Rethinking Education in the Context of Post-Pandemic South Asia: Challenges and Possibilities 1032365668, 9781032365664

Citation preview

“This timely and much-needed collection shines a critical spotlight on Covid19’s impact on education systems across South Asia. The harsh lockdowns, school closures and economic shockwaves combined to amplify exisiting educational inequalities. Yet the pandemic was only the latest in a series of crisis to hit the region. The worst brought out the best, and this book attends to the creative ways in which teachers and learners managed and responded. Pradhan, Valentin and Gupta are to be congratulated for bringing together 14 cutting-edge contributions on different aspects of educational policy, provision and practice in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. The authors highlight the importance of fine grained qualitative research on schooling. They encourage us to question our assumptions, and attend to overlooked inequalities. Chapters analyse dominant policy discourses, explore different genres of learning, and reflect on digitally mediated educational initiatives. Collectively, this book is testament to the transformative possibilities that come from rethinking South Asia’s educational worlds.” David Mills, Associate Professor (Pedagogy and the Social Sciences), Department of Education, University of Oxford, UK “This book is an excellent compilation of contemporary trends in education with a particular emphasis on bridging the gap between academia and practice, during a time when it tends to be largely neglected. The call for practitioners to be part of the delivery of education has been strengthened by the pandemic. While classrooms make students learn to do, what we need today is a do-to-learn approach. Across South Asia, the pandemic resounded the unique set of challenges in the thinking and imparting of education–striking chords that have been comprehensively covered by the chapters in this volume. It raises significant questions around the limitations of technology and the necessity of overcoming those if we aim to make technology mainstream in education. We are indeed at a critical juncture in the discourse on education in South Asia. This book is a rung on the ladder that will take us to newer heights to carve out brighter possibilities.” Pramath Raj Sinha, Founder and Chairman of Board of Trustees at Ashoka University; Founder and Chairman, Harappa Education; and Founding Dean, Indian School of Business, India “In many ways education was in a crisis, in South Asia, even before the Covid pandemic. We had too many issues with access, dropout and learning levels and these issues were long standing. But the pandemic brought these to the fore forcefully and clearly. School closures and lockdowns led to dropout and significant learning losses. The issues could not be ignored anymore. Opportunity or necessity, we have to think of ways forward. This book allows us to do exactly that. Worked on while the pandemic was still underway, it highlights the problems in the education sector in South Asian countries

clearly, and then brings out the consequences of these problems: lack of learning and/or poor learning, and inequity and inequality. More importantly, it discusses ways of moving forward as well. What can be the role of technology, how do we rethink learning and how to rethink space (school, home or cyber). Many of the issues discussed are in South Asian context but these issues are more general and apply to other contexts as well. This book should be very useful for every person concerned with the education of our children: a topic that should worry each one of us at least some of the time if not all the time.” Faisal Bari, Associate Professor of Economics and Education (joint appointment) - School of Humanities and Social Sciences & School of Education; Dean, Syed Ahsan Ali & Syed Maratib Ali School of Education - Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS); and Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives (IDEAS). Lahore “The book portrays an important reality of South Asian educational processes and systems together with educational possibilities in post-covid contexts. It also contributes to the much-needed diversity in narratives of what has to be done in improving education as an authentic, empowering, and inclusionary enterprise. As a resource for the comparative perspective of education in South Asia, the book will enable researchers to explore South Asian analytical tools instead of uncritically subscribing to the framework of the North and West.” Professor Bal Chandra Luitel, PhD Dean, School of Education, Kathmandu University, Nepal

Rethinking Education in the Context of Post-Pandemic South Asia

This edited volume offers new analytical and methodological approaches to the study of education in the post-­pandemic educational context, through case studies from countries in South Asia such as Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Crossing disciplinary and national boundaries to advance collaborative knowledge production in South Asian education, the book explores how different colonial legacies, religious orientations, and positions in the global economy are played out in regional education systems. In doing so, this volume focuses on the educational challenges faced by the region to better understand South Asian society and the existing societal inequalities in the wake of COVID-­19. The book highlights how the pandemic invites a re-­thinking of current ways of approaching educational research in hybrid forms, and also opens up new areas of research ranging from pedagogical innovations to the well-­being of teachers and students. Offering interdisciplinary perspectives on education in this unique context, this timely book will be highly relevant to students, researchers, and academics in the fields of international and comparative education, South Asian studies, teacher education, and education policy and politics. Uma Pradhan is Lecturer in Education Studies, University College London, UK. Karen Valentin is Associate Professor of Education Anthropology, Department of Educational Anthropology, School of Education, Aarhus University, Denmark. Mohini Gupta is a doctorate candidate of Language and Education Anthropology, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford, UK.

Routledge Research in International and Comparative Education

This is a series that offers a global platform to engage scholars in continuous academic debate on key challenges and the latest thinking on issues in the fast-­g rowing field of International and Comparative Education. Titles in the series include: Learner-­Centred Pedagogy in the Global South Pupils and Teachers’ Experiences

Nozomi Sakata

Community Participation in School Management Relational Trust and Educational Outcomes

Kazuro Shibuya

Education Sector Plans and their Implementation in Developing Countries A Comparative Analysis

Roy Carr-­Hill

Citizenship Education in a Divided Society Lessons from Curricula and Practice in Northern Ireland

Elizabeth Anderson Worden

Innovations in Peace and Education Praxis Transdisciplinary Reflections and Insights

Edited by David Tim Archer, Basma Hajir and William W. McInerney Rethinking Education in the Context of Post-­Pandemic South Asia Challenges and Possibilities

Edited by Uma Pradhan, Karen Valentin and Mohini Gupta

For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/ Routledge-­Research-­in-­International-­and-­Comparative-­Education/book-­series/ RRICE

Rethinking Education in the Context of Post-Pandemic South Asia Challenges and Possibilities Edited by Uma Pradhan, Karen Valentin and Mohini Gupta

First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Uma Pradhan, Karen Valentin and Mohini Gupta; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Uma Pradhan, Karen Valentin and Mohini Gupta to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-­in-­Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-­in-­Publication Data Names: Pradhan, Uma, editor. | Valentin, Karen, 1968- editor. | Gupta, Mohini, 1991- editor. Title: Rethinking education in the context of post-pandemic South Asia : challenges and possibilities / edited by Uma Pradhan, Karen Valentin and Mohini Gupta. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. | Series: Routledge research in international and comparative education | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2022058018 (print) | LCCN 2022058019 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032365664 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032365671 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003332688 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Education--South Asia. | Education--Social aspects--South Asia. | Educational equalization--South Asia. | Educational change--South Asia. | Social distancing (Public health) and education--South Asia. | COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020---South Asia. Classification: LCC LA1144.5 .R47 2023 (print) | LCC LA1144.5 (ebook) | DDC 370.954--dc23/eng/20230125 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022058018 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022058019 ISBN: 978-­1-­032-­36566-­4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-­1-­032-­36567-­1 (pbk) ISBN: 978-­1-­003-­33268-­8 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688 Typeset in Bembo by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)

Contents

Notes on Editors and Contributors Acknowledgements

ix xiv

Introduction 1 UMA PRADHAN, KAREN VALENTIN AND MOHINI GUPTA

PART I

Rethinking Learning

13

1 Calculations and Discourses of Deficit in Indian Education during the COVID-­19 Pandemic: ‘Learning Loss’

15

ABHINAV GHOSH

2 Reflections on Education in the Wake of Covid-19 in Nepal: Learning Loss or Schooling Loss?

30

CHASE PODSAKOFF AND KAREN VALENTIN

3 Taḥnani Dāphā Khalaḥ’s Apprenticeship Programme: Revitalising Indigenous Knowledge during a Global Pandemic

45

PRANAB MAN SINGH AND PUSHPA PALANCHOKE

4 Negotiating Space and Equity in the On/Offline Classroom: The Hostel, the Home and the Faceless Screen

59

SAMEER ABRAHAM THOMAS

5 Rethinking Teacher Preparedness in Post-­Pandemic Sri Lanka

74

MANJULA VITHANAPATHIRANA AND SAKUNTHALA YATIGAMMANA EKANAYAKE

PART II

Rethinking Education Inequalities

87

6 Rethinking the Neighbourhood School in Post-­Pandemic India: Synchronicity and Segregation

89

AMANDA GILBERTSON AND JOYEETA DEY

viii Contents

7 A Pernicious Combination of Pandemic and Kashmir Conflict for Students in the Valley: A ‘Double Lockdown’

102

NIDA KHAN

8 The Crisis of Education Among Marginalised Learners in India during the Pandemic: Reneged on the Promise of Access 117 DALSIE GANGMEI

9 Dismal Lives of Women Teachers Working in Low-­Cost Private Schools in India: Politics of Precarity

131

NILESH G. AND NIKHIL WALDE

10 The Wellbeing of Private School Teachers in Nepal during and beyond the COVID-­19 Pandemic

146

PREM PHYAK, PESHAL KHANAL AND SUSHAN ACHARYA

PART III

Rethinking Technologies of Education

157

11 A Phenomenological Inquiry into Learners’ Experience of Consonance and Dissonance during the Pandemic in India: Learning in the Time of Crisis

159

DISHARI CHATTARAJ AND ARYA PARAKKATE VIJAYARAGHAVAN

12 Opportunities and Challenges of Tele Schooling: Lessons from Pakistan

173

LARAIB NIAZ, CAMILLA HADI CHAUDHARY AND KUSHA ANAND

13 The Future of Online Teaching in the Faculties of Management in Sri Lanka: A Means to an End or an End to a Means? 186 AROSHA S. ADIKARAM AND NEELANGIE S. NANAYAKKARA

14 School Practicum Experience in Initial Teacher Education during Times of Disruptions: The Case of Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka

199

MYTHILI RAMCHAND, MEERA CHANDRAN, REETA RAI AND MANJULA VITHANAPATHIRANA

Conclusion: Lessons from South Asia

215

UMA PRADHAN

Index

219

Notes on Editors and Contributors

Sushan Acharya is a Professor at the Central Department of Education, Tribhuvan University. She holds a Doctorate in Education (EdD) degree from the Center for International Education (CIE), University of Massachusetts (UMass), Amherst, USA. Sushan has undertaken a number of research, evaluation, reviews and consultancy projects in the field of education (both formal and non-­formal), particularly with a focus on gender and social inclusion. Arosha S. Adikaram is the Chair Professor of Human Resource Management at the Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, with twenty years of experience in teaching in postgraduate and undergraduate programs. Her research interests are in gender in management, employee voice, and teaching and learning in higher education. Kusha Anand is a research fellow at UCL Social Research Institute. Her current project looks at the impact of COVID-­19 on ethnic minority groups in the UK. She has worked on several interdisciplinary projects in the UK and South Asia. Dr Anand has recently published two co-­authored books. Meera Chandran is a member of faculty at the Centre of Excellence in Teacher Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Her research interests are sociology and political economy of education and teacher professional formation. She is Co-­PI of the government of India SPARC-­CLIx project and CETE’s Longitudinal Study in Teacher Education (LiSTEn) and working on a multi university collaborative project on Global Policy in Teacher Education. Dishari Chattaraj an Assistant Professor at Indian Institute of Technology Indore, India. Has received her Ph.D. from JNU, New Delhi, India, and has been hosted as a Fulbright Fellow in 2019-­20. She works in the areas of Pedagogy and Curriculum Development in Higher Education. Through her current research projects, she tries to locate how the phenomenon of the pandemic has impacted and shaped various experiences and practices, especially in the fields of Education, Food, and Memory Studies. Camilla Hadi Chaudhary is a doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on conceptualisations of inclusion through a policy and school leadership lens, with a contextual focus on

x  Notes on Editors and Contributors Pakistan. Wider research interests include southern methodologies, postcolonial theory, and reconceptualising education through empathetic pedagogy. Joyeeta Dey is an independent education researcher and a doctoral candidate in the School of Social Sciences at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. Sakunthala Yatigammana Ekanayake is a Professor in the Department of Education in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and she is the current Head of the Department, Department of Information Technology in the Faculty of Arts. She received her PhD from the Graduate School of Education, the University of Bristol, UK. She was awarded a commonwealth fellowship at the University of Bristol in 2016. Dalsie Gangmei is a PhD researcher in the Department of Educational Policy at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi. She completed her Master of Philosophy in Educational Planning from the National University of Educational Planning and Administration. A former research associate at Rani Gaidinliu Integrated Foundation, New Delhi, and an internee at the State Council of Educational Research and Training, Delhi. She pursued her Masters of Social Work at St Joseph’s College, Bangalore and is a graduate of Sociology (Hons.) from the University of Delhi. An education consultant by profession, her area of interest, includes access and equity in school education. Abhinav Ghosh is a doctoral student of Education at Harvard University. He is interested in the social, political, and cultural dimensions of educational policy and data in comparative and international education. Currently, he is conducting historical and ethnographic research on the push for ‘foundational literacy and numeracy’ in India and other nations in the ‘Global South’. Amanda Gilbertson is a Senior Lecturer in Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of Melbourne. Mohini Gupta is a DPhil candidate at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford, UK. Her research is focused on language and education anthropology in India. She was previously an education professional, working with the Vedica Scholars Programme for Women in New Delhi. She has been the Charles Wallace India Trust Translator-­Writer Fellow in 2017, and regularly speaks and writes on languages and translation. She has recently contributed to the volume Hinglish Live: Language mixing across media (2021, Orient BlackSwan) under the Sarai Research Fellowship at CSDS, New Delhi. Nida Khan is a doctoral candidate at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), Delhi. Through her current research, she is trying to explore the educational experiences of youth in conflict areas in the context of Kashmir and the possible policy measures that can be taken up to create a more inclusive educational space. Her parent discipline is sociology with a Master’s degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi and Graduation from Miranda House, Delhi University. She has also worked as a research associate on ICSSR-­funded projects.

