Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Feb 11: A field study conducted by the Azeem Premji University has found that learning capacity among primary school children has been seriously affected due to the closure of schools on account of coronavirus infection-induced lockdown.

The students of primary schools are lagging behind by 92 per cent in language subjects and 82 per cent in maths, the university said in its report released on Wednesday, February 10.

Schools and colleges had been closed down for about nine months due to the havoc let loose by the coronavirus pandemic.

Representational image

The university had chosen 16,067 students spread over 1,337 government and primary schools from 44 districts in Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand states for the study. The study was conducted during January this year.

As the schools did not function, the learning capacity of the students was impaired. The students not only lost on learning new things in this academic year's curriculum, but most of them also forgot what they had studied earlier.

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, expressed concern at the fact that because of the lockdown, the children not only lost a year of learning, but they also forgot what they were taught earlier. He said that apart from giving time for the teachers to fill this gap, there is a need to extend other facilities. He felt that cancellation of holidays, an extension of the academic year 2020-21 to the maximum, reshaping of the curriculum, re-adjustment of college academic period etc can help in closing the gap.