Abstract
This article briefly reviews the devastating impact of the COVID-19 on the education sector in India. Focusing on school education, it also critically examines how effective online learning, the only major way adopted during the pandemic, has been in the delivery of education and whether it is a reliable alternative method of teaching and learning in India. It also briefly outlines a few important strategies required for the recovery of loss incurred and to face emerging challenges in education in India.
This is a marginally updated version of the article appeared with the same title in Social Change (Council for Social Development/Sage) 51(4) (December 2021), pp. 493–513. Re-published with permission.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
ActionAid. (2021). Impact of COVID-19 on school education in India. New Delhi: ActionAid Association (India). https://www.actionaidindia.org/blog/impact-of-covid-19-on-school-education-in-india/
ASER Centre. (2021, February 1). Annual Survey of Education Report 2020: ASER (rural) 2020 wave 1 (rural). New Delhi: Pratham Foundation. http://img.asercentre.org/docs/ASER%202021/ASER%202020%20wave%201%20-%20v2/aser2020wave1report_feb1.pdf
Azim Premji University. (2021, February). Loss of learning during the pandemic. Bengaluru: Azim Premji University.
Bhattacharya, A. (2021, February). What will happen to India’s ed-tech startups once schools reopen? Scroll.in. https://scroll.in/article/986966/what-will-happen-to-indias-ed-tech-startups-once-schools-reopen
CSDS (Centre for Studies in Developing Societies). (2019). National Election Survey 2019 pre-poll survey findings. National Election Studies. New Delhi, Lokniti: Programme for Comparative Democracy. https://www.lokniti.org/media/PDF-upload/1570173782_98991600_download_report.pdf
Delors Commission. (1996). Learning the treasure within: Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the twenty-first century. UNESCO.
Donnelly, R., Patrinos, H. A., & Gresham, J. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 on education—Recommendations and opportunities for Ukraine. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/opinion/2021/04/02/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-education-recommendations-and-opportunities-for-ukraine
Duflo, E. (2021, June 6). Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee: ‘Ours is a social science’. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/f998d48a-dd8a-43de-81e5-d530dd9df004
Educo. (2021). COVID-19 has likely worsened the situation of child labourers in India. https://reliefweb.int/report/india/covid-19-has-likely-worsened-situation-child-labourers-india-educo-and-campaign-against
Everson, S. (Ed.). (2000). Aristotle: The politics and constitution of Athens. Cambridge University Press.
Firstpost. (2020, June 11). Playfulness, creativity can never be transferred through online learning, says former ISRO chief. https://www.firstpost.com/health/playfulness-creativity-can-never-be-transferred-through-online-learning-says-former-isro-chief-8471561.html
Government of India. (2020). National Education Policy 2020. New Delhi.
Haeck, C., & Lefebvre, P. (2020, July). Pandemic school closures may increase inequality in test scores. Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de Politiques, S82–S87. https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2020-055
Huber, S. G. (2021). Schooling and education in times of the COVID-19 pandemic: Food for thought and reflection derived from results of the school barometer in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. International Studies in Educational Administration, 49(1), 6–17.
Human Rights Watch. (2021, May 17). Pandemic’s dire global impact on education. https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/05/17/pandemics-dire-global-impact-education
IBEF (India Brand Equity Foundation). (2021, August 19). Education & training industry in India. https://www.ibef.org/industry/education-sector-india.aspx
IndiaToday Web Desk. (2021, August 8) Why are students moving from private schools to government schools amidst Covid-19? https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/students-moving-from-private-schools-to-government-schools-1858123-2021-10-08
International Commission on the Futures of Education. (2020). Education in a post-COVID world. Nine ideas for public action. Paris: UNESCO
ILO & UNICEF. (2020). COVID-19 and child labour: A time of crisis, a time to act. Geneva/New York.
JJSS: Jan Jagaran Shakti Sansthan. (2023). Where are the kids? Patna. [as reported in the Hindu (4 August 2023) https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/primary-upper-primary-govt-schools-in-bihar-in-danger-of-being-replaced-by-cheap-dingy-tuition-centres-says-report/article67158490.ece]
Kuhfeld, M., Soland, J., Tarasawa, B., Johnson, A., Ruzek, E., & Lewis, K. (2020). How is Covid-19 affecting student learning? Initial findings from Fall 2020. Washington DC: Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2020/12/03/how-is-covid-19-affecting-student-learning/
Lau, J. (2021, May 14). Crisis for India. Times Higher Education. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/05/14/indian-higher-education-could-be-damaged-beyond-repair-covid-19
Li, C., & Lalani, F. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has changed education forever: This is how. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-education-global-covid19-online-digital-learning/
McKinsey Global Institute. (2019, March). Digital India: Technology to transform a connected nation (Report). https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/mckinsey%20digital/our%20insights/digital%20india%20technology%20to%20transform%20a%20connected%20nation/mgi-digital-india-report-april-2019.pdf
MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology). (2019). India’s trillion dollar digital opportunity. New Delhi: Government of India.
