Impact of Covid-19 on School Education with special focus on SC students
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Impact of Covid-19 on School Education
with special focus on SC students
Findings of a Rapid Phone Survey
Submitted to
Scheduled Castes Development Department (SCDD)
Government of Telangana
Submitted by
SCSDF Research Unit
CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STUDIES
N.O. Campus, Begumpet, Hyderabad – 500 016
Web: www.cess.ac.in, email: post@cess.ac.in
Phone: 040-23402789, 23416780, fax: 040-23406808
December 2020
Report Submitted to Scheduled Castes Development Department
Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
CONTENTS
Page
1. The Backdrop 4
2. Methodology 4
TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES
3. Did schools complete the syllabus prior to the lockdown? 6
4. What did teachers do during school closures? 6
5. Modes and extent of teaching support extended by teachers 8
6. Support provided to students and teachers’ outlook 9
7. Challenges of remote teaching and its impact on different 10
student groups
8. Teachers’ perspectives on the impact of school closures and 12
their preparedness for reopening
STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVES
9. Occupational profile of student households 12
10. Students’ access to digital devices 13
11. Levels of access to remote learning during the school closures 14
12. Factors reported by students for not accessing remote teaching 16
13. Access to digital devices and remote learning by gender and 18
level of schooling
14. Key challenges confronted by students in accessing online 19
teaching
15. Is it difficult to learn certain subjects through remote modes of 20
teaching?
16. Online teaching no substitute for class-room teaching 21
17. Food-related constraints resulting from school closures 22
18. Likely impacts of extension of school closures 23
19. Post-survey developments: An update 23
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Centre for Economic and Social Studies
(CESS)Report Submitted to Scheduled Castes Development Department
Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This report contains the findings of a rapid phone survey carried out by the Scheduled
Castes Special Development Fund Research Unit of CESS. The survey was
conducted during the peak (early August) of the Covid-19 pandemic when the norms
and restrictions were still in place. The team from the SCSDF Research Unit rose to
the occasion to conduct this phone survey amid challenging circumstances with the
initiation of our Director.
Since this is a follow-up study, we had the benefit of rapport and the contact details of
teachers and principals/head masters of the sample schools under different
managements. We had to make repeated phone calls to each sample respondent.
The interactions mostly took place through prior appointments with the respondent
stakeholders – often at odd times – early morning or late evening. We are grateful to
all the respondents for their co-operation during the survey. Prof Revathi, and Dr
Prudhvikar Reddy provided inputs to the survey design and analysis. S Harinath, P
Anjaneyulu, K Bhaskar and S Naresh from the SCSDF research unit participated in
the phone survey. Dr D Sreeramaraju provided the technical assistance in preparing
the tables. We are thankful to them for the support received in the completion of the
report.
S Laxman Rao
Head, SCSDF Research Unit
CESS
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Centre for Economic and Social Studies
(CESS)Report Submitted to Scheduled Castes Development Department
Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
1. THE BACKDROP
The Government of Telangana clamped a state-wide lockdown on March 20 this year
in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak – prior to the nation-wide lockdown imposed by the
Central Government on 25 March. In Telangana the lockdown was extended in
phases until May 25. But in June the lockdown restrictions began to be rolled back in
phases amid growing number of Coronavirus positive cases across the nation. As part
of the lockdown all the educational institutions in Telangana remained closed and the
closures continued until the end of 2020. In fact the pandemic struck even before the
schools and colleges could complete teaching and conduct the final examinations for
the academic session 2019-20.
The SCSDF Research Unit of CESS conducted a rapid phone survey (in view of the
Covid-19 protocols and restrictions) during the first half of August, 2020 to map the
impact of Covid-19 on high school education in the State amid the unprecedented
circumstances characterized by - school closures, absence of the regular face-to-face
teaching, apprehensions about loss of learning, exploration of alternative methods of
reaching out to students (such as remote teaching) and weighing of different options in
deciding the status of “Corona batch” (academic year 2020-21) in general.1
The core objectives of the study include: (1) To understand how prepared the school
managements were to tackle the pandemic-induced challenges. (2) To assess the
impact of Covid-19 school closures on students’ learning. (3) How prepared the
students were to adapt to remote teaching methods. (4) To assess the impact of
school closures on different vulnerable social groups, with special reference to
Scheduled Caste students. (5) To document the challenges encountered by students
and teachers in switching over to digital learning/teaching.
2. METHODOLOGY
This phone survey is a follow-up study2; it covers schools under five different
management types under the Government of Telangana. The survey covers a half
(15) of the total sample of 30 schools covered by the previous study on the
performance of SC students vis-a-vis others under five managements. The rapport
established and the contact details collected by CESS during the previous study
helped it greatly in conducting this phone survey. The present phone survey covered
schools under the following five managements:
1
Schools remained closed at the time of writing this report – December 2020.
2
The previous study compared the performance of SC students vis-à-vis other students in schools
governed by different managements. It found that the academic performance of SC students in the core
subjects is lower than that of the other students under all management types (ZPSSs, TREIS and
TSWREIS). Moreover, within the SC category the SC students of TREIS (general residential) schools
fared better than their counterparts studying in schools under ZPSSs and TSWREIS managements.