Notes on Editors and Contributors  xi Peshal Khanal is a Professor of Education at Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He earned a PhD in Education from Canterbury Christ Church University. He also obtained a joint Master’s degree in Lifelong Learning from the Institute of Education University of London, the University of Deusto and Aarhus University under the Erasmus Mundus Programme. His research interest includes educational policy, teacher management, community schooling and minority education. Some of his works are published in journals such as Educational Research for Policy and Practice, Compare, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, and Pedagogy, Culture & Society. Neelangie S. Nanayakkara is a senior lecturer attached to the Department of Finance, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, with nineteen years of experience in teaching in both postgraduate and undergraduate studies. Her research interests are in neoclassical/behavioural finance, asset pricing, rational decision making and teaching and learning in higher education. Laraib Niaz is a post-­doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. She completed her PhD at the Institute of Education (IOE), University College London (UCL) where her research focused on the role of religion in classrooms in Pakistan. She is also an education consultant at the World Bank. Nilesh G. is a PhD (Education) candidate at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai (India). His research delves into ideological shifts in the governance and provision of education emanating from neoliberal policies in education and the ways in which those impact the lives, work and identities of teachers in India. Pushpa Palanchoke is a singer and applied ethnomusicologist. She leads the indigenous music support program, Folk Lok, run by Satori Centre for the Arts. Prem Phyak (PhD) teaches at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research interests include language policy, Indigenous language education, multilingualism, teacher education and wellbeing, decoloniality and social justice. He has published articles in various journals and co-­authored/co-­edited books. Chase Podsakoff holds an MSc in Global Development from the University of Copenhagen (2022). Throughout his undergraduate and graduate studies his research interests have been focused on Nepal and included trans-­local migration, education, and development policy. Uma Pradhan is a Lecturer at Institute of Education (IOE), University College London, UK. Prior to this, Uma was a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Education Anthropology, Aarhus University, Copenhagen. She holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford, UK. Her monograph titled ‘Simultaneous Identity: Language, Education, and Nepali Nation’ was published by Cambridge University Press in 2020. Before joining academia, Uma worked in the develop­ment sector for several years.

xii  Notes on Editors and Contributors Reeta Rai is a member of faculty at Samtse College of Education, Bhutan. Her area of expertise is Chemistry education and she currently leads the STEM Education Research Centre at her college. She has been a member of a number of initiatives in the country and is currently anchoring a Connected Learning for STEM project, a South-­South collaboration to enhance STEM teachers’ capacities for active learning in Bhutan. Mythili Ramchand is a Professor at the Centre of Excellence in Teacher Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai, India. She heads the long-­ term programmes offered at the centre. She is currently working on comparative studies of initial teacher education in the global south, preparing teachers for inclusive practices, scaling teacher professional development in the global south context and collaboratively developing transnational education courses. Pranab Man Singh is a writer, editor, and translator. He works at Quixote’s Cove and Satori Centre for the Arts, both companies work to support the creation of art and literature. He teaches art history and critical theory at Kathmandu University’s Department of Art and Design. Sameer Abraham Thomas is an independent researcher based in India. He taught at Krea University from 2019 to 2022 as part of the Centre for Writing and Pedagogy (CWP). Among other publications, he has written an essay in Writing in Academia, edited by Dr Anannya Dasgupta and Dr Madhura Lohokare (2019), and a chapter in Looking Back: The 1947 Partition of India, 70 Years On, edited by Rakshanda Jalil, Tarun Saint, Debjani Sengupta (2017). He has an MPhil in English Literature from the University of Delhi. Karen Valentin holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of Copenhagen (2002) and is an Associate Professor at the Department of Educational Anthropology, School of Education, Aarhus University, Denmark. Since the mid-­1990s she has been engaged in research in Nepal focusing on the relationship between mass schooling and nation-­building, migration and, education and financing of education. Arya Parakkate Vijayaraghavan an Assistant Professor at Christ University, Bangalore, has received her PhD from EFLU, Hyderabad, India. She works in the areas of Gender and Intersections, Food and Identity Discourse, Memory Studies, Education, and Curriculum Development. Through her work, she is particularly interested in understanding how the experience of the pandemic has shaped the practices of everyday life Manjula Vithanapathirana is the Professor of Educational Psychology, the Faculty of Education, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and served as the Dean of the Faculty from 2016-­2019. She received her PhD from the Institute of Education (IOE) University College London, UK. She was the President of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS) in 2016. Currently, she is the National Coordinator and the Institutional Coordinator of

Notes on Editors and Contributors  xiii the University of Colombo of the EU Co-­funded project titled “CONTESSA” (Contemporary Teaching Skills of South Asia). Nikhil Walde is a PhD in Education (Research) student at the University of Glasgow, UK. His research work focuses on Ambedkar’s idea of education and liberation in the Indian context. His research interest lies in the study of caste, Dalit epistemology, education and democracy.

Acknowledgements

This volume is an outcome of a conference convened by the Editors on 23-­24 July 2021, titled “Education in Crisis: Re-­thinking Education in (Post)-Pandemic South Asia” Conference. This virtual conference was hosted by the Education South Asia initiative, based at the Contemporary South Asian Studies Programme of Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, University of Oxford. The conference was supported by Wolfson College and the University of Oxford’s ESRC Impact Acceleration Account. The conference engaged with one simple question: in what ways do we need to rethink education in South Asia? The post-­pandemic context was taken as a lens and site to explore existing challenges in the field of education. We are indebted to academics and practitioners from Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, who shared their expertise and perspectives at our roundtables on education policy, practice, research and also gender in education. This gave us the foundation to delve deeper into rethinking various aspects of education in South Asia during and after the challenges posed by the global pandemic. The conference also invited paper presentations by academics, researchers and practitioners on the themes of education inequalities, teaching and learning, private and non-­state education, new spaces of education, innovative methods, virtual learning, and gender in education. These presentations added to our initial inquiry and expanded the scope of research inspired by our initial question. We are grateful to all the speakers, presenters, volunteers, and organisations who supported this conference where the initial idea for this volume was developed. The inspiring presentations and engaging discussions shaped the theoretical framing and content of this volume. We are grateful to the hundreds of attendees from around South Asia, who submitted abstracts, engaged with every session, and asked insightful questions. We especially thank Professor Nayanika Mathur, Professor Kate Sullivan de Estrada and Professor Chris Gerry for their constant support at various stages of this project. A special thank you to our team members Chase Podsakoff, Devika, Shivani Mishra, and Stephen Minay, for their help in organising a seamless event. The chapters in this volume have benefitted significantly from the insights and feedback provided by the chairs for our paper presentation panels - Professor David Gellner, Professor Nandini Gooptu, Professor Robin A Shields, Dr Amogh Dhar Sharma, Dr Amina Singh, Dr Todd John Wallenius, Dr Indrajit Roy, Sangita Thebe Limbu, and Dr Nimesh Dhungana. We owe our gratitude to all of them.

Acknowledgements  xv We are also extremely grateful to our publishers at Routledge for their faith in this volume. A special thank you to Kanishka, AnnaMary and Emilie for editing our volume, and to Amit for working on the index. Finally, we owe tremendous gratitude to each and every one of our contributors in this volume who have dedicated months to researching and writing their unique perspectives on the issue of rethinking education in South Asia in the (post) pandemic context. They have remained committed to this project since the conference and we continue to be connected as a part of the Education South Asia Network, a platform that has emerged as a result of the engagement at the conference.

Introduction Uma Pradhan, Karen Valentin and Mohini Gupta

Introduction On March 11, 2020, when the World Health Organisation declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, most countries in South Asia had already seen their first cases of the newly identified severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and were all heading towards the first wave, starting early April and peaking late September 2020 (Basu and Srivastava 2022). The second and even more devastating wave swept across the South Asian region a few months later, owing to the Delta variant, leading to a massive surge of COVID-19 cases and fatalities; reportedly more than 50% of the world’s total cases (ibid.). The third wave caused by the generally less deadly, but much more contagious Omicron variant again raged in South Asia from late 2021 and faded out during the first half of 2022. Across South Asia, as around the world, education systems were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic especially due to comprehensive school closures. UNICEF notes that school closures in South Asia were longer than in other parts of the world, with schools fully closed for an average of 35 weeks in the region (UNICEF 2022). According to the UNICEF report (2022:1), “the total duration of school closures (fully closed and partially closed) ranges from 22 weeks in the Maldives to 95 weeks in Nepal”. These school closures led to the disruption of formal education for 400 million children in South Asia in the year 2020 (UNICEF 2021) and 27 million were still waiting to return to school till Oct 2021 (UNESCO and UNICEF 2021). The implications of the pandemic have been far-reaching and affected people and countries differently. The patterns and scale of the pandemic varied from country to country depending on, among others, testing and quarantine facilities, access to vaccines, the robustness of already existing health care and education infrastructures and the implementation of policies regarding social distancing, lockdown, travel restrictions etc. For some it has become a ‘post’ and life has returned to its normal. For others, the immediate threat of the disease itself has waned, but the long-term effects are grave and likely to reinforce already existing inequalities in the future. And yet, for some others, greater crises have compounded the effect of the pandemic. In 2022, Sri Lanka experienced one of its worst economic and political crises since independence, with an acute shortage of  food, fuel, medicine and electricity. School exams were cancelled because DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688-1

2  Uma Pradhan et al. the government could no longer afford the paper for them to be printed (EllisPetersen 2022). It is important to contextualise debates around rethinking education ‘post’ the pandemic in the face of these glaring inequalities in the region. Not surprisingly, school closures raised huge concerns over the loss of schoolrelated learning, as well as concerns over social isolation, domestic violence, extra work burdens, the likelihood of early marriages, and increased dropout rates (UNICEF and UNESCO 2021). This has also affected the most marginalised children and youth—including girls, the disabled, ethnic minorities, and the urban poor disproportionately. Already on the fringe of society before the outbreak of the pandemic, the marginalised children and youth had limited access to health services even when most needed during the pandemic. This intensified ongoing experiences of educational inequalities across the region. Moreover, while the rapid spread of online platforms facilitated homeschooling for millions of young people, only those whose families could afford the technology for and who lived in areas with internet access benefitted from this. At the same time, the prolonged periods of school closures forced educational institutions to adjust to new and unknown situations; teachers had to adopt new pedagogies and methods of learning, and familiarise themselves with technologies that were completely new to most, and pupils had to learn to navigate between school and home environments in new ways. Much of this has evidently come at high costs, but it has also accelerated development in the direction of a perhaps needed change of educational systems across the region. Against this complex backdrop of the spread of COVID-19 in the region, the aim of this edited volume is threefold. First, this volume explores new areas of educational research and rethinking of educational practices that the pandemic has opened up in the context of South Asia. It specifically focuses on the ways in which the sudden school disruption may have opened up new pedagogical possibilities, as well as the social implications of such shifts in teaching-learning practices. Second, and in light of this, it offers new analytical and methodological approaches to the study of education. The pandemic invites rethinking current ways of approaching educational research in hybrid forms, and also opens up new areas of research ranging from pedagogical innovations to the wellbeing of teachers and students. Third, this volume presents interdisciplinary perspectives on education in the unique context of COVID-19 from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. What are the specific challenges faced in specific country contexts, and how have governments and civil societies come together to find unique solutions to these issues? How similar or how different has the journey to educational recovery been across the South Asian region? Paying close attention to the diverse ways in which education systems in South Asia experienced the pandemic, this book aims to generate interdisciplinary insights from across the region, and utilise the pandemic as a potent moment for collectively reflecting on new forms of action in the field of education.