MoE (Ministry of Education). (2021). Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2019–20. New Delhi: Government of India. https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/statistics-new/udise_201920.pdf
Mody, A. (2023). India is broken. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Modi, S., & Postaria, R. (2020). How COVID-19 deepens the digital education divide in India. Global Development Commons. https://gdc.unicef.org/user/71/profile
Mukhopadhyay, R., & Chomal, A. (2020). Myths of online education. Bengaluru: Azim Premji University.
Narayani, P. A. (2021, March). Child labour increased during COVID-19. The Hindu.
NSSO. (2015). Key indicators of social consumption in India: Education (71st round) (January–June 2014). New Delhi: Ministry of Statistics, Planning and Implementation, National Statistical Office.
NSSO. (2020). Household social consumption on education in India 75th round (July 2017–June 2018) (NSS Report No. 585). New Delhi.
ORF. (2021, August). Regression in learning: The high cost of COVID-19 for India’s children (Issue Briefs and Special Reports No. 484). Mumbai: Observer Research Foundation.
OXFAM. (2020). Status report: Government and private schools during COVID-19. Mumbai: OXFAM India. https://d1ns4ht6ytuzzo.cloudfront.net/oxfamdata/oxfamdatapublic/2020-09/Status%20report%20Government%20and%20private%20schools%20during%20COVID%20-%2019%20V3.1.pdf
Roy, S. (2020). E-learning scope and trend in India. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.23177.19042. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338913710_e-learning_Scope_and_Trend_in_India
Save the Children. (2020). Protect a generation: The impact of COVID-19 on children’s lives. London. https://www.savethechildren.org/content/dam/usa/reports/emergency-response/protect-a-generation-report.pdf
Schleicher, A. (2020). The impact of Covid-19 on education: Insights from education at a Glance 2020. Paris: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. https://www.oecd.org/education/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-education-insights-education-at-a-glance-2020.pdf
Tilak, J. B. G., & Kumar, A. (2022, September). Policy changes in global higher education: What lessons do we learn from the COVID-19 pandemic? Higher Education Policy, 35(3), 610–628
Times of India. (2020, June 8). Creativity can’t be transferred through online classes: Kasturirangan. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/76257066.cms
TST (The School Team). (2021, September). Locked out: Emergency report on school education. Survey by Nirali Bakhla, Jean Drèze, Vipul Paikra and Reetika Khera. https://counterviewfiles.files.wordpress.com/2021/09/locked-out-emergency-report-on-school-education-6-sept-2021.pdf
United Nations. (2020). Policy brief: Education during COVID-19 and beyond. New York.
UNICEF. (2021). Education—India—UNICEF. https://www.unief.org
UNICEF & ITU (UNICEF & International Telecommunication Union). (2020). How many children and young people have internet access at home? Estimating digital connectivity during the COVID-19 pandemic. New York: UNICEF.
UNICEF & UNESCO. (2021). Re-opening schools cannot wait: Joint statement by UNICEF and UNESCO. https://en.unesco.org/news/reopening-schools-cannot-wait-joint-statement-unicef-and-unesco
World Bank. (2020, June 18). COVID-19 could lead to permanent loss in learning and trillions of Dollars in lost earnings. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/06/18/covid-19-could-lead-to-permanent-loss-in-learning-and-trillions-of-dollars-in-lost-earnings
World Health Organization. (n.d.). WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) dashboard. https://covid19.who.int/
Viswanath, J. (2023). Remarkable resilience and economic resurgence from unprecedented disruptions of a pandemic. In “Winter Always Turns to Spring: Narratives on Surviving the Pandemic Years” (eds. Padmaja, V. and Mukul, K.) pp. 175–188
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tilak, J.B.G. (2023). COVID-19 and Education in India: A New Education Crisis in the Making. In: Gupta, I., Das, M. (eds) Contextualizing the COVID Pandemic in India. India Studies in Business and Economics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4906-9_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4906-9_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-99-4905-2
Online ISBN: 978-981-99-4906-9
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)