How closing schools for another year may set India back a few years

ASER data show that more students had fewer learning options, higher dropouts and a stark rich-poor divide; gender imbalance also showed in enrolments

Last week, Delhi announced that it was shutting schools until further notice, and that classes would resume only through the online mode. Delhi, however, was not the only state to order a shutdown or suspension of classes. Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, UP have all shut schools, given the rise in coronavirus infections as India battles a second wave.

Although one would expect Indian education to have become resilient to Covid-19 concerns, there are many lacunae that the government needs to address. Data from the final ASER report, released in February this year, highlights that India’s school enrolments are falling, reversing the gains