Rethinking Education during Crisis This volume takes the post-pandemic context of South Asia both as a lens to understand this crisis as well as a site to understand the ongoing challenges in education in the region. Crisis is understood as a specific temporal space which is often characterised

Introduction  3 by the core conceptual elements of adversity, threat, and uncertainty (Rosenthal et al. 2001) that may escalate quickly in unforeseen directions (Topper and Lagadec 2013). This deep sense of disruption tends to impose a sense of urgency in decisions to restore a feeling of normality. After all, the word crisis comes from the Greek word Krisis, meaning a moment of decision (Koselleck and Richter 2006). They are seen as ‘historical turning points where human choice could make a fundamental difference to the future’ (Shrivastava 1993: 25). Most scholarly writing on crisis, therefore, notes how crisis initiates an opportunity to reflect on the present conditions and the potential futures (Knight and Stewart 2016). We draw inspiration from the crisis studies literature which highlights that a crisis can act as a ‘critical juncture’ (Pelling and Dill 2010) and provide a ‘window of opportunity’ (Birkmann et al. 2010) for exploring new ideas, policies and programmes. The urgency of the crisis can be an opportunity where a new kind of a future can be imagined and created (Simpson 2013) and function as an agent of change in its broadest perspective (Bankoff et al. 2015). Thus, the crisis-induced uncertainty could be generative, rather than unproductive, to introspect the existing systems and to rethink the possibilities for the future. This volume, therefore, explores the multiple temporalities opened up by the COVID-19 crisis. Firstly, a crisis can manifest new and unprecedented challenges. Due to the pandemic-related lockdown, educational institutions around the world faced abrupt school closures which caused the sudden breakdown of educational institutions, systems and practices, at least temporarily. While the suddenness of the pandemic can act as a shock, it primarily reveals the extent to which the existing systems are resilient and agile in the delivery of ongoing services (Spielman and Sunavala-Dossabhoy, 2021). The ability to navigate these uncertainties determines the ways in which different countries face new challenges. During the COVID-19 pandemic, school closures have played out differently in different contexts. It confronted the education system with a new challenge of providing remote learning and ensuring the continuous education of millions of students who could not continue their regular schooling. Governments and societies were expected to find a response to the crises while it was still ongoing, thereby intensifying the uncertainty of this crisis experience. Though many governments promptly introduced digital learning, this new arrangement was not able to meet the socio-economic circumstances and learning needs of students from diverse social groups. Secondly, even while crisis may appear as a temporal abnormality, for many people who are socially marginalised and poor, crisis may be a constant in their lives (Vigh 2008). As Benjamin’s (1999: 248) conceptualisation of ‘state of emergency’ shows, crisis is not an exception but the rule for many. The sudden emergence of triggering events can draw attention to how crisis is an ongoing, constant context in many people’s lives and makes ‘visible aspects of practices which might normally be naturalised and therefore difficult to notice’ (Fairclough 1992: 230). In South Asia, as in many parts of the world, the pandemic revealed the shaky foundations of existing education systems. It uncovered vast educational disparities that already keep many young people away from schools, thereby, revealing the endemic nature of the existing inequalities. Crisis thus opens up the possibility to radically rethink the inequalities and violence that are already entrenched in the existing system, including education systems.

4  Uma Pradhan et al. Thirdly, the urgency and immediacy of the crisis also potentially reveal new and more future-oriented ways of teaching-learning and open up new possibilities within the education system. The scholarship on crisis-induced learning draws attention to new ways of looking at both problems and potential solutions facilitated by the collective experiences of the crisis (Deverell 2022; Kenley 2021). This body of literature argues that crises could be understood beyond their catastrophic and destructive dimensions (Bollnow 1987). If thoughtfully engaged with, crisis could provide a productive space and formative power to reveal unique possibilities for the future. Here, crises may act as ‘focusing events’ that can bring new issues to the political agenda (Birkland 2006) as well as demand ‘deep thinking’ (Dror 1986) in order to move forward in the future. More often than not, meaningful insights and lessons from crises emerge from collaborative knowledge sharing and from a more diffused network of individuals and institutions (‘t Hart et al., 1993). As lessons from previous pandemics show, these events could generate spaces for exploring innovations in education (Adam 2020). Although these learnings may take place under compressed temporal conditions, it could lead to long-term lessons in approaching uncertainties in a new way. Paying close attention to the emergent and ongoing manifestations of a crisis, this volume explores its potential for ‘rethinking education’, in terms of educational contents, methods, and governance, to be responsive to uncertain futures. It is clear then that in rethinking education after the pandemic, the transformation needs to include not only curricular and pedagogical changes, but also the reassessment of education systems and practices. Bringing together diverse insights from across South Asia, this volume utilises the crisis posed by the pandemic as an opportunity to stop and think about the persistent education problems in the region.

Education Transformations in South Asia The South Asian region is not new to crises. Nepal was hit by a massive earthquake in 2015, which destroyed more than 16,000 schools, about half of the country’s total number. Sri Lanka faces an economic and political crisis, as we work on this volume, which has severely affected school education and examinations. In Bangladesh, the education system continues to be impacted by floods and natural disasters. In many regions of India, education is affected due to ongoing conflict. The people of Kashmir, for instance, faced a ‘double lockdown’ as there had been a communication blockade and an intensification of harsh restrictions on physical movement during the pandemic (Connah 2021). This combination of the virus with existing social inequalities reveals multi-layered challenges in education during and after the pandemic. The effects of the pandemic, combined with ongoing, multiple crises have thus had a devastating impact on education systems in many parts of South Asia. According to the World Bank, eight South Asian nations have over 42 million students enrolled across 50,000 higher educational institutions, who were directly affected by the school closures in the region (World Bank 2020). In fact, within the first 40 days of lockdown, 10 million academic hours were compromised across higher education institutes in India (Dutta 2020). As of February 2022, school

Introduction  5 children in the region were estimated to have lost nearly 700 billion hours of in-person learning (UNICEF 2022). Taking the specific context of the South Asian region, this volume provides an analytic lens to understand the significance of the social and political moment as a context to understand the existing and new challenges in educational practices and systems. Moreover, the pandemic heightened social, political and economic inequalities already prevalent in the region. For instance, the vocabulary of ‘social distancing’ and ‘contamination’ gave rise to new forms of physical discrimination in the South Asian region. In this context, the measure of social distancing encouraged people to reinforce the ongoing prejudices of caste (Gupta et al. 2020) in relation to access to healthcare, water and sanitation facilities (Mondal and Karmakar 2021). Similarly, the pandemic also showed a gendered impact with women and girls facing a disproportionate disadvantage. According to a GSMA study, more than 200 million women in South Asia do not own mobile phones (Shanahan 2022). Even in households that have access to mobile devices or the internet, male students are given easier access to education because of their potential to earn for the family, and because women and girls in a household bear the major responsibility of household chores and caretaking roles for the family, especially in the middle of a health crisis. It is, therefore, important to understand the effects of the pandemic given this social framework of the region. Although many students’ participation in formal schooling was severely disrupted, there is also evidence of alternate models of education that operated during this time. In an attempt to transform conventional education systems and adapt to the virtual learning model, various state initiatives were developed in India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, keeping these inequalities in mind. While India added new study materials and courses to existing online education initiatives such as SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds), the Pakistan Education and Research Network (PERN), Bangladesh Research and Education Network (BdREN), Afghan Research and Education and Education Network (AfgREN) as well as the Sri Lankan operation—Accelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development—developed e-learning platforms to facilitate online learning (Babbar and Gupta 2022; Dutta 2020; World Bank 2020). Most of these countries share materials through MOOCs, but given the digital divide across nations, they also had to resort to methods of communication through television and radio to reach remote locations without internet connectivity. This volume explores these innovations in education and the new challenges they pose for South Asian education systems. Overall, the pandemic constituted an acute crisis in South Asia with pervading effects on education systems across the region. In certain respects, it became a turning point for pedagogical practice and at the same time, it exposed a more permanent state of crisis which surrounds education systems in South Asia.

Possibilities and Challenges in Post-Pandemic South Asia This volume presents 14 chapters that draw on case studies from Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, and together it examines the way the COVID-19 crisis has manifested in education across the region. The contributions in this

6  Uma Pradhan et al. volume add to the ongoing debates on the impact of the pandemic on education, by foregrounding different educational experiences in South Asia, including both similarities and differences. There are obviously many similarities, especially when we focus on the marginalised segments of society in the region. Yet, there are huge regional and national differences based on different colonial legacies, religious orientations and positions in the global economy, which are filtered into complex regional geopolitical interests. This will inevitably be rendered visible through education systems and practices around the region. Examined through the lens of the pandemic, the chapters bring together insights into challenges and opportunities for education in South Asia. This volume explores these varied experiences of education challenges and is divided in three distinct sections about rethinking learning, inequalities, and digital education.

Part I: Rethinking Learning Longstanding debates on formal and informal education have pointed to a need to acknowledge the multiple ways in which individuals learn skills, knowledge, and insights from exposure and experiences outside the formal settings (Folkestad 2006). The education crisis during the pandemic revealed the need to appreciate the different modes of learning rather than limit our understanding of education merely to formal education. While pandemic-related school closures undoubtedly disrupted the regular attendance of school across South Asia, as around the world, this region was also already struggling with the issues of uneven access to quality education even before the pandemic. This interruption in formal schooling, however, also revealed the disproportionate emphasis placed on formal education and shed light on the longstanding debates on schooling vs. learning in education studies. This sudden shift also emphasised the importance of considering the conceptual frameworks that take into account the out-of-school processes of learning. The first section of this volume, therefore, presents a critical take on the crisis framing of ‘learning loss’. While there was a definite loss of schooling for many children, the narrative of learning loss that dominated much policy discourse calls for a rethinking of conceptualisations of learning. The five chapters in this section analyse the idea of ‘learning’ as it is constructed through statistics (Ghosh), in policy discourse (Podsakoff and Valentin), in learning sites beyond the school (Singh and Palanchoke, Thomas), and in teacher pedagogy (Vithanapathirana and Ekanayake). Ghosh’s chapter questions the construction of ‘learning loss’ as a concept. By exploring the politics of statistics, and how these apparently neutral numbers are used to construct the discourse around the loss of academic abilities, this chapter points towards the dangers of such a discourse in disadvantaging marginalised children further by undermining the diverse experiences of children during school closures. Drawing on policy documents and letters written by children to the authors during the pandemic, the chapter by Podsakoff and Valentin explores the notion of learning loss through a discussion of the conceptual conflation between education and schooling. These two chapters provide a critical analysis of hegemonic ideas of learning underpinning much of contemporary education policy.

Introduction  7 Singh and Palanchoke’s chapter continues this theme by rethinking ideas of what it means to be literate and educated. Through a case study of traditional music apprenticeship held by Taḥnani Dāphā Khalaḥ, this chapter explores how learning practices are “contextually situated” and learnt through embodied practices in the context of Nepal. This chapter juxtaposes Western forms of schooling with indigenous knowledge systems and investigates how pandemic-related school closures contributed to carving out new learning spaces, in this case in relation to traditional music. Similarly, Thomas’s chapter on the students’ experiences in spaces of home and the hostel, nuances the idea of differential learning spaces and emphasises the need for a pedagogy of care in classrooms. Through an autoethnography of his own experience as a teacher in higher education, he argues that residential spaces are an important component of the learning experience of students. Especially given the impact of the pandemic on students’ mental health, this chapter also emphasises the need to provide students with a more supportive infrastructure. The fifth chapter in this section is by Vithanapathirana and Ekanayake’s who explore the issue of teacher preparedness as a critical pedagogy. It discusses the significance of teacher preparedness not only for school curriculum but also for the ways in which teachers are able to face uncertainties in the context of crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, the discussions presented in these five chapters aim to shift the way the education crisis, brought out by the pandemic, enables us to rethink learning in different ways. The pandemic has provided a moment to question dominant approaches to formal education and thus to reimagine ideas of schools and schooling, educational processes, and conceptualisations of learning. This first section seeks to re-evaluate existing ideas of teaching and learning, and how crisis may have offered opportunities to rethink the hegemony of formal schooling systems and allowed spaces for alternative modes of teaching–learning.

