NHRC Core Group meeting on Children calls for time-bound filling up of vacancies of school teachers and greater investments of resources to ensure better learning outcomes

New Delhi, 25th February, 2022

The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, India held its Core Group meeting on Children today to discuss the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on learning outcomes of children pandemic and to suggest measures to be taken for bridging the gap.

Chairing the meeting, NHRC Member Mrs. Jyotika Kalra, on the basis of the deliberations by the participants called upon that it is an omission on part of the State and urged for strategic filling up of the 11 lakh vacant teaching posts in a time bound manner. To bridge the gap in the learning outcomes, Mrs. Kalra pressed towards regular training of teachers and provision of multi-level teaching materials. She also encouraged for the development of contents in hard copies for easier access by students. Sensing the effectiveness of community participation, Mrs. Kalrahas nudged to inculcate volunteers to impart knowledge to the primary classes.

Triggering the conversation, NHRC Secretary General, Mr. Bimbadhar Pradhan said that shifting to a system that only benefits a section of society, leaving behind the needy and vulnerable section, sabotages the very notion of Indian ethos of equality of opportunity. He also threw some light on the effects of digital divide impacting the learning abilities among the primary school children.

Some of the important suggestions that emerged during the meeting, among others, are as follows:

· Avoid the ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution considering the diverse pool and individual ability of the students;

· Move towards a decentralized local curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment structure considering the diverse needs of teachers and students;

· In the new school year, taking into account the lack of pre-school and aanganwadi exposure, the primary students should be treated with warm up pre-school activities instead of rushing them to numeracy and literacy programs; also focusing on the cognitive, pre-language, and basic foundations;

· Decisive and long-term actions to be addressed instead of finding quick solutions in order to address the learning loss;

· Provision of specific and untied school-level grants to overcome the education emergency

The meeting was moderated by NHRC Joint Secretary, Mrs. Anita Sinha, in the presence of NHRC Chairperson, Mr. Justice Arun Mishra, Joint Director (Research), Dr. M.D.STyagi and Research Officer, Dr. Seemi Azam. The meeting was also attended by the representatives of Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women and Child Development, NCERT, CBSE, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, NHRC Core Group members, UNICEF India, Director of National Coalition on Education Emergency, Bodh Shiksha Samiti, and former NHRC Monitor on children as special invitees.

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