Educating underprivileged children impacted by COVID-19

COVID-19 has negatively impacted various dimensions of the lives of young children disrupting their association with education and healthcare as well as adversely affecting their mental well-being. School closures and shutdown of ongoing educational programs due to multiple lockdowns have further deprived these children from low-income groups of friendship and learning networks. For months, they could not come to class, as the program remained suspended from March when lockdown began. Moreover, the lack of access to appropriate devices and the lack of network access among many students is a critical challenge further widening socioeconomic disparities within classrooms and disrupting overall learning levels, which were already low in a state like UP. For some young girls, the temporary suspension of schooling has resulted in premature and permanent school discontinuation. Recent field findings suggest that if urgent attention and support is not provided at this critical stage, there is a high chance that more children in rural and urban slums of India will drop out of classrooms and get into low-paying jobs. Most of them will not be able to access formal education and will be left behind forever especially first-generation learners with little support and no facilitating education environment at home. 

Due to disruption of educational programs and other situations emerging from COVID, most children could not come to classrooms. Digital learning was accessed wherever households had more than one smartphone and children had support from parents. From March until August, teachers, senior teachers and core teams were undergoing digital monthly trainings; Whatsapp groups were formed, supervisors were in touch with parents and content was being circulated using technology. For most children, this was not the reality. More than 80% of children enrolled in our classes are first-generation learners. Parent community significantly consists of laborers/local artisans/Zari workers who found themselves out of work doing these trying times. Despite issues in the area, E&H Foundation initiated educating children in an innovative way from September onwards in groups of five to ten, maintaining COVID protocols. Programs have resumed and in the ongoing academic year, E&H is supporting the education of over 5000 children in UP. Classes have resumed, children are being taught in batches - a class of 30 students will be conducted over 3 days (3.5 hours each day for a group of ten). Pedagogy has been made more robust and concise and oral assessments are being prepared to test learning levels.

Since its inception in 2012, E&H Foundation has enabled high-quality education for over 20,000 children, directly impacting 14,000 households for Std 1-5 in 3 districts of UP - Farrukhabad, Kanpur, and Lucknow in partnership with the Bharti Foundation and ESO’s Gyan Shala models. Independent assessments over the years consistently show that the students enrolled under these programs have consistently attained grade appropriate learning, scoring 100‐150% higher marks compared to government school children and almost comparable to India’s best CBSE schools at ₹5000 per child per year, creating scaling up potential. More than 50% students enrolled under E&H Foundation sponsored classes are young girls, helping bridge the gap between male and female literacy rates. Over 80% children are first-generation learners. Focus is on high-quality learning, which is accessible within communities further fostering behavior change among parents towards the education of children. By enabling high-quality learning models within these communities, we are enabling a strong foundation for these students who are first time learners, all hailing from extremely marginalized sections of society. Overall, the program has fostered enhanced learning among students, indicating that the support has led to a better understanding among parents for the need to pursue continued quality education.