Lok Sabha Question No. 533 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-06
Subject: Negative Effects of COVID Pandemic on Girls Education
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Goddeti Madhavi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No - 533

ANSWERED ON - 06/02/2023

## NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF COVID PANDEMIC ON GIRLS EDUCATION

## 533. SHRIMATI GODDETI MADHAVI:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  assessed  the  negative  effects  of  the  pandemic  on  girls  education including increased dropout rates, lack of digital devices at home, etc. and if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  whether  the  Government  has  any  data  regarding  increased  dropout  rates  and  lack  of  digital infrastructure for girls in the past two years and if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  the  specific  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  address  this  issue  especially  in  light  of  successive lockdowns; and
- (d) whether the Government has issued any specific guidelines to the State Governments in this regard and if so, the details thereof?

## A N S W E R

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SMT. ANNPURNA DEVI)

(a) to (d) : As  per  the  data  available  on  Unified  District  Information  System  for  Education  plus (UDISE+), annual average drop-out rate of girls for last three years is as under:

| Level      |   2019-20 |   2020-21 |   2021-22 |
|------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Elementary |       1.9 |       1.4 |       2   |
| Secondary  |      15.1 |      13.7 |      12.2 |

(Source: UDISE+)

This data shows that the drop-out rate of girls has not been significantly affected due to     COVID19.

Further, education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of schools come under the purview of the respective State and UT Governments. In order to mitigate the impact of challenges thrown by the COVID-19 pandemic for school children including girls and for preventing drop outs, lower enrolments and loss of learning, the Ministry of Education has issued instructions to the States & UTs from time to time for ensuring continued education with quality and equity.

During  COVID-19  Pandemic,  Department  of  School  Education  and  Literacy  (DoSEL)  held continuous consultations with the States and UTs at various levels to assess the various aspects  of  the COVID-19  pandemic. National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has conducted a survey in the month of July, 2020 with the help of Kendriya  Vidyalaya  Sangathan (KVS), Navodaya Vidyalaya  Samiti (NVS) and Central  Board  of  Secondary  Education  (CBSE)  to  understand  the scenario  of  Online  Learning  of school  students  in  COVID-19  pandemic  situation.  The National Achievement  Survey  (NAS)  was conducted on 12.11.2021 in 717 districts of the country to  assess learning levels of sampled children of grades 3, 5, 8 and 10.

A comprehensive initiative called PM e-VIDYA has been initiated which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education. The initiative includes:

- DIKSHA (one  nation,  one  digital  platform)  is  the  nation's  digital  infrastructure  for  providing quality e-content for school education in states/UTs and QR coded Energized Textbooks for all grades are available on it.
- One earmarked Swayam Prabha TV channel per class from 1 to 12 (one class, one channel).
- Extensive use of Radio, Community radio and CBSE Podcast- Shiksha Vani.
- Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube.

In addition, States/UTs have prepared educational content in the form of audios and videos and telecasted on local Radio and TV channels or YouTube Channels. Bridge course material, workbooks, text books etc. along with digital devices have also been provided to help the students. Mobile applications with pre-loaded content have been developed. Also alternate academic calendar has been made for home based learning.  Regular  home  visits  have  been  made  by  the  teachers/volunteers  and  Mohalla  classes  or Community classes etc. have been conducted to support education.

Also, to bridge the learning gaps and to ensure continuity of education, Ministry of Education has shared a comprehensive Learning Recovery Plan with all the States and Union Territories on 01.02.2022 describing the actions/activities to be undertaken by all the stakeholders, indicative annual calendar of activities, existing interventions which can be utilized and additional support with funds, as a onetime measure.

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