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(CESS)Report Submitted to Scheduled Castes Development Department
Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
1. Zilla Parishad Secondary Schools (ZPSSs)
2. Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS)
3. Telangana Tribal Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TTWREIS)
4. Telangana Residential Educational Institutions Society (TREIS or “general
residential”)
5. Telangana Tribal Welfare Ashram Schools (ashram schools)
The management-wise schools covered by the study are presented in table 1. They
are spread across five erstwhile districts of the State consisting of co-educational,
boys and girls schools. The sample schools are, therefore, representative in terms of
geography, governance types and student composition. Schools under all
managements have English as the medium of instruction – except ashram schools
which have both English and Telugu media.
Table 1: Schools covered by the rapid phone study
Erstwhile ZPSSs TREIS TSWREIS TTWREIS ASHRAM
Districts SCHOOLS
Porandla Peddapur Chintakunta Marrimadla
1 Karimnagar
(Co-Ed) Camp (B) (G) (B)
Siddapur Bandarupally Rayaparthy Kothaguda
2 Warangal
(Co-Ed) (B) (G) (G)
Mahabub Jadcherla Wanaparthy Madhanapur Wanaparthy Kalwakurthy
3
nagar (Co-Ed) (G) (B) (B) (B)
Kerameri
4 Adilabad (G)
Palwancha
5 Khammam (B)
TOTAL 3 3 3 3 3
The respondent sample consists of school heads (principals/head masters) and
teachers; and students. All heads of sample schools and five teachers from each
sample school were covered. As for the student sample, 16 students were selected
from each sample school. Thus the sample consists of 90 heads/teachers and 240
students in all. The student sample was drawn from 9 th and 10th classes, given the
importance of these grades in secondary education, particularly in the context of the
prolonged disruptions caused to the normal academic activities. It may be stated here
that the students of schools under five governance types covered under this survey
belong predominantly to the vulnerable and historically disadvantaged social groups –
Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes (the student sample
comprises respondents belonging to these three social groups).
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(CESS)Report Submitted to Scheduled Castes Development Department
Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
Table 2: Sample details of students and school heads
Principals/HMs Teachers Students
Management (one per school) (5 per school) (16 per school)
ZPSSs 3 15 48
TSWREIS 3 15 48
TREIS 3 15 48
TTWREIS 3 15 48
ASHRAM SCHOOLS 3 15 48
Total 15 75 240
Each of the two respondent groups – teachers and students – was administered a set
of questions related to the impact of Covid-induced school closures. The findings of
the survey are, accordingly, presented in two sections covering the perspectives of the
two stakeholder groups.
3. TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES
3.1. Did the schools complete the syllabus prior to the school closures?
Summated responses from the school heads and teachers indicate that overall 64% of
the schools completed their syllabus prior to the pandemic-induced school closures.
And the remaining third of the schools completed up to 90% of the academic portion.
The general residential schools lagged behind on this front with only 45% of them
reported to have covered the syllabus completely. It may be recalled here that the
abrupt lockdown was declared during the fag-end of the academic year in March,
2020.
3.2. What did the principals/teachers do during the Covid-19 school closures?
Across the spectrum of the schools covered by the survey, a majority of teachers
(62%) were involved in preparations for different modes of remote teaching such as
compiling or preparing educational material and videos, and were learning how to
continue teaching through different remote methods and technologies. The rest of the
teachers (38%) were not actively involved in activities related to online or remote
teaching; instead they were preparing themselves for regular face-to-face teaching
expecting that the schools would reopen soon.
The Social Welfare and the Tribal Welfare residential schools were far ahead of other
schools (ZPSSs, general residential and ashram schools) in terms of the
preparedness for online teaching as close to 80% of the teachers were involved in
preparatory activities related to remote modes of teaching. By contrast, the teachers of
ZPSSs were least prepared for embracing technology for remote ways of reaching out
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(CESS)Report Submitted to Scheduled Castes Development Department
Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
to the students with only a third of the teachers reported to be engaged in preparatory
activities.
Overall (across the different school managements), only 30% of the teachers and
principals had previous experience or exposure to remote teaching through modes
such as radio, online, TV and WhatsApp. To a follow-up question as to whether they
received any guidance or training on how to support students’ learning during the
school closures, 60% of the teachers across all the sample schools responded in the
affirmative, saying that support was provided by the school management and the State
Government; and the rest had not undergone any training or orientation programmes.
The teachers of general residential schools and ZPSSs reported much lower levels of
support or training for remote ways of teaching.
During the unprecedented Covid-induced school closures, the teachers were expected
to be in touch with the students. The survey tried to ascertain this by asking the
teachers whether they were in touch with their students. The response pattern is
presented in figure 1 below. All the teachers of Ashram schools were in touch with
their students; the other extreme are the teachers of ZPSSs – two-thirds of them were
in touch with their students. The Social Welfare and the Tribal Welfare residential
schools also fare better from which more than 90% of the teachers could reach out to
their students during the pandemic period. Overall (all schools considered together)
86% of the teachers were in touch with their students.
