Impact of Lockdown on Economy and Education

The education sector is facing unprecedented challenges and needs to adapt and find solutions to keep children motivated and in their route to learning. How will the education sector and educators deal to overcome these challenges? How will children continue to learn, even as school, by necessity, becomes a digital space? Inequality among children brought into sharp focus School-going children are, naturally, the worst affected education sector stakeholders. For pupils, the lockdown doesn’t just mean reduced cashflow or a professional setback: it represents an interruption to their learning journey. And in the case of dropouts, it was the final straw for at-risk children who struggled to get an education at the best of times. The lockdown has aggravated deep-set class and social differences, especially between private and public school systems. The Indian government spends 4.6 percent of its GDP on education. This is lower than in sub-Saharan countries like Kenya, Togo, and Zimbabwe. T...

India is one of the world’s worst hit countries in the coronavirus pandemic, with reported cases spiking in recent weeks as the country emerged from a strict nationwide lockdown. Cumulatively, India has reported more than 400,000 cases of infections since January. Though, relative to its population size, the percentage of infected individuals is still low. India also says the number of people who have recovered is higher than those currently affected by the virus.  The country’s lockdown began in late March and was subsequently extended several times. Stringent restrictions halted most economic activities and caused millions of people, many of them daily wage earners, to lose their jobs and revenue streams. Investment bank Goldman Sachs last month predicted a massive 45% decline in economy in the three months between April to June. Ratings agency Moody’s reduced India's credit ratings to the lowest investment grade level.  India’s recovery trajectory is going to...