• Will this be the beginning of an educational catastrophe? 

• Underprivileged students, the worst-affected by online education  

• Increase in the number of student dropouts as a result  

• Education Ministry diverts attention to TV/radio education  

 By Yoshitha Perera      Moving learning from classrooms to homes is a massive challenge that the country is currently facing due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Even after one year, the country’s education authorities are still struggling to formulate a viable plan to conduct distance education.   The pandemic impacted underprivileged students in a worse manner in terms of connecting with the e-learning platforms and seeking opportunities. The entire situation has increased the dropout rates due to the inability to access online education and economic issues which has placed pressure on children to work or either get married to generate income for financially distressed families, according to the Education Forum of Sri Lanka (EFSL).  Responding to The Sunday Morning’s query on the formulation of an effective plan to decrease the dropout rates and the development of distance education, Education Ministry Secretary Prof. Kapila Perera said that the Ministry is co-ordinating with the television and radio channels to telecast lessons.  “We are interested in working out a proposal and a project to get all the students on to television and this is our next effort. Currently, we are negotiating with the channels to telecast the lessons as much as possible. We are focusing on telecasting them at the usual times during which school is held with the entire timetable of each grade, starting from the primary grades.”  Prof. Perera further said that state-run radio channels under the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) would also provide its assistance to broadcast the lessons to the students.  He said: “State-run radio channels – Ruhunu Sewaya, Rajarata Sewaya, Kandurata Sevaya, and SLBC Tamil National Service – will also telecast the lessons to the students.”  Expressing views on providing fibre-optic and 4G connectivity to schools and developing fundamental infrastructure, Prof. Perera said that the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) is trying to reach its capacity to develop 4G connectivity in schools, but again, there is a problem with signals.  However, during a two-day workshop held on 24 March, TRCSL Director General Oshada Senanayake stated that the TRCSL has ambitious and extensive plans with telecom providers to provide fibre and 4G connectivity to schools and develop the underlying infrastructure to assist digitising education for both delivery and consumption.  He also added that this will be done recognising the foremost role of education in building the future of the nation, even if that might not bring immediate financial returns.  Meanwhile, Prof. Perera added that the Ministry had arranged another programme to distribute the printed materials of lessons via zonal and divisional institutions attached to the Ministry. He said: “Parents can collect a week’s printed materials from the relevant institutions and get the students to follow them.”    When questioned about the vaccination programme for teachers, Prof. Perera said that vaccination for teachers is a priority and the Minister had already indicated the urgency of getting all the teachers, principals, and school administrations vaccinated.    However, another official attached to the Education Ministry informed The Sunday Morning that the Ministry is not promoting e-learning but trying to re-open the schools immediately after the current outbreak.  Meanwhile, the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) emphasised the Government’s failure to implement an effective plan to conduct distance education which has currently resulted in increasing the dropout rates from schools.  Responding to The Sunday Morning, CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin said that the union had received several reports that students from the Ordinary Level (O/L) and Advanced Level (A/L) classes from rural areas have abandoned their education to generate income for their families.  He said the Education Ministry is again trying to commence the telecast of lessons via television channels which have already been a failure amongst the students in rural areas.  Stalin added: “The current syllabus in our education system cannot be handled within the e-leaning platforms. The syllabus is 30 years old and it has not improved with time. Now, most of the teachers are just trying to keep a blackboard and teach in the old way using the internet. It is clearly a failed method for the child.”  He emphasised that in the past one-and-a-half years, the Education Ministry had failed to reach each and every student with its distance education plans.  Stalin claimed: “The Ministry should have been focused on the formulation of a concise syllabus with the assistance of the National Institute of Education (NIE) and the National Education Commission (NEC) but the Ministry has wasted that time.”  After the first three months of lockdown imposed last year, the schools started for two weeks and using that period, the Ministry could have made a plan to train teachers and students properly on e-learning and distance education, but the Ministry had also wasted that time, Stalin claimed.  The CTU’s General Secretary said that households that have two or more schooling children are deprived when parallel classes are held for different grades and most families have only a single television or a mobile phone.  “The Ministry could have talked to the telephone companies about signal problems and set up a formal programme from the beginning. But none of this was done even in the first phase of the pandemic. Children in semi-urban and suburban schools are less likely to be involved with e-learning platforms. If there are three children in the same family, they need three telephones and these are serious issues.”  Stalin also claimed that the teachers are conducting online education at their own expense and the Government has not given a cent to the teachers – not even the equipment they need. “There were so many complaints from the teachers at the provincial schools, stating that they are under pressure from the provincial education departments to have the online classes with limited facilities.”       Connecting with The Sunday Morning, Education Forum of Sri Lanka (EFSL) Co-ordinator Dr. Sujata Gamage highlighted a vital point, stating that in the long term, students who were already at risk of dropping out even before the pandemic, are very likely to not return when schools start.  Secondly, whether the schools are open or not, the growth of these children, including their brain growth, will continue. If their education does not go parallelly to this natural growth, there will be severe deficiencies in the intellectual development of these children. This deficiency is now known by education experts around the world as Covid-19 Learning Loss. Schools need to do diagnostic tests to understand the extent of this loss and take remedial measures.  She said: “The Covid-19 pandemic is not going to go away anytime soon. Therefore, even in the midst of a third wave of infections, education authorities should be planning to open schools at the earliest opportunity. Not all schools can or should be opened on the same day. Regional or even school-wise differences in each region need to be considered.”  Dr. Gamage also added that the first step in such a plan is to consider all teachers as frontline workers and vaccinate them, perhaps prioritising teachers in high-risk areas. “Once schools start, children should be tested regularly for Covid-19 using low-cost methods. As mentioned before, diagnostics tests should be carried to assess the learning loss of each child and remedial action taken, as necessary,” she said.  Dr. Gamage also emphasised that if the relevant authorities do not take those steps with urgency, the educational crisis of this epidemic will turn into an education catastrophe that will affect generations to come.