Part II: Rethinking Education Inequalities The second section of this volume presents five chapters that pay close attention to the ways in which the pandemic exacerbated existing inequalities in education. Existing literature on education inequalities shows that despite the rhetoric of the right to education for all, access to education is deeply entangled with existing social inequalities in complicated ways. The effects of the pandemic were felt across the world, but certain groups and regions were affected disproportionately due to prevalent social and political conditions. The four chapters in this section focus on the ways in which the pandemic manifested amongst people from different socio-economic backgrounds and in different socio-political contexts. Through rich contextualisation, these chapters urge the readers to appreciate the differential impact of the pandemic, by looking at the specific politically marginalised context of Kashmir (Khan) and Manipur (Gangmei), underprivileged students in private schools (Gilbertson and Dey), and specific experiences of private teachers (Gourkhede and Walde; Phyak, Khanal and Acharya). Khan’s chapter explores the impact of the pandemic in the context of Kashmir, which has witnessed conflict for more than three decades. The pandemic brought what she terms a ‘double lockdown’ in Kashmir. She argues that education within

8  Uma Pradhan et al. crisis or state of exception areas shows a ‘pernicious’ combination of conflict and pandemic in the region. This chapter traces the history of conflict in Kashmir, leading to the recent internet curfews, which made it even tougher to navigate the pandemic since there was no possibility of moving education online. Gangmei’s chapter takes this theme forward in the context of the digital divide in Manipur, the North-Eastern region of India. Given the ongoing political challenges in Manipur, this chapter argues that the impact of the pandemic exposed the fact that where one goes to school matters as much as, if not more than, if one goes to school. By utilising the concept of ‘digital refugees’, Gangmei shows that the current digital divide discourse that merely exposes the divide between digital haves and have-nots obfuscates and reinforces existing inequalities. The next two chapters in this section look at the ways in which inequalities manifest differently for people belonging to different social groups. Gilbertson and Dey’s chapter pays close attention to the learning experiences of underprivileged students in private schools that have been mandated to include children from marginalised backgrounds under Section 12(1)(c) of India’s Right to Education Act. They explore the tensions between access and integration in the context of the pandemic, when virtual learning was not equally available to all students within a school. This lack of access made integration between diverse social classes even more difficult in the school system, and brought out the importance of a shared time and space for educational equality. Similarly, Gourkhede and Walde’s chapter extends this point by exploring how the pandemic deepened the inequalities in low-cost private schools, especially for female teachers. The general precarity of female teachers reflected in, among others, the lack of safety nets, was exacerbated by the pandemic resulting in the loss of jobs. The chapter draws attention to the increasingly market-based education system, where poorly paid, precarious, and insecure teaching jobs in low-cost private schools fall disproportionately on women. Phyak, Khanal and Acharya’s chapter explores a similar issue in the context of Nepal’s private schools and discusses its implications for teacher wellbeing. Rather than seeing wellbeing merely as a psychological phenomenon, this chapter takes it as a political-economic process that affects teachers’ personal, social and mental life. The five chapters in this section show how the pandemic revealed already existing systemic inequalities. This section, thus, delves deeper into the glaring inequalities in the region, be they political, social or economic, by looking at diverse cultural contexts and the way they have navigated the interruption of ‘normal’ life since the pandemic. The pandemic has not been experienced similarly by different social groups and this is evidenced through case studies from different parts of the sub-continent, and how it has interacted with other ongoing crises and thereby intensifying their precarious conditions. Together, the chapters in this section show that the lives marred by crises are a constant for many people who are already socially marginalised.

Part III: Rethinking Technologies of Education The third, and final, section of this volume explores the new educational challenges that became visible due to a shift to remote education. Though the pandemic opened up new possibilities for digital and online education, all South Asian

Introduction  9 classrooms were not as well-equipped to adopt this sudden change immediately. While the calls to ‘build back better’ (UNESCO and UNICEF 2021) included reducing barriers to digital and technological access, there still exists a vast digital divide in South Asia. More than 2 billion people across Asia do not have access to the internet (with the majority living in South Asian nations). According to UNICEF (2020), 88% of South Asia’s school-age children do not have access to the internet connection in their homes. Given this gaping inequality, virtual education was not accessed equally by students and teachers alike. The four chapters in this section explore the challenges of digital education by paying attention to the experiences of learners in Emergency Remote Learning programme in India (Chattaraj and Vijayaraghavan), Telelearning programme in Pakistan (Niaz, Chaudhary and Anand), online education in higher education in Sri Lanka (Adikaram and Nanayakkara), and school practicum experience in teacher education in Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka (Ramchan, Chandran, Rai and Vithanapathirana). Chattaraj and Vijayaraghavan’s chapter looks into the learner experiences of the Emergency Remote Learning (ERL) programme that was introduced as a response to the school closure in India. Through a phenomenological analysis, this chapter shows the experiences of consonance and dissonance among the learners. First, they find systemic apathy and institutional disengagement in recognising the pandemic as a time of crisis. Second, it also shows that, despite the complexities associated with the ERL, learner-initiated endeavours of coming together to build learning communities emerged from the shared experience of learning in crisis time. The chapter by Niaz, Chaudhary and Anand explores two educational programmes in Pakistan – TeleSchool (an educational programme on national television) and Taleem Ghar (a digital programme). They argue that while these programmes succeeded in creating and delivering content for self-learning, they did not adequately engage with the school administrations, teachers and parents and, thereby, limiting the effectiveness of the programme. The chapter by Adikaram and Nanayakkara shows that online education in higher education was implemented within the broader frame of emergency temporal measures in Sri Lanka. This resulted in haphazard implementations. The chapter finds that more than two years into the shift to online education, the programme was still implemented as ‘crisis’ distance education, ‘emergency’ remote teaching, or ‘transitional’ emergency model. If the future of education can be imagined in the hybrid modality of online and onsite education model, this will enable higher education institutions to explore alternative modes of teaching that would help school administrators, teachers and pupils navigate numerous crises and disruptions. The final chapter by Ramchan, Chandran, Rai and Vithanapathirana examines the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in teacher education across three South Asian countries, viz., Bhutan, India, and Sri Lanka. The chapter argues that unexpected changes such as virtual teaching during the pandemic may have forced practitioners to adapt and even innovate new practices, but these practices must be supported and sustained systemically in a manner that helps build resilience among institutions, educators, and learners to help transcend rather than reinforce inequities after the disruptions.

10  Uma Pradhan et al. In combination, these final chapters show the new challenges in education posed by the sudden shift to online and digital education during the pandemic. The chapters bring out an extremely novel area of research on digital learning and virtual education platforms, drawing on how South Asia attempted to respond to school closures through the emergency introduction of remote learning facilities. While this intervention provided an option to access education, in many cases it did not function effectively due to the lack of teacher preparedness, inadequate internet infrastructure, and coordination between different actors. However, the pandemicrelated shift to digital education has profoundly reshaped our imagination of future education, where a combination of digital and onsite education is likely to be the mode of education delivery. The lessons from the pandemic could be utilised to ensure the education systems are adequately prepared to navigate future crises.

Conclusion The crisis in education will certainly not end with the end of the pandemic. As discussed in this introduction, the South Asian region has always been ridden with crises and COVID-19 was only one in a long series. Sri Lanka faced its most severe economic crisis immediately after the pandemic, and the Kashmir region continues to deal with internet shutdowns and curfews. However, given the global impact of the virus, this has become a watershed moment and presents an opportunity to rethink the functioning of education systems in the region. While there is no one way of ‘rethinking education’ across South Asian nations, this volume aims to start a crucial dialogue in this field bridging diverse disciplines, geographies and socio-political contexts. ‘Crisis’ in this collection is analysed as a ‘critical juncture’ (Pelling and Dill 2010), and each chapter engages with crisis as an empirical phenomenon and/or a theoretical concept. The three sections in this volume draw on primary and secondary research to argue for rethinking education in the region as we know it today. There is very little literature on the similarity between challenges faced by South Asian nations during the pandemic, and this collection hopes to fill that void. While the pandemic was a global phenomenon, it affected South Asia in particular ways given the socio-economic and socio-political conditions of the region. The following chapters will unpack what it came to mean for education, as both a site of conflict and innovation. From reviving indigenous forms of music education to starting television programmes for learning; dealing with learning losses to ‘double lockdown’ and multiple crises; understanding the conditions of female teachers to the idea of consonance and dissonance in digital education; this volume traces a moment in South Asian history where nations confronted severe failures of education systems, but also witnessed massive transformation to ride wave after wave of a devastating disease.

References Adam, E. (29 April 2020). The tale of two pandemics. UAAU. Available at: https://www. universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/the-tale-of-two-pandemics/ (Accessed 1st Nov 2022).

Introduction  11 Babbar, Mansi, & Gupta, Tushita. (2022). Response of educational institutions to COVID19 pandemic: An inter-country comparison. Policy Futures in Education, 20(4): 469–491. Bankoff, G., Cannon, T., Krüger, F., & Schipper, E.L.F. (2015). Introduction: Exploring the links between cultures and disasters. In Cultures and Disasters. London: Routledge, pp. 17–32. Basu, D., & Srivastava, P. (2022). Covid-19 in South Asia. Investigación Económica, 81(319): 117–140. Benjamin, Walter. (1999). Theses on the philosophy of history. Translated by Harry Zohn. In Illuminations: Essays and reflections. Edited by Hannah Arendt. New York: Schocken Books, pp. 253–264. Birkland, T. A. (2006). Lessons from disaster: Policy change after catastrophic events. Georgetown University Press. Birkmann, J., Buckle, P., Jaeger, J., Pelling, M., Setiadi, N., Garschagen, M., Fernando, N., & Kropp, J. (2010). Extreme events and disasters: a window of opportunity for change? Analysis of organizational, institutional and political changes, formal and informal responses after mega-disasters. Natural Hazards, 55(3): 637–655. Bollnow, O.F. (1987). Crisis and new beginning: Contributions to pedagogical anthropology. Duquesne University Press. Connah, Leoni. (2021). Double lockdown in Kashmir during the COVID-19 pandemic. Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice. https://doi.org/10.1080/10402659.2021.1956128 Deverell, E. (2022). Learning and crisis. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Available at: https://oxfordre.com/politics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/ acrefore-9780190228637-e-1558 (Accessed 3rd May 2022). Dror, Y. (1986). Policymaking under adversity. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction. Dutta, Ankuran. (2020). Impact of digital social media on Indian higher education: Alternative approaches of online learning during COVID-19 pandemic crisis. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 10(5), May. Available at: http://www.ijsrp. org/research-paper-0520.php?rp=P10110025 (Accessed 24th Nov 2021). Ellis-Petersen, Hannah. (2022). ‘We’re finished’: Sri Lankans pushed to the brink by financial crisis. The Guardian. 9 April 2022. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/ world/2022/apr/09/sri-lanka-financial-crisis-protesters-call-for-gotabaya-rajapaksaresignation-please (Accessed 30th Oct 2022). Fairclough, N. (1992). Doing discourse analysis. In Discourse and social change. Edited by N. Fairclough. London: Polity Press. Folkestad, G. (2006). Formal and informal learning situations or practices vs formal and informal ways of learning. British Journal of Music Education, 23(2): 135–145. Gupta, Charu, Satyanarayana, K., & Shankar, S. (2020). The history of caste has lessons on the dangers of social distancing. The Wire.in. Available at: https://thewire.in/caste/ social-distancing-dangers-india (Accessed 30th Oct 2022). Kenley, David (Ed.) (2021). Teaching about Asia in a time of pandemic. Association for Asian Studies – Asia Shorts 8, Columbia: Columbia University Press. Available at: http://cup. columbia.edu/book/teaching-about-asia-in-a-time-of-pandemic/9781952636196 (Accessed 5th Oct 2022). Knight, Daniel M. & Stewart, Charles. (2016). Ethnographies of austerity: Temporality, crisis and affect in Southern Europe. History and Anthropology, 27(1): 1–18. Koselleck, R., & Richter, M. W. (2006). Crisis. Journal of the History of Ideas, 67(2): 357–400. Mondal, Sandip, & Karmakar, Ranjan. (2021). Caste in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Contemporary voice of Dalit 1–8. Sage Publications India. https://doi.org/10. 1177/2455328X211036338

