Page 13 - English12 | Activity book-3

12 GRADE Answer Keys & Audio Scripts
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Answer Key

9 Wise Sayings
1 Animal rights 3 Children’s rights 5 Discrimination 7 Love/Respect
2 Women’s rights 4 The rights of disabled persons 6 Inequality 8 Freedom of speech

Answer Key

10 Conveying the News

Covid-19: The Indian children who have forgotten how to read and write
Radhika, 10, struggles to write the alphabet after 17 months of being out of school. Radhika Kumari
holds her chalk with determination, almost willing the letters out of her mind onto the black slate. But
they tumble out slowly and she misidentifies many of them.

Radhika is trying to write the Hindi alphabet, a simple task for most 10-year olds. But, she says, she is
struggling because it has been 17 months since she attended a class, online or offline.

Like everywhere else in India, schools have remained shut since March last year when the country
went into lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19. Affluent private schools and their students
switched to online classes seamlessly, but government-run schools have struggled. And their
students—often with no laptops or smartphones and patchy access to the Internet—have fallen behind.

As schools started reopening in some states, economist Jean Dreze met Radhika and 35 other children
in her village to assess learning loss in underprivileged communities. The survey took into account
learning materials and extra classes, teacher visits, online learning and parents’ education level among
other things.

In Jharkhand, a largely tribal, poor state where Radhika lives, this digital divide is stark. Her
family is Dalit (formerly untouchable) and at the bottom of a deeply discriminatory Hindu caste
system—as is most of the village. There is no internet in her tiny village in Latehar district. Government or
state-owned broadcasters have been running educational shows in some states, but that’s still
inaccessible for many communities.

The pandemic has also widened the gender gap in learning. Some families can afford to pay for
after-school classes, but most choose to send only their sons. This isn’t unique. Many Indian parents
choose to invest in their son’s education because they hope to be supported by him when they grow
old—daughters, on the other hand, are wedded into another family and leave home. Data shows that
poor parents are more likely to enrol their daughters in government-run free schools, while saving up
to send their sons to cheap private schools.

Ms Subramanian suggested that as schools reopen, teachers should spend time with children in fun
group activities to assess their learning levels without putting additional pressure on them.

“Classroom education will have to be tailored to where the child is on their learning curve, else many
of these children will just not be able to cope,” she added. Radhika’s eyes light up at the thought of going
back to school. She said she has missed “playing and studying” the most—in that order. “I will open the
locked door and finally sit at my desk.”

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