Govt issues guidelines for enrollment & education of migrant children impacted by COVID-19

The Union Ministry of Education has issued guidelines for educating migrant children across the country, whose studies were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the new guidelines, the government will identify these school-going underprivileged students and will either enroll them for online classes or help them to attend physical classes.

''In order to mitigate the impact of challenges thrown by the COVID-19 pandemic for out of school children (OsSC), it was felt necessary for every state and UT to devise a proper strategy for preventing increased dropouts, lower enrolments, loss of learning, and deterioration in the gains made in providing universal access, quality and equity in the recent years,'' a senior ministry official said.

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Some of these guidelines are listed below:

• Conducting door-to-door survey to identify out-of-school children and those with special needs between the ages of 6 to 18 years with the help of school teachers and volunteers, and preparing an action plan for their enrolment. 
• Encouraging migrant students to attend home-based classes and undertake non-residential training with the help of community classrooms.
• Exploring the option of classroom-on-wheels and conducting classes in small groups at the village level to support the education of underprivileged students. 
• Increasing the access of children to online and digital resources, use of TV and radio to reduce learning losses. 
• Ensuring easy and timely access to providing uniforms, textbooks, and mid-day meals to the children.
• Undertaking enrollment drives for students at the beginning of the academic year as part of ‘School Chalo Abhiyaan’ and ‘ Praveshotsav’ and maintaining attendance registers for students to ensure they regularly attend the classes. 
• Creating COVID-19 related awareness such as wearing masks, using sanitizers, and maintaining social distancing inside the school premises.  
• Identifying students across different grades based on their learning levels and relaxing detention norms to prevent drop out.
• The ministry has also suggested encouraging children to read books beyond the syllabus and indulge in creative writing and problem solving. 
• Large-scale remedial programs and learning enhancement programs should be held to mitigate learning loss and inequality, have also been recommended. 

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