Fig 1: Proportions of teachers/principals who were in touch with students
during school closures
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Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
3.3. Modes and extent of teaching support extended to students by teachers
during the Covid-19 school shutdown
The question on everyone’s mind was how to reach out to students who were spread
across the length and breadth of the state as the school closures were extended in the
wake of the continued spread of Covid-19. This survey endeavoured to ascertain how
the teachers of schools under different managements reached out to their students
and the modes of teaching support provided to the students. The responses of
teachers and principals in this regard are presented by management types in table 3.
Online teaching had limited reach as less than a quarter (22%) of teachers across the
spectrum of managements were into this mode of teaching. ZPSSs and those under
TREIS reported lowest levels of participation in online teaching (6%). By contrast
Ashram schools and those under TSWREIS and TTWREIS returned much higher
levels of teaching through online medium. When it comes to sharing pre-recorded
lessons with students, the performance of TSWREIS, TTWREIS and Ashram schools
was way higher than the performance of schools under other managements with
ZPSSs returning the lowest level of participation followed by the schools under TREIS.
A similar pattern can be observed with respect to making phone and video calls to
offer teaching support to students with a third of the teachers across the schools using
this medium to stay in touch with students. WhatsApp was widely used by the teaching
community during the Covid-induced school closures. Overall, three-fourths of the
teachers representing all school managements relied on WhatsApp in order to extend
pedagogic support to their students. Again, only a fourth of teachers from ZPSSs used
WhatsApp as against 100%, 88% and 83% of their counterparts representing Ashram
schools, social and tribal welfare residential schools, and general residential schools
respectively.
It needs to be recalled here that the medium of television was extensively used to
reach out to school children during the pandemic period. Pre-recorded academic
programmes were telecast through T-SAT channel. As the responses from the
teachers amply indicate TV was the leading medium of remote instruction as the
highest proportions of teachers across the range of managements encouraged
students to watch the educational content on TV. Except the teachers from ZPSSs, all
the respondent teachers (100%) from other managements were motivating children to
watch TV lessons while 60% of the ZPSS teachers were doing so.
YouTube was also leveraged by teachers to share educational video content with their
students. The degree of YouTube use by teachers falls broadly into the same pattern
as that of the TV mode. Close to 80% of the teachers across the different types of
schools reported to have either used YouTube or encouraged students to access it for
educational purposes. However, the percentage of ZPSS teachers who were doing so
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(CESS)Report Submitted to Scheduled Castes Development Department
Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
was lower than the rest at 60%. Radio was not a medium of communication for
obvious reasons – since people have upgraded to digital devices such as TVs, smart
phones and computers.
Supply of text books was critical for continued learning during the school closures in
that such resources can reach every student and their use is not constrained by either
technological or financial factors. Distribution of text books had commenced just prior
to this survey. The social welfare and tribal welfare residential schools were far ahead
of other schools in the distribution of text books and other resources to students,
followed by the general residential schools and Ashram schools and ZPSSs were
lagging behind with regard to the supply of text books and other resources.
Table 3: Support provided to students by their schools by management type
Mode of teaching ZPSSs TSWREIS+ TREIS Ashram All
TTWREIS schools
Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
Online classes or 5.6 94.4 28.6 71.4 5.6 94.4 50 50 22.2 77.8
teaching to students
Recorded lessons to 17.6 82.4 88.1 11.9 61.1 38.9 75.0 25.0 67.4 32.5
students
Phone or video calls 5.9 94.1 45.2 54.8 27.8 72.2 41.7 58.3 33.7 66.2
to students
WhatsApp or text 23.5 76.5 88.1 11.9 83.3 16.7 100 0 76.4 23.6
messaging
Lessons telecast on 58.8 41.2 100 0 100 0 100 0 92.1 7.87
TVs
Encouraging 58.8 41.2 73.8 26.2 94.4 5.6 91.7 8.3 77.5 22.4
students to watch
videos or lessons
through YouTube?
Encouraging 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100
students to listen to
lessons on the
radio?
Providing resources 35.3 64.7 85.7 14.3 50 50 0 100 57.3 42.7
like books,
textbooks,
worksheets,
assignments?
All figures are percentages, as reported by teachers.
3.4. Support provided to students and teachers’ outlook
More than 90% of the teachers across the different management types reported to
have provided learning related support to student families during the school shutdown
period. But disaggregated data shows that a much lower proportion of teachers from
ZPSSs (60%) were extending help to their students while all the teachers of the
remaining schools were involved in supporting their students. In terms of the actual
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Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
reach of the online teaching, the teachers reported that around 50% of the students
were able to access the remote modes of teaching.
