- Guidelines For Children of Migrant Labourers:

https://www.mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/Migrant%20labour%20guideline.pdf

- Guidelines For Out of School Children and Mitigation of Loss of Learning: https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/guidelines\_oosc.pdf.
- PRAGYATA Guidelines on Digital Education: https://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/pragyata-guidelines\_0.pdf
- Learning Enhancement Guidelines for Continuous Learning: https://ncert.nic.in/pdf/announcement/Learning\_%20Enhancement\_Guidelines.pdf
- COVID-19 Related Health and Safety Sop/Guidelines for School Re-Opening: https://www.mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/SOP\_Guidelines\_for\_reopening\_schools.pdf
- Covid  Action  Plan  for  School  Education:  The  Department  of  School  Education  and Literacy vide letter dated 4th May, 2021 has shared the Covid Action plan with States/UTs
- Guidelines For Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya ( JNV) -Residential Schools : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LAc4iKQTqTJkNVDGc5glEDsrDGdAXwC8/view,
- Guidelines for parents: Guidelines for parents to support learning of their children.
- E-content for CWSN : Guidelines for e-content for Children with Special Needs (CWSN).
- CBSE  competency-based  assessment  framework:  CBSE  in  collaboration  with  British Council  has  prepared  a  competency-based  assessment  framework  for  class  X.  This  is  based  on recommendations of NEP 2020 and will help in reducing the stress of exams and aims to develop competencies in students rather than  content knowledge alone.
- National  Council  for  Teacher  Education  ( NCTE) Guidelines  for  Teachers  Education Institutions :

https://ncte.gov.in/WebAdminFiles/RecentAnnouncement/0\_20\_08\_2020\_637335320672297662.p df

Further, University Grants Commission (UGC) has also issued notices/advisories to Higher  Education  Institutions  from  time  to  time  to  contain  the  spread  of  COVID-19  and  other academic related matters.UGC has framed guidelines for reopening of the campuses which inter alia  deals  with  the  safety  and  well  being  of  the  students.    UGC  has  also  issued  a  letter  dated 06.07.2020  regarding  Standard  Operating  Procedures  (SOP)  for  Conduct  of  Examinations  in Higher Education Institutions. UGC via this letter communicated to all Universities/Colleges the detailed procedure issued by the then MHRD for the conduct of Examinations with measures to be taken in view of COVID-19 situation.

- c) The  subject matter of reduction of fee is within the  purview  of  States/UTs. For Rationalisation  of  Syllabus  for  Summative  Examinations,  CBSE  has  decided  to  compensate  the loss  of  face  to  face  teaching  learning  by  rationalizing  the  syllabus  for  the  Board/Annual Examinations  for  classes  IX  to  XII  to  an  extent  of  around  30  percent.  With  respect  to  online teaching hours,  Pragyata guidelines have been issued. With respect to teaching in classroom after school re-open, guidelines on learning with social distancing. UGC has issued a letter to the ViceChancellors of all Universities and Principals of all colleges on 27.05.2020 requesting to consider the  payment  of  annual  semester  fee,  tuition  fee,  examination  fee  etc.  sympathetically  and  if feasible, may consider officering alternative payment options to students till the situation returns to normal.  Another  letter  was  issued  on  17.12.2020  regarding  refund  of  fees  and  non-retention  of documents by the universities. These letters are available on UGC website www.ugc.ac.in.

In  view  of  the  emerging  situation  related  to  COVID-19  pandemic  in  India,  revised guidelines were issued. Wherein the universities were requested to complete the examinations by the  end  of  September,  2020  in  offline  (pen  &  paper)/  online/  blended  (online  +  offline)  mode following the prescribed protocols/ guidelines related to COVID-19 pandemic. These guidelines have provision that in order to avoid financial hardship being faced by the parents due to lockdown and  related  factors,  full  refund  of  fees  be  made  on  account  of  all  cancellation  of  admissions/ migration  of  students,  up  to  30.11.2020,  for  this  very  session  as  a  special  case.  Thereafter,  on cancellation/ withdrawal of admissions up to 31.12.2020, the entire fee collected from a student is refunded in full after deduction of not more than Rs.1000/- as processing fee. These guidelines also stated that all the universities may follow a 6-day week pattern for the academic session 2020-21 and  2021-2022  to  compensate  the  loss  for  this  batch  of  students.  Further,  the  universities  were requested  to  compensate  the  delay  in  the  start  of  academic  session  in  the  subsequent  years  by curtailing the breaks/ vacations so that this batch of students would get their final results for award of degree timely.

- (d) & (e) During COVID-19 Pandemic, Ministry of Education has held several consultations with the states and UTs at various levels and taken many initiatives  to ensure that the school going students don't lag behind in their studies during COVID-19  pandemic.  Under  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of  Samagra  Shiksha, financial assistance is provided to the States and UTs for various activities including in rural areas to reduce number of dropouts, which include opening/strengthening of new schools up to senior secondary level,  construction  of  school  buildings  &  additional  classrooms,  setting  up,  up-gradation  and running  of  Kasturba  Gandhi  Balika  Vidyalayas,  setting  up  of  residential  schools/hostels,  free uniforms,  free  text  books,  transport  allowance  and  undertaking  enrolment  drives,  residential  as well as non-residential trainings, Seasonal Hostels/ residential camps etc. Financial assistance is also  provided  for  Inclusive  Education  of  children  with  special  needs,  Vocational  Education  and ICT in schools. Further, due to COVID pandemic, since schools were closed, all enrolled children at elementary level have been given Food Security Allowance comprising of food grains and dry ration of pulses etc and to cooking cost.
- f) To ensure that children have access to education with quality and equity and to minimize the  impact  of  the  pandemic  on  school  education  in  the  country,  the  Department  of  School Education  has  prepared  and  issued  detailed  guidelines  on  7th  January,  2021  on  the  steps  to  be taken by the States and UTs. The guidelines, among others, include identification of out of school children from age 6-18 years, enrolment drives and awareness generation, student support while schools are closed, continued Education for children with Special Needs (CWSN), student support on school reopening and Teacher capacity building. The link of the guidelines is https:/ /www.education.gov.in/sites/upload-files/mhrd/files/gaidelines-oosc.pdf.

A comprehensive COVID action plan was prepared and shared with States and UTs on 4th May 2021. The action plan contains guidance for States and UTs for preventing drop outs, locating out  of  school  children  and  mainstreaming  them.  This  Department  has  also  developed  an  online module for compiling the data of Out of School children identified by  each  State/UT  and  their mapping with Special Training Centres (STC) on -the PRABANDH Portal (http://samagrashiksha.in). The portal requires the concerned State/UT to validate the child wise information of the identified Out of School Children (OOSC) and STC uploaded by the concerned Block Resource Centre of the State for monitoring the progress of mainstreaming of OOSC. Also, Bridge  Course  Modules  have  been  developed  for  bridging  the  learning  gaps  of  Out  of  School Children studying in Special Training Centers (STC) under the provision of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.

The  Department  of  School  Education  and  Literacy  (DoSEL),  Ministry  of Education (MoE) and Ministry of Women and Child Development(MWCD), Govt. of India have taken cognizance of the current COVID-19 pandemic situation due to which many children have lost one, and in some cases, both parents to the deadly virus and are determined to work towards providing necessary support to such children in distress and are in need of care and protection. In  this  regard,  a  joint  letter  dated  16.06.2021  from  Secretary  DoSEL,  MoE  and  Secretary, MWCD has been issued to all States and UTs.

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