12  Uma Pradhan et al. Pelling, M., & Dill, K. (2010). Disaster politics: tipping points for change in the adaptation of sociopolitical regimes. Progress in Human Geography, 34(1): 21–37. Rosenthal, U., Boin, A., & Comfort, L. K. (Eds.) (2001). Managing crises: Threats, dilemmas, opportunities. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publishers. Shanahan, Mathew (2022). The Mobile Gender Gap Report. Published in June 2020 by GSM Association. Available at: https://www.gsma.com/r/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/ The-Mobile-Gender-Gap-Report-2022.pdf?utm_source=website&utm_medium= download-button&utm_campaign=gender-gap-2022 (Accessed 30th Oct 2022). Shrivastava, P. (1993). Crisis theory/practice: Towards a sustainable future. Organization and Environment, 7(1): 23–42. Simpson, E. (2013). The political biography of an earthquake: Aftermath and amnesia in Gujarat, India. Hurst. Spielman, A. I., & Sunavala-Dossabhoy, G. (2021). Pandemics and education: A historical review. Journal of Dental Education, 85(6): 741–746. https://doi.org/10.1002/jdd.12615 ‘t Hart, P., Rosenthal, U., & Kouzmin, A. (1993). Crisis decision making: The centralization thesis revisited. Administration and Society, 25(1): 12–45. Topper, B., & Lagadec, P. (2013). Fractal crises: A new path for crisis theory and management. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 21(1): 4–16. UNESCO & UNICEF. (2021). Situation analysis on the effects of and responses to COVID-19 on the education sector in Asia. UNICEF ROSA, UNICEF EAPRO, UNESCO Bangkok. UNICEF. (2020). Eighty Eight Percent of South Asia’s School-Age Children Have No Internet Access at Home. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/pakistan/press-releases/eighty-eightpercent-south-asias-school-age-children-have-no-internet-access-home (Accessed 3rd Oct 2022). UNICEF. (2021). The Future of 800 Million Children across Asia at Risk as Their Education Has Been Severely Affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Press Release 19 October 2021. Availableat:https://www.unicef.org/rosa/press-releases/future-800-million-children-acrossasia-risk-their-education-has-been-severely (Accessed 3rd Oct 2022). UNICEF. (2022). South Asia Snapshot – March 2022. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/ media/118311/file/Snapshot:%20South%20Asia.pdf (Accessed 3rd Oct 2022). Vigh, Henrik. (2008). Crisis and chronicity: Anthropological perspectives on continuous conflict and decline. Ethnos, 73(1): 5–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/00141840801927509 World Bank. (2020). COVID-19 Impact on Tertiary Education in South Asia. Last updated 12 May 2020. Available at: https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/15041159070 1072157/COVID-19-Impact-on-Tertiary-Education-in-South-Asia.pdf (Accessed 30th Oct 2022).

Part I

Rethinking Learning

1 Calculations and Discourses of Deficit in Indian Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic ‘Learning Loss’ Abhinav Ghosh Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools were closed down in India in March 2020. As school closures in India inched towards being one of the longest in the world (UNESCO, n.d.), anxieties about the resultant consequences took centre stage. Like several other nations, conversations about the pandemic’s impact on education in India were often animated by a discourse of learning loss. This term has been widely circulated in media, policy circles, scholarship and public imagination, and continues to govern the actions and imaginations of stakeholders and school systems in India even now. The learning loss discourse, which has consistently elicited panic and urgency among diverse stakeholders in Indian education over the last two years, is based on a longstanding dependency on schools as the exclusive site for learning. As such, when schools shut down at the onset of the pandemic, many sensed that something was going to be negatively affected; the term learning loss gave the language to express what this something was. Despite a growing pushback against the learning loss discourse around the globe due its reductive assumptions about learning, deficit perspectives, as well as its close ties with market ambitions in education (Williamson et al. 2021), the term has been largely rendered commonsensical in India through intensive media coverage, private sector endorsement and public narratives. In this paper, the concept of learning loss in India during the COVID-19 pandemic is critically examined. What is claimed to be ‘lost’? What evidence is deployed to justify those claims? What is made possible by the circulation of this term? Demonstrating that it is a concept closely tied to quantitative processes of analyzing the effect of school closures, it is argued that the learning loss in India is conceptualised and measured very differently by different stakeholders – in ways that are often incompatible with each other. As such, learning loss is more of a loosely assembled rhetoric that is not only deployed to mobilise stakeholders to urgently act, but also limits possibilities of reimagination. Drawing on conceptual themes from literature on quantification and crises, media articles, policy briefs, research reports and other published literature on education in India during the COVID-19 pandemic are analysed to highlight the conceptual inconsistencies, discursive processes, vested interests and debatable assumptions related to the idea of learning loss.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688-3

16  Abhinav Ghosh The idea of learning loss is certainly not specific to India; it has now become a popular universal term to capture the consequences of the pandemic on education. As such, an analysis such as the one in this paper could be conducted for potentially most countries around the globe, given the omnipresence of the term. This paper, thus, through its focus on learning loss in India, highlights a particular case of a much larger phenomenon. The uniqueness of the Indian case can be understood better by situating the so-called learning loss crisis in India within the recent history of the rapidly changing politics of Indian education. Despite historically being regulated by the state, Indian education was rapidly opened up to private actors in the early 2000s through increased public–private partnerships – a move that depleted the government’s agency in favour of that of non-governmental bodies (Srivastava 2010). This development took place simultaneously along with the promotion of an emphasised ‘learning crisis’ narrative in India, fuelled by privately conducted large-scale assessments such as the Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER). The increasing agency provided to private entities in the Indian education system coupled with the pressure of accountability put on the state through the continued exposition of ‘learning crises’ has resulted in non-governmental organizations and international institutions now finding a seat at the public education policy-making table (Ministry of Education 2021). It is against this backdrop of crisis and privatization in Indian education, that the formulation of the COVID-19 pandemic-induced learning loss is examined. The intention in this paper is not to dismiss the devastating consequences of school closures during the pandemic on many young people, especially from marginalised populations in India. Instead, it is to understand how learning loss as a concept is assembled in relation to regimes that seek to monitor education quantitatively and neoliberal desires of capitalizing on public anxieties. In terms of organization, it begins by briefly laying out the conceptual themes that motivated this paper, followed by an examination of two distinct ways in which learning loss in India is conceptualised and calculated. Next, the rhetorical nature of the term and how it has been used to advance pre-existing interests for certain stakeholders are discussed. The paper concludes by amplifying the need to reimagine school education as schools reopen and providing a starting point for the same. Drawing on Arundhati Roy’s (2020) call to view the pandemic in India as a “portal” for humans to “break with the past and imagine their world anew”, the urgency to rise above the deficit view of ‘losses’ and focus instead on a radical reimagination of possible futures for education in India is advocated for.

Conceptual Approach Crises and the Power of Statistics Numbers, due to their perceived objectivity, have gained a privileged position in our societies where we have come to trust them deeply (Porter 1995). As a result, their usage in statistics bestows a specific power on statistical processes and calculations – they are believed to reveal objective truths that were previously invisible (Desrosieres 2001). Statistics, thus, often provide a certain impartiality, legitimacy and authority to individuals or organizations using them (Desrosières 1998). The

Deficit in Indian Education: Learning Loss  17 immense power of numbers and statistics makes them popular tools of representing realities, as processes of measurement and quantification transform social realities into tables, figures and equations. Statistics are vital in efforts to highlight social crises, such as learning loss, as social crises are instances “when statistics are intensely mobilized to express the gravity of the situation” (Desrosières 2010). In these situations, statistics and numbers gain felt properties that have the ability to influence public emotions and stimulate collective feelings of shock, panic and despair. Michelle Murphy (2017) refers to these as phantasmagrams – “quantitative practices that are enriched with affect, propagate imaginaries, lure feeling, and hence have supernatural effects in surplus of their rational precepts” (24). An example of a phantasmagram Murphy provides is a nation’s GDP – a quantitatively constructed value that elicits anxieties when it decreases, or hopes when it increases. Similarly, I see the conceptions of learning loss as phantasmagrams, where their quantitative properties convey a sense of despair or anxiety. Consider, for instance, the following headlines from some popular news outlets in India: Karnataka: 35–50% learning loss in kids of classes 1–3 due to pandemic (The Times of India, 15 February, 2022) 85% university students in India faced learning loss during Covid: Survey (The Indian Express, 14 July, 2021) The media coverage of learning loss in India has extensively deployed statistics in its narratives – providing both a sense of authority and legitimacy to the calculators of these numbers, as well as a sense of materiality and countability to the ‘loss’ that has occurred, while also communicating a sense of panic and shock. It is crucial to examine these statistics not just for what they tell, but also for who produces them, how they are assembled, and what is left out of them. This motivates the analysis in this paper as, in alignment with questions in the field of critical data studies (Boyd and Crawford 2012; Dalton and Thatcher 2014), the different quantitative techniques of measuring learning loss are examined as not ‘objectively neutral’, but as intertwined with vested interests, political agendas and issues of power. Co-production of Science and Society Numbers and statistics are not neutral; neither is the science they support – as the concept of co-production (Jasanoff 2004) shows us. Building on prior scholarship in STS, Jasanoff argues that any scientific or technological activity does not occur away from ongoing social, political, or cultural activities, but is deeply intertwined with them. As such, “science and society… are co-produced, each underwriting the other’s existence” (17, italics in original). Thus, the empirical, cultural and material resources that make phenomena or objects visible “often exist before the discovery of the objects themselves” (16). The objects brought into existence by quantifying practices and scientific endeavours are not simply discovered, but are made ‘real’ by those very practices as well as the social and cultural contexts within which those occur.

18  Abhinav Ghosh For the context of this essay, the learning loss that is claimed to have been caused by the pandemic does not objectively exist out there, but is co-produced through the various statistical processes, each specific to who develops it, that are deployed to measure its extent. This is a case then, where “the data and the objects they claim to represent are one and the same, in that the object exists only through the application of agreed upon methods of observation and measurement” (Jasanoff 2017, 3). Ways of Seeing and Assembling Learning In Seeing like a State, Scott (1998) describes an example of a forest and how it is seen through bureaucratic and administrative eyes. A forest, he says, is reduced to only the net amount of timber it can yield, when viewed through a gaze of what is deemed relevant by authorities. The lenses of productivity and utility, in this case, facilitate a vision that leaves out other vital components of a forest such as trees, fruits, wildlife and ecosystems. Seen this way, it becomes vital to ask how certain things are looked at – what is included and what is left out. With respect to learning loss, what is considered as ‘learning’ and what is not included? Who gets to determine this and for what purpose? Additionally, framing learning loss in specific forms marks certain actors as experts on education with specific kinds of solutions. These specific forms emerge from the kinds of statistical processes that are deployed to measure learning loss – which then subsequently make education available for intervention in certain ways. Li (2014) refers to the notion of statistical picturing (Demeritt 2001) as she speaks about the assemblage of underutilised land in Africa. She describes how scientists and experts on behalf of global institutions like the World Bank used statistical apparatus and mapping to homogenise and aggregate diverse land types in Africa under the singular label of underutilised land. This reclassification of land overlooked its local and cultural uses, while assembling it for specific actors to intervene upon to utilise the land better. While land itself could not be physically moved, the use of inscription devices (Latour and Woolgar 1979), statistics and data visualizations made it possible for lands to be “assembled in new forms, and differently disposed” (Li 2014, 593) for action-at-a-distance – where land was assembled into both a national and a global resource to be utilised and intervened upon from anywhere. The assembly of learning loss works similarly, where different statistical processes assemble it in distinct ways to make children’s learning available in new forms for various actors – both national and international – to act upon. This assembly discounts contextual and social aspects of learning, and frames it in terms of the experts who are called upon for solutions. For instance, a measurement of learning loss in terms of a loss in a country’s GDP makes it an economic problem rather than a learning one – which then invites economists and organizations like the World Bank or the OECD to take it on and provide strategies of mitigating it.