The survey also attempted to ascertain the teachers’ outlook on the prospects of
whether the schools and the students would be able to deal with learning related
challenges posed by the Corona pandemic. As the survey results laid out in table 4
below show, almost 85% of the respondent teachers representing all managements
expressed different levels of confidence (“very confident” to “somewhat confident”)
over the schools’ capacity to support students’ learning during the Covid-induced
school closures. But the ZPSSs reported the lowest levels of confidence, that is, close
to 40% of the teachers were not at all confident of extending learning support to
students. By contrast, the Tribal Welfare and Social Welfare residential schools
reported highest levels of confidence at 95%. Since this survey was carried out during
the early stage of school closures more than 90% of the teachers reported varying
levels of confidence that the students would be able to catch up with the learning lost
due to school closures; however, the teachers of ZPSSs were less affirmative in this
regard.
Table 4: Teachers’ confidence levels on dealing with pedagogic challenges
ZPSSs TSWREIS+ TREIS Ashram All
TTWREIS schools
Can the school support students’ learning during the school closures?
Very confident 16.7% 31.0% 33.3% 16.7% 26.7%
Somewhat confident 44.4% 64.3% 50.0% 66.7% 57.8%
Not at all confident 38.9% 4.8% 16.7% 16.7% 15.6%
Will students be able to catch up on any learning lost due to the school closures?
Very confident 11.1% 33.3% 33.3% 16.7% 26.7%
Somewhat confident 83.3% 57.1% 61.1% 83.3% 66.7%
Not at all confident 5.6% 9.5% 5.6% 0.0% 6.7%
3.5. Challenges of remote teaching and its impact on different student groups
The survey also captured the anticipated challenges of teachers in delivering remote
teaching to the students. The key challenges of virtual classes reported by the
teachers are presented in the chart below. The constraints reported by relatively
higher proportions of teachers include: students do not have reliable access to digital
technology such as digital devices (smartphones and computers) and internet
connectivity (25%); students have other responsibilities such as attending to domestic
chores, taking care of siblings and supporting parents in economic activities (17%);
students get little or no parental support for learning (13%); students do not have the
skills that are needed to handle technology (11%); teachers do not have access to the
technology that is needed for virtual modes of teaching (9%); almost a tenth of the
teachers reported bottlenecks in distributing and collecting learning material such as
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Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
textbooks and worksheets; and low levels of motivation on the part of students was
highlighted by a tenth of the respondents. Other reported difficulties include lack of
skills on the part of teachers to handle technology and low motivation levels among
teachers.
Fig 2: Challenging in delivering remote modes of teaching
It can be hypothesized that the impact of school closures on the learning outcomes is
not uniform across the different student groups. In this context, teachers’ perspectives
were captured by asking them which student groups are more likely to be adversely
impacted by the school shutdowns. The results (presented in table 5) indicate that
slow learners, students who are very poor, and those belonging to Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes are likely to be disproportionately impacted by school closures.
And according to teachers girls are more vulnerable than boys and BC students are
least affected by the lack of regular schooling.
Table 5: Student groups that are more vulnerable to school closures
ZPSSs TSWREIS+ TREIS Ashram All
TTWREIS schools
Very poor students 34.0% 23.1% 20.0% 36.4% 26.6%
Girls 10.6% 10.2% 2.2% 9.1% 8.6%
Boys 10.6% 5.6% 4.4% 3.0% 6.0%
Slow learners 19.1% 29.6% 35.6% 33.3% 29.2%
Over-aged students 0 3.7% 6.7% 0 3.0%
Students with disabilities 0 3.7% 0 0 1.7%
ST students 12.8% 13.0% 13.3% 18.2% 13.7%
SC students 10.6% 9.3% 15.6% 0 9.4%
OBC students 2.1% 1.9% 2.2% 0 1.7%
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Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
3.6. Teachers’ perspectives on the impact of school closures and their
preparedness for reopening
All the respondent teachers, irrespective of the management type, were unanimously
of the view that students’ learning would be adversely affected by school closures.
Regarding the likelihood of students dropping out due to the extended school
shutdowns, more than half (54%) of the teachers representing all management types
returned an affirmative answer. But the replies fall into a pattern – the proportion is
highest among the Ashram school teachers (90%), followed by ZPSS teachers with
61% and the lowest percentage of general residential school teachers (27%) reported
the probability of dropouts.
With respect to the preparedness of the schools for reopening, only 30% of the
teachers across the different managements reported that it would be possible for them
to maintain physical distance and take all precautions to prevent the spread of Corona
virus. But only 20% of the teachers of social and tribal welfare boarding schools were
confident of observing the required precautions. Maintenance of hygienic conditions in
the school premises is essential for preventing the spread of the pandemic. In the light
of this, the teachers were asked whether their school will have basic facilities such as
adequate water, sanitizer and soaps to maintain hygiene at the school. Overall, 70%
of the teachers responded positively. However, the proportions of affirmative
responses were lower among the teachers of ZPSSs and general residential schools
(55%); by contrast, the teachers of Ashram schools and SW and TW residential
schools reported higher levels of preparedness, 100% and 74% respectively.
Availability of functional toilets is critical for the prevention of Covid-19 transmission.
The teachers were asked to report whether their schools have adequate number of
usable toilets. A half of the responders representing the entire range of schools replied
affirmatively. But the response pattern indicates that only 22% of teachers from ZPSSs
reported adequate number of toilets, followed by 45% of SW and TW boarding
schools, 56% of general residential schools and all (100%) of Ashram schools
teachers reported adequate number of functional lavatories.
4. STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVES
4.1. Occupational profile
At the outset the survey captured the livelihood profile of the student households by
collecting data pertaining to the main occupation of the child’s father. This sets the
backdrop for the study. Agriculture (46%) and farm and non-farm wage labour (20%)
are the mainstay of the livelihoods of the student households, followed by different
types of skilled and semi-skilled activities (17%) such as construction related work.
Traditional occupations such as potter, carpenter and barber were reported only by BC
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Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
households. By contrast, petty business is widespread representing 5% of the student
households across the social groups. Salaried employees working in government and
private sectors represent nearly 6% of the households.
Table 6: Occupational profile of student households
STs SCs BCs All
Agriculture 57.4 43.7 31.2 46.2
Wage labour (farm and non-farm) 27.7 14.0 15.6 20.3
Traditional occupation 0 0 14.9 5.0
Small business/trade/shop 2.0 5.6 9.4 5.1
Skilled worker 8.9 25.4 20.3 16.9
Salaried (govt+private) 4.0 10.0 3.1 5.6
All figures are percentages; “others” category of occupations not included.
4.2. Students’ access to digital devices
Access to digital devices on the part of students is a prerequisite for them to access
remote modes of teaching that were rolled out during the school closures resulting
from the spread of Covid-19. Overall (all social groups combined), 73% of the high
school students reported owning a TV set; only BC students reported marginally lower
levels of TV set ownership at 69%. By contrast, BC students have the highest
proportion of smartphone ownership at 84%. At 64%, ST students have the lowest
levels of smart phone ownership; and three-fourths of SC students have access to a
smartphone. Most of the students who have a smart phone at home reported that they
have regular access to it.
Less than a quarter of students (21%) who have no smartphones reported that their
families can invest in a new smartphone, if need be. Less than 2% of the students
have a laptop/desktop or a tablet at home indicating that smartphome was the most
important means to access remote teaching. Only 17% of the students have Wi-Fi
internet connectivity at home. But SC and BC students have higher levels of Wi-Fi
internet connectivity at 22% and 23% respectively. Most of the students (82%) who
have Wi-Fi are able to go online on their devices.
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Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
Table 7: Students’ access to digital devices across social groups
STs SCs BCs All
Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
Have TV set at home 73.3 26.7 74.6 25.4 68.8 31.2 72.5 27.5
Have smartphone at home 64.4 35.6 74.6 25.4 84.4 15.6 72.9 27.1
Have regular access to 76.6 23.4 90.7 9.3 64.2 35.8 77.2 22.8
smartphone (for HHs with
smartphone)
Can your family invest in a 25.6 74.4 4.8 95.2 33.3 66.7 21.3 78.7
new smartphone (HHs
without smartphone)
Have a laptop/desktop or 0 100 2.8 97.2 1.6 98.4 1.3 98.7
tablet at home
Have Wi-Fi internet 8.9 91.1 22.5 74.6 23.4 76.6 16.9 82.2
connection at home
Able to access internet and 72.7 27.3 84.2 15.8 87.5 12.5 82.6 17.4
use devices with Wi-Fi
(those with Wi-Fi)
All figures are percentages
4.3. Levels of access to remote learning during the school closures
Remote modes of teaching were under early phase of implementation during the
survey. The survey tried to gauge the degree of access realized by the learners. A half
of the students representing all social groups could access online lessons or videos on
their smartphones and other digital devices during the school closures caused by the
Corona pandemic. BC students had the lowest level of access to online classes. The
respondent learners reported lower levels of access to educational programmes on
TV, mainly through T-SAT channel; SC students reported higher level of access (48%)
compared to the average for all students (37%).
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Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
Table 8: Levels of access to remote teaching/learning during Covid school
closures by social groups (all figures are percentages)
STs SCs BCs All
Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
Watched lessons on smart 57.4 42.6 56.3 43.7 32.8 67.2 50.4 49.6
phone or other devices
(including apps)?
Watched lessons or videos 38.6 61.4 47.9 52.1 23.4 76.6 37.3 62.7
on TV such as T-SAT?
Read or accessed new text 48.5 51.5 56.3 43.7 7.8 92.2 39.8 60.2
books, reading material,
worksheets, etc?
Attended tuitions or private 1.0 99.0 5.6 94.4 3.1 96.9 3.0 97.0
classes?
Was the school 73.3 26.7 77.5 22.5 46.9 53.1 67.4 32.6
(principal/HM, teachers, et
al) in touch with you?
Access to remote learning - % of students reporting “yes”
Overall, 40% of the learners reported access to the new text books and related
material; by contrast, only 8% of BC students had access to text books and SC
students reported the highest level of access to academic material at 56%. The
proportion of students who chose alternative modes of learning such as tuitions and
private classes was insignificant but SC pupils were marginally ahead of others in this
respect (6%). Teachers’ support to students in the context of online teaching is critical
for making their experience more effective and productive. But teachers were able to
be in contact with 67% of the students of all social groups put together; but more than
three-fourths (78%) of SC students reported that the teachers were in touch with them
and the lowest level of school facilitation was returned by BC students at 47%.
