Blended learning Approach to Bridge Covid Learning Loss

It’s a known fact that life as we knew before COVID 19 has changed drastically.  In a way, we’re all in this together as the virus does not discriminate. But the pandemic and the lockdown have affected the underprivileged worse than other and it has been all the more challenging for the poor children attending Government schools. Due to many limitations Government schools did not continue education online and this has put children studying there in an immediate disadvantage and widened the learning gap between those in government schools and private schools. Now, with the falling down of Covid-19 cases schools are all set to reopen. However, just reopening of schools will not get children back to "pre-Covid" situation. The huge loss of more than a year and a half has made it a daunting task to get learning back on track. It is all the more challenging because children have been promoted to the next grade, without receiving the inputs they would have usually received

Chudar with an aim to both sustain and improve education inputs, has been successfully conducting daily whatsapp-based online classes for these children during the past one and a half years. Our approach currently reaches 5600 children from poorer sections. Our unique methodology integrates content with assessment by making videos interactive and giving children an opportunity to check if they have truly understood, as opposed to memorization. We have digitized our content into an easy form that students can understand. Now that schools are set to reopen, we realize that there will be a justified need for in-person classes. However, it is not possible to completely go back to pre-covid approach, as the little gains from the past one and half years will also be lost. Therefore, we advocate a blended-learning approach, whereby digital content delivery will be combined with in-person classes to make learning truly effective. We will use this blended learning approach both in our community after-school centers, as well as in partnership with government school teachers who have wholeheartedly agreed to partner with us. In this model, we will short digital modules  beforehand to students so that they can get an idea of the concept before it is taught in class. The direct class will be a reinforcement and clear doubts that children have. For those children who do not have access to a smartphone, we will also arrange for tablets to access the content.

(1) Help bridge learning gap

(2) Ease the transition to in-person teaching

(3) Improve learning outcomes in Maths, English and Science

(4) Provide confidence to children that they can get back on track