Calculating Learning Loss The COVID-19 pandemic induced extended school closures across the world. Effects of these school closures were felt across the globe – as stories emerged about children struggling to cope with the academic, social and psychological

Deficit in Indian Education: Learning Loss  19 consequences of not being able to go to school. In India, these consequences were disproportionately more severe for students from marginalised populations, whose lack of digital and technological access cut them off from most schools that had pivoted to remote learning formats when they closed – to a relatively greater extent than its South Asian counterparts (UNICEF 2021b). Extended school closures in the country prompted stakeholders, parents and activists to rally for reopening schools. Even though the media coverage of this clamor for reopening schools often gave platforms to the voices of urban middle- and upper-class parents, rural parents expressed their concerns about their wards’ lack of school time to a similar extent (Road Scholarz 2021). Amid these narratives, the term learning loss – inspired significantly by the historically used concept of ‘summer learning loss’ – began getting popularly used to broadly capture the impact of the pandemic on education, and was highlighted frequently as a justification for school reopening. However, upon closer examination, there does not exist a single agreed-upon definition of the term. Instead, what learning loss means is variable, unspecifiable and often dependent on who is talking about it – making the term a floating signifier (Chandler 2013). An exploration of these varied meanings of learning loss reveals that the conception of the term is often quantitatively assembled, rather than qualitatively described. After the initial shock of the pandemic, once efforts began to understand and counter its consequences on education, calls for ‘calculating’ the extent of these effects were amplified. For instance, the Director of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics emphasised that “measuring learning loss is a critical first step towards mitigating its consequences. It is vital that countries invest in assessing the magnitude of such losses to implement the appropriate remedial measures” (UNICEF 2021a). This widespread desire to measure learning loss reflects a kind of calculativeness – which sociologist Michel Callon (1998) refers to as ways in which social abstractions or phenomena get conceptualised, coded and formalised as something to be calculated. Like in most countries around the world, larger discourses and narratives about the learning loss in India due to COVID were undergirded by quantitative processes that claimed to calculate how much loss had occurred. Below, I highlight two ways in which learning loss was conceptualised and calculated. Learning Loss as a Loss of Academic Abilities Given the very term itself, one way in which learning loss is conceptualised is in terms of how much ‘learning’ did not happen, and/or was forgotten. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, global institutions, such as UNICEF (2022), have maintained that in order to intensify recovery efforts and resource allocation in the most meaningful manner, data on the learning levels of students must be collected to best determine remedial instruction. In India, one such effort was undertaken by a research group under the Azim Premji Foundation in 2021. This study defined learning loss of students as comprising two kinds of losses – the loss of learning at the current grade level due to school closures, and the loss of learning from previous grade levels due to students ‘forgetting’ what they already learned (Azim Premji

20  Abhinav Ghosh Foundation 2021). Over 16000 students across five Indian states – Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand – were evaluated using assessment tools based on the National Council of Educational Research and Training’s (NCERT) Learning Outcomes, though only for two subject areas – language and mathematics. These endline assessment results were compared to baseline data for students from pre-pandemic assessments conducted by teachers. Results from this study were published as percentages of students ‘losing’ a specific language or mathematical ability. For instance, “92% of children on an average have lost at least one specific language ability from the previous year across all classes” and “82% of children on an average have lost at least one specific mathematical ability from the previous year across all classes” (10). Such data representation entails a specific assumption – that children have an absolute gain, retention, or loss of specific academic abilities. Children ‘losing’ academic abilities is not a new perspective – the longstanding and widely popular notion of a ‘summer slide’ or ‘summer learning loss’ is built around the perception that students ‘lose’ certain academic skills when not in school over an extended period such as summer vacations. In fact, ‘summer slide’ is a foundational premise for several attempts to model learning loss due to COVID-19. Take for example, a RISE report authored by the NGO Pratham’s CEO Rukmini Banerji. Banerji (2020) uses Pratham’s data on ‘summer learning loss’ in the state of Uttar Pradesh as the basis to claim that school closures due to COVID will have a proportionally larger learning loss. These conceptualisations of learning loss as an erosion of students’ language and mathematical abilities take three ideas as self-evident. First, they assume that learning is a linear, level-based process – where teachers provide direct instruction to master a skill, children learn skills incrementally, and an absolute gain or loss of a skill occurs. This kind of a reductive perspective of how learning happens, embedded by ‘managerial logics’, has been consistently challenged in favour of more holistic and nuanced models of learning – where learning is messy, complex, non-linear and deeply cultural (McKinney de Royston et al. 2020). Second, these notions of learning loss prioritise language and mathematics over other subject areas and aspects of education. The discourse used is never ‘linguistic learning loss’ or ‘mathematical learning loss’ but a generic learning loss, despite language and mathematics being mere proxies in these conceptualizations for the purpose of simplified data collection – the latter being a practice that has often received criticism. In this process, other vital aspects of learning, not just subject areas, but social, emotional and cultural elements are left out or not considered ‘foundational’ enough. Third, the premise that children ‘lose’ learning when not in school – based on the widely studied ‘summer slide’ phenomenon – is debatable. Recent work by ‘summer learning loss’ researchers highlights the inconsistency of the idea – supplemented by concerns about the replicability of classic ‘summer slide’ studies, variances in results due to differences in psychometric tests used, and paradoxes that emerge when considering sociological studies of learning ‘gaps’ (von Hippel 2019; von Hippel and Hamrock 2019). The shaky ground of these premises makes it difficult to rely on such simplistic, narrow measures of learning to understand the consequences of the pandemic on children holistically.

Deficit in Indian Education: Learning Loss  21 Learning Loss as Economic Losses A second way in which learning loss due to COVID-19 is measured and represented is in the form of economic outcomes. In a report, titled Beaten or Broken? Informality and COVID-19, the World Bank (2020) states that school closures and the ineffectiveness of remote learning in South Asia resulted in “enormous dropouts and substantial learning losses, which will have a lifetime impact on the productivity of a generation of students” (14). While there is no doubt that pandemic-induced school closures led to significant rates of school dropouts in India, of interest to this paper is how ‘learning losses’ here are connected to the concept of ‘productivity’. This reflects what David Labaree (1997) refers to as a social efficiency approach to schooling, where the belief that “that our economic well-being depends on our ability to prepare the young to carry out useful economic roles with competence” (42) governs perspectives and decision-making in education. In such approaches, the returns of schooling are mostly seen as economic measures like earnings, national GDP, etc. According to the World Bank (2020), school closures due to the pandemic might cause the average child in South Asia to lose around $4,400 in lifetime earnings. As with the previous form of learning loss, it is important to examine where this figure stems from. Much like formulations of learning loss as a loss of academic skills due to school closures, these conceptualizations of the term are also grounded in an assumption that learning is a linear function of the time a student spends in school. However, the calculations in this case involve not data collection and analysis, but projections. For calculating the extent of learning loss as a loss in lifetime earnings, studies combine two measures – the Learning Adjusted Years of Schooling (LAYS) and the expected earnings information from sources like the World Bank’s Global Jobs Indicators Database. LAYS, potentially the most popular metric that has been deployed to capture learning loss, are taken as “the product of the amount of schooling that children typically reach and the quality of that schooling” (Azevedo et al. 2020, 10) – the latter being relative to proficiency levels in international assessments. Azevedo et al. estimate the drop in LAYS due to school closures and combine it with estimates of labour market earnings for usual school attendance to simulate learning loss due to COVID as a reduction in future earnings. It is important to note that this projection, based more on estimates rather than empirical findings, hinges on a simplistic linear relationship between earnings, learning and school time and thus, overlooks the more complex social, cultural and political factors that influence these figures. These calculations are then aggregated to estimate the loss of earnings at a national level. For instance, due to school closures, South Asian nations are estimated to lose $622 billion in lifetime earnings (World Bank, 2020) – with India’s loss, specifically, estimated to be over $400 billion. Making projections here involves transforming complex realities into a neat mathematical model that churns out numbers for the future. These numbers are then projected back into the present with an affective function, as their magnitude is instrumental in eliciting public shock, panic, anxiety and urgency for action. The quantitative findings of such projection-based studies are uncritically taken up by media outlets, which through

22  Abhinav Ghosh headlines like “School closure may cost over $400 billion to India…” (The Economic Times, 12 October, 2020) strengthen the opacity of these calculations and instead amplify the economic anxieties. Much like previously described quantitative facts about learning loss as loss of academic abilities, calculating learning loss as lost lifetime earnings is akin to what Murphy (2017) refers to as phantasmagrams – or quantitative processes laced with affect. Learning loss due to COVID-19 also finds itself attached to GDPs. In an OECD report, economists Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann (2020) claim that the impact of pandemic-induced school closures on nations “could optimistically be 1.5% lower GDP throughout the remainder of the century and proportionately even lower if education systems are slow to return to prior levels of performance” (6). India’s projected decrease in GDP due to learning losses is calculated as over $6 trillion for a third of a year of schooling lost. This projection is made on the basis of a set of diverse data sets (Williamson 2021) that include relationships between learned skills and income, years of schooling and income, learned skills and economic growth. How these data sets are brought together into constructing a singular concept of learning loss as a drop in national GDP is often invisibilised in popular discourse. Instead, the focus is put on the bottom-line that ‘learning losses’ are related to drops in GDP. As such, highlighting decreases in GDP due to ‘learning losses’ are effectively utilised to mobilise anxious national governments into action – often in the form of specific predetermined economic and educational reforms. This is a matter that requires scrutiny, as I will discuss in the next section.

A Discourse of Convenience In their study of how politicians use statistics for political communication or debate, Lawson and Lovatt (2021) argue that there are four primary tropes that characterise the use of numbers and statistics as rhetorical devices. While the authors draw out these tropes based on an analysis of a British political debate, I highlight how the larger learning loss discourse embodies the same tropes. The first is dehistoricisation – in which the history of how certain statistics were produced is erased by presenting them as objective facts. Concise summaries such as “India might lose over $400 billion in lifetime earnings” or “almost 90% of students lost a language ability from the previous year” convey a sense of the scientific objectivity of these claims, while completely masking who calculated these figures, what were calculated, and how were they calculated. The second trope is synecdoche – where individual aspects are used to make generalised claims about a broader phenomenon of which they are only a part of. For instance, in the case of the Azim Premji Foundation study, data from baseline and endline assessments of language and mathematics in five Indian states is used as evidence for a broader claim about learning loss in India. The third trope is framing, which refers to how the same data or data set is cited differently for distinct arguments – something that occurs as the same linear models of learning are deployed to make claims about loss of skills on one hand, and loss of GDP on the other. Lastly, enthymeme corresponds to the erasure of specific premises in stating arguments. For example, consider the claim

Deficit in Indian Education: Learning Loss  23 that “children lose quite a bit [of learning] over the summer months and hence the losses from extended COVID shutdowns are likely to be substantial” (Banerji 2020, 2). The premise that school closures due to COVID-19 are being considered as equivalent to school closures during summer vacations in making this claim is left out, as this equivalency is conveyed as obvious. The above helps us conceptualise learning loss as a discourse or narrative that is rhetorically spoken about in multiple ways using statistics. All these ways entail distinct methods of counting learning loss – and yet essentialise it as a singular phenomenon that occurred due to the pandemic. What is important to note is that these different formulations of learning loss might often be incompatible with each other. For instance, there is no clear translation between children in India losing a specific language ability and a predicted loss of $400 billion in their lifetime earnings. Thus, as Williamson (2021) suggests, “there is no such thing as learning loss, but multiple conceptual ‘learning losses’ based on their own measurement systems”. I argue that researchers, organizations and institutions do not measure or calculate the extent of a single phenomenon called learning loss. Instead, what they can measure based on what they consider important with respect to learning becomes their conceptualised version of learning loss. There are multiple learning losses thus – because an organization or individual that values foundational literacy and numeracy would frame learning loss as the loss of those foundational skills, while one that values economic growth of nations would frame it, let’s say, as the estimated loss of national GDPs. However, all these distinct calculations are often united under the common umbrella of COVID-19-related learning loss – where they are often interchangeably used to communicate the anxiety and urgency required to push through specific interests or agendas. Williamson et al. (2021) suggest that “the history of the concept of learning loss may, then, be intimately tied to industry aspirations to capitalise on governmental concerns and investments” (124). Drawing on this idea, this paper highlights that it is crucial to examine who amplifies a learning loss narrative and what function it serves for them. While it is beyond the scope of this paper to critically examine each of these individual arcs, I briefly point out what this looks like for three groups of stakeholders in Indian education – educational technology (edtech) companies, private educational organizations and global financial institutions. Following the (highly inconsistent and inequitable) uptake of online learning in response to school closures, edtech companies in India have profited the most, with a projected $1.7 billion market by 2022 (The Economic Times February 26, 2021). Around the world, such companies have leveraged the ongoing learning loss narrative to not only increase their market, but to also become key partners in policy and reform (Williamson et al. 2021). As such, it is unsurprising that in India, edtech firms have been one of the flagbearers of the learning loss discourse – where highlighting losses is followed by plug-ins for their own products with claims about edtech and online learning being ‘inevitable’ (see, e.g. – TeamLease Edtech 2021; Byju’s 2020; The Economic Times 22 November, 2021). It is not just edtech companies that have utilised the learning loss discourse in India to advance their own solutions or advocacy. Private organizations like Pratham and the Central Square Foundation, who have been advocates for the