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Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
4.4. Factors reported by students for not accessing remote teaching
In a follow-up to the extent of access to distance learning discussed in the previous
section, the students were asked to relate the key factors accounting for the
inaccessibility to the learning opportunities. The proportions reported in the tables of
this section refer to the subset of students who reported “no” to the different modes of
remote learning presented in table 8 of the foregoing section.
The main constraint for not attending online classes was the lack of access to digital
devices such as smartphones and computers – reported by nearly a half of all
students; but the corresponding proportions are higher for SC and ST students - 61%
and 60% respectively – indicating higher levels of inaccessibility to the gadgets.
Almost a third of the students stated that online lessons or programmes were not
offered by the school managements. 13% of the learners were busy helping their
family members with their regular activities or chores; but such proportion is higher
among the BC students. For a small fraction of students (7%), home atmosphere was
not conducive for home-based learning.
Table 9: Reasons for not watching lessons on smart phone or other devices
(including apps)
STs SCs BCs All
No access to devices - 59.6 61.1 30.8 48.7
phone, tab and computer
Lessons, videos, etc were 15.4 25.0 43.1 30.0
not offered
Helped parents/family with 7.7 11.1 16.9 12.7
their activities
Worked and earned wage 0 2.8 0 0.7
Home atmosphere not 11.5 0 7.7 7.3
conducive
Total 100 100 100 100
All figures are percentages
Telecast of customized educational programmes on TV (through T-SAT and
Doordarshan channels) was launched during the early months of school closures. But
close to two-thirds of those who could not watch the programmes reported that they
had no access to a TV set. Much higher proportions of SC and ST students (80%)
reported inaccessibility to a TV set. More than a tenth of the respondent students were
not able to access the educational content on their TVs. Nearly a tenth of the pupils
were supporting their family members with their routine activities – a trend that is
broadly consistent with the students’ daily routine reported in other sections. Likewise,
a comparable proportion of students were not able to access the TV classes due to
non-conducive home atmosphere.
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Centre for Economic and Social Studies
(CESS)Report Submitted to Scheduled Castes Development Department
Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
Table 10: Reasons for not watching lessons on TV such as T-SAT
STs SCs BCs All
No access to TV 79.4 79.5 44.4 65.4
Lessons, videos, etc were 4.4 7.7 20.8 11.7
not telecast
Helped parents/family with 5.9 2.6 13.9 8.4
their activities
Worked and earned wage 1.5 0 4.2 2.2
Home atmosphere not 5.9 5.1 13.9 8.9
conducive
Other 2.9 5.1 2.8 3.4
Total 100 100 100 100
All figures are percentages
With respect to access to text books and other learning material, almost 90% of those
who could not access them reported that the learning material had not been provided
to them. As reported in the previous section, a majority of students had not received
text books at the time of the survey. Close to 4% of the students were not able to
access text books as they were helping their parents in different ways.
Table 11: Reasons for not accessing textbooks and related material
STs SCs BCs All
Books and material 96.3 96.9 79.7 88.8
unavailable or not provided
Helped parents/family with 3.7 3.1 4.1 3.8
their activities
Worked and earned wage 0 0 2.7 1.3
Home atmosphere not 0 0 13.5 6.3
conducive
Total 100 100 100 100
All figures are percentages
Tuitions or private classes can be one of the options to continue learning during the
school shutdowns. But the survey findings reveal that almost 90% of the students
across the social groups reported that such an option was out of the reckoning since
tuitions were not available in their native locations. And tuitions were not affordable to
a tenth of them.
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Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
Table 12: Reasons for not attending tuitions or private classes
STs SCs BCs All
Tuitions or private classes 91.1 85.5 86.2 88.0
not available
cannot afford tuitions or 8.9 9.2 10.8 9.5
private classes
Helped parents/family with 0 3.9 3.1 2.1
their activities
Worked and earned wage 0 1.3 0 0.4
Total 100 100 100 100
All figures are percentages
4.5. Access to digital devices and remote learning by gender and level of
schooling
Disaggregation of the survey results by gender and the level of education throws up
some policy-relevant insights. The findings laid out in table 13 bring out the broad
trends indicating the differential access to digital devices and remote teaching
influenced by factors such as the gender and the level of schooling of the students.
The respondent households with boys reported considerably higher level of TV
ownership (81%) than girls (66%). Similarly, 10th class students have marginally better
access to TV sets. When it comes to the actual access to TV programmes the
differences are starker: nearly a half of boys reported to have watched lessons on TV
whereas the corresponding figure for girls is 29%; and a higher proportion of 10 th class
students actually watched TV lessons than that of 9 th class.
