Millions of children in India may never return to school following the severe disruptions of rolling COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.
Online teaching — meant to replace in-classroom instruction — mostly failed for a variety of reasons. Poor internet coverage and the prohibitive cost of decent bandwidth for many families was a major factor. Despite increasing takeup of mobile phone plans, the kind of coverage taken for granted in developed nations is still lacking, or too expensive, in India.
As a result, the dropout rate of secondary students surged to as much as 17 percent. Girls were the worst affected. Up to 10 million girls were at risk of dropping out. Several surveys showed child labour rates had shot up, as had instances of child marriage. “We might be risking a lost generation of children who may never return to school. The impact on girls is disproportionately worse,” said UNICEF India representative, Yasumasa Kimura.
