Bengaluru: Azeem Premji University conducted a field study which revealed that the learning capacity among primary school children has been seriously affected due to the closure of schools for about 9 months on account of coronavirus infection-induced lockdown.
The study was conducted with 16,067 students spread over 1,337 government and primary schools from 44 districts in Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand states, in the month of January.
The learning capacity of the students have been greatly affected. They have lost the opportunity to learn things and have forgotten what they have studied before.
The extent of loss of learning capacity ranged from 89 to 95 per cent among students spread over second to sixth standard students. Almost all the children displayed sluggishness of skills in oral answering, reading freely, and writing.
Chancellor of the university, Anurag Behar, speaking after releasing the report, said that apart from giving time for the teachers to fill this gap, there is a need to extend other facilities. He expressed that it was necessary to extend the academic year to the maximum and include other steps like reshaping the curriculum and readjusting the college academic period.