A similar broad trend can be observed with regard to the levels of access the students
have to smart phones: on all three parameters—device ownership, regular access and
the actual watching of educational content—tenth class students and boys are better
off than girls and ninth class students. And households with a 10th class student are
more likely to invest in a new smart phone than those with children studying in lower
classes. A comparable trend can be noticed in the findings with respect to the
proportions of students who are in contact with their respective schools during the
Covid-induced school shutdowns: 80% of the boys were in touch with their teachers
while the corresponding figure for girls is 59%; and the teachers were able to be in
contact with 74% of the 10th class students whereas they could reach out to 52% of 9th
class students. The pattern indicates a clear preference in favour of 10 th class
students and boys in general.
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Centre for Economic and Social Studies
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Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
Table 13: Access to devices and remote learning by gender and level of education
Boys Girls 9th 10th All
class class
Do you have a TV set at home that 81% 66% 70% 73% 72%
can receive all important channels?
Have you watched lessons or videos 49% 29% 33% 39% 37%
on TV?
Do you have a smart phone at 74% 72% 68% 75% 73%
home?
Do you have regular access to smart 89% 70% 62% 85% 78%
phone (for hhs with a device)?
Have you watched lessons or videos 54% 47% 38% 56% 50%
on smart phone and other devices?
Can your family invest in a new smart 20% 25% 16% 28% 23%
phone (for hhs without a device)?
Was the school (principal or 80% 58 % 52% 74% 67%
teachers) in touch with you during
school closures?
All figures are respective percentages reporting “yes”.
The analysis also explored the correlation between the ownership of digital devices
and the students’ access to remote modes of teaching. The survey found that only
50% of the households that own a TV set reported to be regularly watching
educational content on their TV sets. Likewise, 66% of the smartphone-owning
households were able to actually access online teaching on a regular and reliable
basis. The constraints that the students are confronted with in accessing remote
teaching are already discussed elsewhere in this report.
4.6. Key challenges confronted by students in accessing remote or online
modes of teaching
The survey elicited the responses of the students to a highly pertinent question: What
were the major constraints that they were experiencing or likely to experience in
accessing different types of remote/online teaching. The summated replies are laid out
in table 13 below. The pattern does not show wide variations in the respective
proportions between the social groups. It can be seen from the table that the major
challenges reported by the children include (with respective overall percentages): Lack
of reliable access to digital devices (21%); issues related to internet connectivity
(20%); constraints in apprehending some subjects such as mathematics and sciences
(22%); non-conducive home atmosphere (12%); remote modes of teaching are not
interactive (10%); difficulties in handling technology (6%); and little or no learning
support from household members.
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Centre for Economic and Social Studies
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Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
Table 14: Constraints encountered in accessing remote teaching
STs SCs BCs All
Lack of access to digital 24.2 18.9 17.6 21.2
devices
Internet connectivity issues 19.9 20.4 17.1 19.9
Difficulties in handling 6.9 7.7 2.1 5.9
technology
It is not very interactive 10.4 11.7 8.0 10.4
Difficult to understand some 22.9 20.9 21.4 22.6
subjects or topics
Home atmosphere is not 10.0 12.2 12.3 11.8
conducive
No or little help from family 3.9 4.6 4.3 4.4
members
No or little help from 0 0.5 3.7 1.3
teachers
Responsibilities like – caring 1.7 3.1 2.7 2.5
or helping HH members or
paid work
Total 100 100 100 100
All figures are percentages
4.7. Is it difficult to learn certain subjects through remote modes of teaching?
In the light of the continued spread of Covid-19 pandemic the State Government had
no option but to roll out different modes of remote teaching in an effort to ensure
uninterrupted learning. In this context, the survey asked the students whether they
would encounter constraints in learning certain subjects through remote modes of
teaching. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of all students reported that learning mathematics
would be difficult through online classes; but a higher proportion of SC students (73%)
said that they would face learning difficulties with mathematics; the corresponding
proportion is lowest among the ST students at 58%.
Close to a fifth (17%) of all the respondent students were of the view that learning
sciences remotely would be difficult; there is no significant variation in perceptions
between the social groups in this regard. A tenth of the respondents were of the view
that they were unlikely to face constraints in learning any subject online. And only 7%
of the students reported the likelihood of difficulties in learning languages remotely.
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Centre for Economic and Social Studies
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Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
Fig 3: Proportions of students reporting difficulties in learning different subjects via
remote modes across social groups
4.8. Online teaching no substitute for class-room teaching
This survey elicited the students’ perspectives on the remote teaching modes rolled
out by the State Government by asking them whether online teaching was as good as
face-to-face teaching. An overwhelming 90.3% of the students were of the view that
remote teaching was no substitute for in-person teaching. This was probed further by
asking them to report the key factors that shaped their viewpoint. The highest
proportion of the learners (almost 40%) feel that online instruction is not interactive
ruling out interaction between students and teachers and thereby making learning
difficult. A fourth of the students reported that they miss social life with their fellow
students; and nearly a fifth of them were of the view that they miss the interactive
learning from their peers at school due to remote lessons. More than a tenth of the
students feel that online teaching deprives them of the discipline that is associated
with regular classes and the academic schedules. And close to a tenth of the students
point out that the constraints related to accessing and using technology make remote
teaching less enjoyable than face-to-face teaching.
Fig 4: Is online teaching as good as class-room teaching?