24  Abhinav Ghosh prioritization of foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) in Indian education, have seamlessly tied their claims of the COVID-19 learning loss with their previous claims about a ‘foundational learning crisis’ in India. For example, Banerji (2020) states that “the fact that basic learning levels were worryingly low before the COVID crisis and that further ‘learning loss’ may be significant adds to the deepening concern about an already inequitable situation widening divides: disadvantaged children suffering further disadvantage” (1). The blending of two distinct ‘crises’ here is noteworthy, as it enables not just a continued advocacy for FLN in Indian education policy, but also opportunities to concretely institutionalise it (see, e.g., Ministry of Education 2021) and propose existing FLN-oriented programmes and tools (like Pratham’s Teaching at the Right Level or TaRL) as solutions for even the COVID-19 learning loss (see for e.g. – Banerji 2020; Kaffenberger 2021; Angrist et al. 2021). Global financial institutions like the World Bank have also utilised the learning loss discourse in specific ways. In his book Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World, Arturo Escobar (2011) describes the formulation of ‘poverty’ in 1948. He mentions that the World Bank’s move to define ‘poor’ in terms of income automatically framed poverty as an economic problem to solve, thus, paving the way for the Bank to intervene across national borders ‘from a distance’. In a similar way, the framing of learning loss by the World Bank in terms of loss in expected lifetime earnings or loss of national GDP transforms it into an economic problem, and thus, the Bank into the primary expert to solve it. Since then, the World Bank has been involved in influencing response strategies to learning loss in some Indian states (Bharathi et al. 2020) as well as trying to enter into partnerships with the national government leveraging the claimed economic dangers of learning loss. Each of these arcs reflect examples of how various stakeholders have statistically and rhetorically formulated learning loss in specific ways so as to frame themselves as the experts for providing solutions to mitigate it. However, while this rhetoric and reform advocacy around learning loss continues to operate at institutional, bureaucratic and policy levels, it is important to consider what this discourse means for the individuals at the core of school education – teachers and students.

The Time to Reimagine The word ‘loss’ in the term ‘learning loss’ captures a sentiment that certain things – academic abilities, earnings, a generation of children – have been lost due to school closures. As such, the term entails a deficit perspective of looking at students and learning – fixated on calculating and highlighting everything that saw a reduction of some sense. Criticisms of the learning loss discourse around the world have often focused on this fixation on deficits, which particularly harms the most marginalised populations in any country (McKinney de Royston and Vossoughi 2021). In India, narratives of ‘learning crisis’ prior to the pandemic have consistently portrayed children from marginalised areas, castes and classes as behind their privileged counterparts. Subsequently, the learning loss narrative coupled with the fact that these populations have had minimal access to virtual learning have

Deficit in Indian Education: Learning Loss  25 strengthened the belief that they are now further behind. As a result, proposed reforms and mitigation strategies emphasise on the need for these children to catch up – restricting them to a continuous process of mastery-based learning of basics in an education system designed to marginalise them. A large population of children, thus, are likely to spend the next few years merely studying to master basic skills first, without any exposure to richer learning experiences or innovative pedagogies. Through framing learning loss as an issue of students not learning during COVID and the solutions to it as rooted in targeted skill-based teaching when schools reopen, the onus of ‘recovery’ is placed on teachers and students. This completely overlooks the myriad systemic inequities and flaws that have historically affected the learning of marginalised children, and thus, makes no case for a reimagination of education at a structural level. Besides disadvantaging marginalised children further, learning loss, as a discourse of deficit, discounts any gains or reimaginations that occurred during the pandemic. One can imagine that during school closures, several children received exposure to cultural or community-centred knowledge experiences while also learning new life skills such as craftwork, cooking, etc. – which are often considered outside the purview of conventional education. At the same time, many teachers, parents, as well as children, had to continuously improvise, innovate and reimagine on a daily basis to sustain learning experiences. Blanket statements that emphasise that all that happened during the pandemic were learning losses fail to recognise any of these efforts or learnings, and thus, call for a return to a version of education that would potentially never replicate these innovations. Instead, by highlighting that not attending schools equates to children’s losing abilities, they merely reinforce a dependency on schools for learning – a situation that itself was responsible for a lack of imagination when schools shut down during COVID. Additionally, the emphasis on catching up, by prioritizing FLN skills after schools reopen, emboldens a linear, piecemeal perspective of learning which is all about discrete mastery of objectives. Learning is much more than that; it is a complex, non-linear process that is not reducible to simple mathematical models or statements about its gain or loss. At the same time, learning is not just about language or mathematics – it encompasses a myriad subject areas, skills and affective elements such as social-emotional learning. By selectively highlighting deficits in only language and mathematics or seeing learning as a mathematically predicted trajectory, the learning loss discourse discounts all these other aspects – making it impossible to understand the effects of the pandemic on them. Fixating on a learning loss discourse won’t dramatically change education in India. In their book on reimagining learning for Chicana/o students, Delgado Bernal and Alemán (2017) describe ‘transformative ruptures’ as related to “incidents, interactions, experiences, and moments that expose and interrupt pervasive coloniality and structural inequities” (5). The pandemic is one such moment – which has exposed longstanding structural flaws in the version of school education that has been provided in India – that presents an opportunity to reimagine what we perceive as learning or education. Describing how the pandemic in India “worked like a chemical experiment that suddenly illuminated hidden things”, Arundhati Roy (2020) proposes a conceptualization of the pandemic as a “portal”

26  Abhinav Ghosh that can force individuals to “break with the past and imagine their world anew”. She notes: Our minds are still racing back and forth, longing for a return to “normality”, trying to stitch our future to our past and refusing to acknowledge the rupture. But the rupture exists. And in the midst of this terrible despair, it offers us a chance to rethink the doomsday machine we have built for ourselves. Nothing could be worse than a return to normality. Indeed, school closures due to the pandemic in India have presented an opportunity to go back to the drawing board and radically reimagine why, what and how learning happens (see also, Souto-Manning 2021). Yet, the learning loss discourse presents serious challenges to these possibilities. Due to the deficit-oriented outlook it has promoted, current educational reforms and strategies being suggested as schools reopen are grounded in terms like ‘catch up’, ‘build back better’, and ‘return to normal’. The private organization Central Square Foundation (2021) mobilised a forum of sixteen leading educational organizations in India to “conceptualize effective strategies as we move forward and reopen schools safely” (3). The ensuing report, titled (Re)build Back better, listed ten recommendations for all stakeholders in education to work towards as a collective – ensuring equitable access to school, upgrading school infrastructure and instructional time, easing back children into social interactions, prioritizing foundational learning, reorganizing curricula to compensate learning loss, conducting assessments to identify children’s levels, reorienting teachers to support parents, empowering parents to enable learning at home, building community capacities to continue learning despite disruptions, and enabling local bureaucrats to take decisions. Similarly, in a case study on India, UNESCO and UNICEF (2021) proposed four recommendations to ‘build back better’ – reducing barriers to digital and technological access, training teachers for e-learning, developing strategies to ensure distance learning for marginalised students, and collecting more data to guide strategic investments. While there are several recommendations across these two reports that are certainly necessary – such as resolving access issues, considering socio-emotional needs of children, and building capacities of community stakeholders – some of them fall back into the same trap of trying to implement stopgap solutions and archaic practices in a system of learning that is structurally flawed at its core. A history of focusing on mastering basic skills, building dependency on schools, and over-collecting student learning data have not resulted in radical systemic changes in the past; neither have imposed reforms and policies that are designed to exclude the most marginalised children. Like Roy mentioned above, a return to the normal or building back is not an option, since that ‘normal’ has historically been a flawed, exclusive system. Thus, there is an urgent need to reimagine our schools and what happens inside and outside them. What might such possibilities look like? As I implore researchers and practitioners to explore them, I conclude this paper by briefly suggesting where one might start. An ideal starting point would be rising above the deficit perspectives in the learning loss discourse, and deploying more asset-centred

Deficit in Indian Education: Learning Loss  27 perspectives to motivate ideas and reforms. This might include identifying learning gains that students had despite school closures and examining the reasons behind them. It might mean identifying valuable skills outside conventional curricula that children had exposure to and bringing them into school lessons. It might involve a reckoning of the diverse experiences children had during school closures and building on them to plan instruction, rather than doing so based on where it was left when schools closed. It might entail a recognition of learning as complex, multidimensional, affective, embodied and multi-modal and a corresponding reimagination of curricula. Most importantly, this might look like centring student, teacher and parent voices in educational policy-making, where decisions are made with them and not for them.

References Angrist, N., A. de Barros, R. Bhula, S. Chakera, C. Cummiskey, J. DeStefano, J. Floretta, M. Kaffenberger, B. Piper, and J. Stern. 2021. “Building back better to avert a learning catastrophe: Estimating learning loss from COVID-19 school shutdowns in Africa and facilitating short-term and long-term learning recovery.” International Journal of Educational Development 84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102397 Azevedo, J.P., A. Hasan, D. Goldemberg, S.A. Iqbal, and K. Geven. 2020. Simulating the Potential Impacts of COVID-19 School Closures on Schooling and Learning Outcomes: A Set of Global Estimates. Policy Research Working Paper No. 9284. World Bank, Washington, DC. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/33945 Azim Premji Foundation. 2021. Loss of Learning during the Pandemic. https://cdn.azimprem jiuniversity.edu.in/apuc3/media/publications/downloads/Field_Studies_Loss_of_ Learning_during_the_Pandemic.f1622994202.pdf Banerji, R. 2020. Learning “loss” and learning “gain” in primary school years: What do we know from India that can help us think forward in the COVID-19 crisis? https:// riseprogramme.org/sites/default/files/publications/20200723_RISE%20Insight%20 2020_19_Banerji_UP.pdf Bharathi, P., C. Aedo, S. Sinha, and S. Iype. 2020. The Gujarat model: Managing learning continuityduringCOVID-19.https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/gujarat-model-managinglearning-continuity-during-covid-19 Boyd, D., and K. Crawford. 2012. “Critical questions for big data.” Information, Communication & Society 15(5): 662–679. Byju’s. 2020. 4 Ways the Pandemic has Widened the Gaps in India’s Public Education System. December 22. https://blog.byjus.com/uniquely-byjus/education-for-all/4-ways-thepandemic-has-affected-public-education/ Callon, M. 1998. “Introduction: The Embeddedness of Economic Markets in Economics.” In M. Callon (ed.) The Laws of the Markets (pp. 1–57). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Central Square Foundation. 2021. (Re)build Back Better. https://cms.foundationallearning. in/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Policy-Brief_Long-version.pdf Chandler, D. 2013. Semiotics for Beginners. https://web.archive.org/web/20100104093034/ http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem02a.html Dalton, C., and J. Thatcher. 2014. “What does a critical data studies look like, and why do we care?” Society and Space. May 12. https://www.societyandspace.org/articles/whatdoes-a-critical-data-studies-look-like-and-why-do-we-care Delgado Bernal, D., and E. Alemán. 2017. Transforming Educational Pathways for Chicana/o Students: A Critical Race Feminista Praxis. New York: Teachers College Press.

