Patna: Almost 90 per cent of the students studying in mostly government schools in Bihar's Patna and Muzaffarpur do not have access to online/ TV education, according to a survey by the Centre for Budget and Policy Studies (CBPS). Centre for Budget and Policy Studies is working in collaboration with the Bihar government in nine government and a NGO run schools for the past two years. According to CBPS, "almost 90 per cent of the children do not have access to online/ TV education. Therefore, the reach of online education is limited and more so for children from marginalized communities."

Due to school closure during the Covid-19 pandemic, children are engaged in greater chores / care work / labor. "Reaching children, especially those from marginalized communities, when schools close due to emergencies becomes difficult and is almost impossible without apt preparedness," the study found.

Teachers also lack systematic training in dealing with emergency situations where schools are closed. "Teachers are not always equipped to work with children from vulnerable communities, and therefore, capacity building in terms of engaging with marginalized children in emergency situations is necessary," the study revealed.

During the Covid-19 pandemic period, CBPS developed learning materials in the form of letters and trained teachers on critical thinking pedagogies and education in emergency. "Emergency response requires a systemic preparedness at the level of the school, children, communities and at the larger system level. This means that building resilient school systems to deal with emergency situations is the most critical action point in the entire agenda of ‘build back better’ as advocated by all actors during and post pandemic," read the CBPS statement.

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