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Centre for Economic and Social Studies
(CESS)Report Submitted to Scheduled Castes Development Department
Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
Why online teaching is not as good as in-person teaching?
4.9. Food-related constraints resulting from school closures
In addition to imparting the critical secondary education, the government schools
under different managements covered by this survey also contribute to the food
security of the student households hailing predominantly from the poor and vulnerable
social groups. Against this backdrop, the student respondents were asked whether
they faced food-insecurity or food related constraints following the Covid-induced
school shutdowns. Among the social groups, the highest proportion (25%) of SC
students responded affirmatively – indicating that the food-related impact is much
higher on the SC households. This is followed by 14% and 11% of STs and BCs
respectively who reported food-related constraints. The average for all students is
17%. This finding shows that the school closures had an effect on the food-security of
the student households (see the last section – an update on post-survey
developments).
Fig 5: Whether students experienced food-related constraints?
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Centre for Economic and Social Studies
(CESS)Report Submitted to Scheduled Castes Development Department
Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
4.10. Likely impacts of extension of school closures
The students’ perspectives on the likely effects of an extended period of school
closures are presented in table 14 below. Loss of learning looms large on an
overwhelming 86% of the students in general but the likelihood of such learning
deprivation was reported by marginally greater proportion of SC students (91%) and
lower percentage of BC students (78%). The second level of effect reported by close
to a tenth of the students was the likelihood of students becoming disinterested in
schooling. The chances of students dropping out were almost ruled out by the
respondents but a small portion of them (6%) were of the view that students may be
engaged in either household work or paid work.
Table 15: Students’ views on likely effects of school closures
STs SCs BCs All
Loss of learning 87% 91% 78% 86%
Loss of interest in schooling 8% 3% 12% 8%
Pupils may drop out 1% 0 2% 1%
Pupils may be engaged in
household activities 3% 2% 2% 2%
Pupils may be engaged in
paid work 1% 5% 7% 4%
4.11. Post-survey developments: An update
The developments that have taken place since August 2020—after this rapid survey
was conducted—are captured in this section. The distribution of textbooks which
started in a staggered fashion in July was completed in August 2020 - with the laggard
ZPSSs catching up with residential schools. In September 2020 the ZPSSs, along with
residential schools under different managements, reopened for the teachers. The
ZPSS system is currently relying on only one mode of remote teaching, that is, pre-
recorded lessons telecast every day through T-SAT and Doordarshan channels. The
programmes can be accessed online as well. The teachers under all managements
had been officially directed to encourage students to watch lessons on TV.
In addition, the students can also come to their respective schools to interact with
teachers to get their subject-related queries clarified. But the student response to this
initiative has been relatively tepid with respect to residential schools given the spread
of the students. By contrast, the student footfalls are relatively higher at ZPSSs –
given their limited catchment area. As a result, phone calls and WhatsApp have
emerged as the main means of communication between students and teachers. There
has been no official policy as yet with respect to the periodic assessments or
evaluations of students. Quarterly examinations are already due – going by the
academic schedule under normal circumstances. Some teachers, however, on their
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Centre for Economic and Social Studies
(CESS)Report Submitted to Scheduled Castes Development Department
Impact of Covid-19 on School Education in Telangana
own volition try to informally assess the learning levels of students by sending brief
question papers through WhatsApp.
In contrast to ZPSSs, the Social Welfare, Tribal Welfare and general residential
schools are also conducting live classes for students through zoom app – in addition
to advising and spurring students to watch the recorded lessons telecast on T-SAT
and Doordarshan. This survey results show that at least 25% of the students do not
have access to a smartphone. Left with no other options, a sizable number of student
households seem to have purchased a new smartphone. This is evidenced by around
90% student participation levels in zoom classes, although some students are unable
to join zoom classes owing to internet connectivity issues and for some others the
zoom participation is intermittent due to connectivity and smartphone access related
constraints. Access to smartphones among students of ZPSSs does not seem to have
improved as much since T-SAT and Doordarshan are the primary sources of learning
for them.
Parents are of the view that in addition to the lack of reliable access to digital devices,
the students’ learning is unmonitored. Loss of discipline on the part of children is also
a cause for concern for parents. Even parents are unable to pay adequate attention to
their children or support their learning because the former are busy with their daily
routine. Resultantly, a considerable proportion of students, girls in particular, are
helping their family members with their regular activities or domestic chores.
When it comes to the non-scholastic impacts of school closures, the poorer
households in particular are weighed down with additional financial burden as such
households are now spending more on food. The impact is particularly pronounced on
the households with more than one school-going child. The students are deprived of
the mid-day meals of ZPSSs and the nutritious diet served three times a day at
residential schools.
The teachers of residential schools in particular are also deprived of their opportunity
to identify intelligent and talented students in both curricular and co-curricular
domains. Such students receive special and focused attention from the school
managements and are trained and groomed for different competitive or entrance
examinations and events.
Most of the students and parents—in the light of the concerns and constraints
highlighted in this report—look forward to reopening of schools expecting the
government to take all precautions and preventive measures to ensure the safety of
students.
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