Gloom in the Classroom: The Schooling Crisis in Jharkhand

This report, assessing the impact of covid-19 on Jharkhand’s already fragile education system, was released in December 2022. It was prepared by Paran Amitava and Jean Drèze for the Gyan Vigyan Samiti Jharkhand (GVSJ), a sub-division of Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS).Due to schools shutting down for two years during the pandemic, apart from a section of privileged students who could continue online learning, most underprivileged students were left without adequate support, the report notes. In September-October 2022, volunteers from GVSJ conducted a survey of 138 schools from 16 districts in Jharkhand to measure the impact of these shutdowns on students. Surveyed institutions were selected randomly from a sample of government primary and upper-primary schools wherein children from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 50 per cent of the population.This 42-page report compiling the survey results reveals deficiencies in the infrastructure as well as the number of teachers in school. It also notes a lack of earnestness among certain staff members. The report adds that few measures have been undertaken to counter the pandemic-induced damage on primary and upper-primary education in the state.