Children dwelling in a slum in Sarna Toli area of Ranchi in the state of Jharkhand are facing multiple hardships amid COVID-19 lockdown as most of their families can’t afford to buy smartphones for them. Cash-strapped and barely able to meet ends, availing online classes with smartphones is impossible for many. TwoCircles.net correspondent Nazish Hussain documents the story of these children.
By Nazish Hussain, TwoCircles.net
Ranchi: In a single room house in the slum of Sarna Toli, Ranchi lives Muzammil Hawari, a 10th standard student, with his family. He studies at a private school. It has been almost six months since his school has been shut after the countrywide lockdown enforced due to COVID-19 started in March. Muzammil was left completely out of touch with his studies, with no classes or tuitions. Though the school started online classes, he couldn’t attend due to the unavailability of the required infrastructure for online classes at his home. It was only two months ago that his father bought him a new smartphone.
The schools across the country have remained closed since the first phase of countrywide COVID-19 lockdown, which came into effect on 25 March 2020.
According to a report published by UNICEF, the closure of schools in India has impacted 247 million children enrolled in elementary and secondary education. In the second week of April, the Central Government passed an order for all education institutions to continue their academic schedule through online classes. However, highlighting the digital divide in India, the UNICEF report indicates that only a quarter of households have internet access in the country. Jharkhand government’s Education Official is reported to have said that as many as 42 lakh students are enrolled in classes 1 to 12 in government schools but only about 14 lakh of them attend online classes. Most of the government school students do not have smartphones at home.
“Now that I have started online classes on my smartphone, I am trying to cover all that I missed,” says Muzammil. However, he is facing a challenge. “When I have any doubts during these online classes, I am not able to clear those. Though we get time after classes for five minutes to clear our doubts but that is not enough,” he says. He continues, “I also face other problems like connectivity issues or slow internet. At times if I miss any class I am not able to recover it or understand it fully.”
His online classes start from 10 in the morning which continues till 1 in the noon. He gets links to the online classes one after another in his class 10 WhatsApp group.
He says he could not connect to his live chemistry class due to the slow internet. “Internet doesn’t always work properly, live classes consume more data,” he says. His 1 GB daily data limit is not sufficient to attend all live classes. Muzammil says he could not increase his data limit due to expensive data packs. He has previously missed many of his classes due to unavailability of a smartphone and other internet related problems. Muzammil worries about those missed lessons as he says there is no provision for any extra online classes. Though nervous about his 10th board examination, he says he is hoping for the best and trying to cover his syllabus.
Sayma Akhtar, an eighth standard student, goes to a private school. For over a month now, Sayma is not able to attend her online classes due to the unavailability of a smartphone. “A month ago, my father lost his smartphone and I am not able to do my classes. I missed all my tests as well,” says Sayma. Now she studies on her own with the help of textbooks alone.
“It is my eighth standard board examination and I am scared,” she says. Without connectivity, she is not able to get any information about her classes, exam dates or reopening of her school. Although this is causing her stress, she would not open up to her father about her problems. “The situation at home is bad. We are facing financial problems. Father could not open his shop which is the sole income of the family. Even my school fee is not paid which is already stressing him. By bringing this up, I don’t want to cause him more stress,” she says.
In June, Jharkhand state Human Resource Department (HRD) allowed private schools who gave online classes during lockdown to charge a tuition fee for April and May. However, the decision was protested by the All School Parents Association, a parent body in the state.
Riza Nazish, an eighth standard student, who goes to Kendra Vidyalaya, is not able to resume her online classes for the last 15 days, as she could not recharge her phone. She explains that her father’s business is hit by the pandemic, causing financial strain. Cash strapped, recharging the phone with an internet pack is not a priority. Without the internet, she studies with the help of her textbooks alone. At times her friends call to update her on notices and tests. To appear for tests or to attend some important class, Riza has to borrow the phone of her neighbour. At home, she manages time for her studies amidst household chores and responsibility of looking after a younger sibling. Riza says she is not able to grasp the lessons by herself. She hopes for school to start soon.
“I have my board exams, if we start school soon that would give me more confidence for the exams. During online classes, teachers are only completing the lessons. I hope in a classroom they would tell us more than just lessons,” says Fiza Afreen, an intermediate student. She is her 12th standard board exams this year. After lockdown, her online classes started on 16 May. Apart from doing household chores, Fiza attends her online classes on a daily basis using her father’s smartphone. She completes all the assignments on time which would mark her attendance every day. Though she is getting all the lessons online, she misses the classroom environment at home.
Abdul Wahid Ansari is a 9th standard student at a private school. As the school remains closed amid the ongoing lockdown, he spends his day running a small kiosk attached to his home. Although his school started online classes from April, Wahid could join only at the end of July. On asking the reason for the delay, he said he did not have any information about the online classes before July.
He attends his online classes on the smartphone used by all family members. He got a recharge done for three months with the data limit of 1.5 GB per day. Wahid says he spends the data by watching YouTube videos he receives in the online class WhatsApp group. The YouTube links start coming in from 8 in the morning. He says does not like online classes. “I can’t clear my doubts online. Also, I could not meet my friends. Earlier we would do things together. Now that is not possible,” he says. Wahid struggles with subjects like Science, Mathematics and Social Studies during the online classes. “In school, I could clear all my doubts in front of teachers, but not during online classes,” he said.
Sitting in his small kiosk he attends to frequent customers while he also watches the videos for his online classes. This is routine. Wahid says he finds it a struggle to understand the concepts. He exits the video in between. “I would open and try to listen to the class but when I don’t understand I exit,” he says.
Wahid has recently joined a study centre in his neighbourhood, which is set up by individuals to help poor slum children with their studies.