28  Abhinav Ghosh Demeritt, D. 2001. “Scientific forest conservation and the statistical picturing of nature’s limits in the progressive-era United States.” Environment and Planning D 19: 431–459. Desrosières, A. 1998. The Politics of Large Numbers: A History of Statistical Reasoning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Desrosieres, A. 2001. “How real are statistics? Four possible attitudes.” Social Research 68: 339–355. Desrosières, A. 2010. Economic and Statistical Crises, from1880 to 2010. http://www.paris techreview.com/2010/08/30/crises-economiques-statistiques-1880-2010/ Escobar, A. 2011. Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Hanushek, E., and L. Woessmann. 2020. The Economic Impacts of Learning Losses. https:// www.oecd.org/education/The-economic-impacts-of-coronavirus-covid-19-learninglosses.pdf Jasanoff, S. 2004. “Ordering Knowledge, Ordering Society.” In S. Jasanoff (ed.). States of Knowledge: The Co-Production of Science and Social Order (pp. 13–45). London: Routledge. Jasanoff, S. 2017. “Virtual, visible, and actionable: Data assemblages and the sightlines of justice.” Big Data & Society 4(2): 1–15. Kaffenberger, M. 2021. “Modelling the long-run learning impact of the Covid-19 learning shock: Actions to (more than) mitigate loss.” International Journal of Educational Development 81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2020.102326 Labaree, D. 1997. “Public goods, private goods: The American struggle over educational goals.” American Educational research Journal 34(1): 39–81. Latour, B., and S. Woolgar. 1979. Laboratory Life: The Social Construction of Scientific Facts. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications. Lawson, B., and M. Lovatt. 2021. “Towards a rhetorical understanding of statistics in politics: Quantifying the National Health Service ‘Winter Crisis’.” European Journal of Communication 36 (2): 110–124. Li, T.M. 2014. “What is land? Assembling a resource for global investment.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 39(4): 589–602. McKinney de Royston, M., C.D. Lee, N.S. Nasir, and R. Pea. 2020. “Rethinking schools, rethinking learning.” Phi Delta Kappan. October 26. https://kappanonline.org/ rethinking-schools-rethinking-learning-mckinney-de-royston-lee-nasir-pea/ McKinney de Royston, M. and S. Vossoughi. 2021. “Fixating on pandemic “learning loss” undermines the need to transform education.” Truthout. January 18. https://truthout.org/ articles/fixating-on-pandemic-learning-loss-undermines-the-need-to-transform-education/ Ministry of Education, Government of India. 2021. National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy – NIPUN BHARAT (A National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy) https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/ mhrd/files/nipun_bharat_eng1.pdf Murphy, M. 2017. The Economization of Life. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Porter, T.M. 1995. Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Road, Scholarz. 2021. Locked Out: Emergency Report on School Education. https://roadscholarz. net/ Roy, A. 2020. “Pandemic is a portal.” Financial Times. April 3. https://www.ft.com/ content/10d8f5e8-74eb-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca Souto-Manning, M. 2021. The Pandemic as a Portal: On Transformative Ruptures and Possible Futures for Education. Occasional Paper Series. 2021 (46). Retrieved from https://educate. bankstreet.edu/occasional-paper-series/vol2021/iss46/2

Deficit in Indian Education: Learning Loss  29 Srivastava, P. 2010. “Public-private partnerships or privatisation? Questioning the state’s role in education in India.” Development in Practice 20(4–5): 540–553. https://doi. org/10.1080/09614521003763079 Scott, J.C. 1998. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven: Yale University Press. TeamLease Edtech. 2021. COVID-19 learning loss in higher education. July. https://www. teamleaseedtech.com/uploads/covid-19-learning-losshigher-education-reports.pdf UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). n.d. Education: From Disruption to Recovery. https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund). 2021. India Case Study: Situation Analysis on the Effects of and Responses to COVID-19 on the Education Sector in Asia. https://www.unicef.org/rosa/media/16511/file/India%20Case%20Study.pdf UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund). 2021a. 1 in 3 Countries are Not Taking Action to Help Students Catch Up on Their Learning Post-COVID-19 School Closures. https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/1-3-countries-are-not-takingaction-help-students-catch-their-learning-post-covid-19 UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund). 2021b. Rapid Assessment of Learning during School Closures in the Context of COVID-19. https://www. unicef.org/india/media/6121/file/Report%20on%20rapid%20assessment%20of%20 learning%20during%20school%20closures%20in%20context%20of%20COVID-19.pdf UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund). 2022. Where are we on Education Recovery? https://www.unicef.org/media/117626/file/Where%20are%20 we%20in%20Education%20Recovery?.pdf Von Hippel, P.T. 2019. “Is summer learning loss real? How I lost faith in one of education research’s classic results.” Education Next, Fall: 9–14. https://www.educationnext.org/ wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ednext_XIX_4_von_hippel.pdf Von Hippel, P.T., and C. Hamrock. 2019. “Do test score gaps grow before, during, or between the school years? Measurement artifacts and what we can know in spite of them.” Sociological Science. January 24. https://sociologicalscience.com/articles-v6-3-43/ Williamson, B. 2021. “Counting learning losses.” Code Acts in Education. September 24. https://codeactsineducation.wordpress.com/2021/09/24/counting-learning-losses/ Williamson, B., F. Macgilchrist, and J. Potter. 2021. “Covid-19 controversies and critical research in digital education.” Learning, Media, and Technology 46(2): 117–127. World Bank. 2020. Beaten or Broken? Informality and COVID-19. South Asia Economic Focus, Fall 2020. Washington, DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank. org/handle/10986/34517

2 Reflections on Education in the Wake of COVID-19 in Nepal Learning Loss or Schooling Loss? Chase Podsakoff and Karen Valentin

Introduction On March 24, 2020, the first COVID-19 lockdown mandate swept over Nepal. Border closings and suspension of international flights led to stark declines in local and national trade while tourism profits and economic remittances from the vast amount of labour migrants plummeted (Sah et al., 2020). Lockdown negatively impacted people’s mental and physical health, while socio-economic and gender disparities increased throughout the country (Poudel and Subedi, 2020; Sharma, 2020). On average, historically disenfranchised populations bore greater impacts on all fronts (UNDP, 2020; UNESCO, 2021). Like other counties in the region, the education sector was deeply affected by pandemic-related mandates. One year after the first lockdown, pandemic-related school closures had affected nearly 9 million Nepali students from preschool to 12th grade (Dawadi et al., 2020). Vulnerable groups such as low-caste, differently abled students, and girls were assumed to be at increased risk of not completing their education and come to suffer from what in policy discourse has been framed as ‘learning loss’ (The World Bank, UNESCO and UNICEF, 2021). Even if the acute crisis of COVID-19 has faded to the background, its longterm effects are still unknown, as are potential future outbreaks and waves. Moreover, COVID-19 happened only five years after the devastating 2015 earthquake in Nepal, which followed a federalist overhaul to the nation in 2006, and a Maoist insurgency, which overthrew the panchayat order of government in 1990. At the time of writing, the global military and political crisis sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is shaking the global economy and local markets across the world. This includes Nepal, where food prices are spiking, with marginalised populations being negatively affected the most. Thus, the pandemic can be considered as yet another aberration along the historical trajectory of crises in Nepal with negative effects disproportionately accumulating among disenfranchised communities. While crisis is most commonly “an experience of temporary abnormality primarily related to traumatic events such as violence, disease or bereavement” (Vigh, 2008: 7), the experience of crisis for Nepalis can be understood as a chronicity of crisis. In this sense, crisis is unlike a temporary abnormality and is instead a chronic condition. This enduring form of crisis has come to characterise the DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688-4

Reflections on Education in the Wake of COVID-19 in Nepal  31 context of education in Nepal. In other words, education in Nepal occurs within an enduring context in which crisis “has become a cyclical and expected manifestation of the dense disorder” (ibid: 6). When crisis is conceptualised as the context in which social phenomena occur, it can be understood “as a terrain of action and meaning rather than an aberration” (ibid: 8). There is not a pre- or post-conflict state of existence; rather, only fluctuations in the chronic “state of affairs” (ibid: 10). On the one hand, COVID-19 was a radical event in most people’s lives and yet, on the other hand it was ‘just’ one in a chain of recurrent crises, which continue to destabilise the economy, undermine an effective functioning of state institutions including the education sector, and reinforce already existing inequalities in society. As students’ and teachers’ daily lives were altered during the pandemic, COVID-19 also became a moment to coalesce long-held concerns about an education system in crisis around the powerful notion of learning loss. Although it is still far too early to conclude on the long-term learning effects, it is worth asking to what extent it is meaningful at all to establish a causal link between COVID-19 and learning loss in a context of recurrent crises? The aim of this chapter is to critically discuss the concept of ‘learning loss’ and the specific ideas of education linked to the term. It reflects, firstly, on the ways in which prevailing ideas of school-based learning have become reinforced during the pandemic through a policy discourse that equates learning loss with schooling loss. Secondly, it reflects how pandemic-related school closures might have exposed students to a wider range of non-institutionalised, locally embedded learning practices and thereby opened for accounts of other forms of education. Rather than seeking conclusive answers to the impact of COVID-19 on contemporary education practices in Nepal, we therefore use the pandemic and the discourse of learning loss as a lens through which to rethink the relationship between different forms of learning and the hegemonic position that formal, standardised education holds among those.

‘Learning Loss’: Conflating Learning and Schooling Since the school closures stemming from the pandemic crisis spread across the globe, the phrase ‘learning loss’ has become ubiquitous. Much of the scholarly literature uses grey literature to define learning loss (Ndaruhutse et al., 2021; c.f. Dawadi et al., 2020; Hevia et al., 2022; Radhakrishnan et al., 2021), if the term is even defined (c.f. Hanushek and Woessmann, 2020). Regardless of an elusive definition, it is “commonly used in the literature to describe declines in student knowledge and skills” (Pier et al., 2021 as cited in Donnelly and Patrinos, 2021). For this chapter, learning loss is defined as “any specific or general loss of knowledge and skills or to reversals in academic progress, most commonly due to extended gaps or discontinuities in a student’s education” (Huong and Jatturas, 2020). It is worth noting that across the multiple definitions of learning loss is the conflation of learning with schooling; a neatly manufactured correlation that has become an integral aspect to the institutional discourse (c.f. Souto-Manning, 2014: 160) of pandemic effects on formal education.

32  Chase Podsakoff and Karen Valentin This conflation promotes a hegemonic conception of learning that (re)produces the domination of certain forms of learning while subordinating others. It prioritizes a western metric of learning (Brøgger, 2019: 162) to stratify students along pre-existing social lines (van Noord et al., 2019) and standardise learning which “makes it possible to govern at a distance without the use of legal competence” (Brøgger, 2019: 159). This conflation is cast into “documents and measuring technologies [that] constitute an agentic infrastructure allowing certain standards to gain hegemonic power” (ibid: 162) and thereby contributes to determine what counts as legitimate cognitive skills and forms of knowledge for the fully educated person (Levinson and Sutton, 2001: 11). In short, the term learning is interlinked with metrics that regard a single standard of knowledge. Therefore, the loss of learning during the pandemic, or learning loss, became a convenient phrase to invalidate non-institutional forms of learning while reinforcing institutional forms (see also Ghosh, this volume). The COVID crisis provided a moment to reify the conflation of learning loss with schooling loss across development organizations (UNDP, 2020), think tanks (Azevedo, 2020; Chen et al., 2021), and scholars (Hevia et al., 2022; Radhakrishnan et al., 2021). Quantitative metrics, determined by standardised school testing and enrolment rates, were wielded to promote a specific understanding of learning loss, which restricted learning to that which takes place within school walls. The perceived objectivity of numbers and statistics catalyzed the momentum behind this discourse of learning loss, making “education governable without the use of government” across low- and middle-income countries (Brøgger, 2019: 160). This use of numbers to proclaim objectivity and influence policy, of course, is not unique to pandemic-related learning loss. “The discourse of objectivity has inspired the alluring belief that social phenomena can be identified and explained as incontrovertible truths by employing methods of standardised impartiality” (Coleman, 2018: 159). In the pursuit of legitimating certain values and beliefs, numbers and statistics allow claims to objectivity in the messy, nuanced reality of students’ learning experiences during the pandemic. Understanding why quantitative metrics are wielded to reinforce certain standards is central to revealing the force behind this discourse of pandemic-related learning loss in Nepal. At the same time, such conceptual conflation between learning and schooling justified through quantitative metrics, however, excludes learning processes that take place beyond institutions of formal education. Such learning processes include intergenerational knowledge transfers (Mannion, 2012; Lefter et al., 2011) and various culturally acquired forms of learning (Levinson and Holland, 1996; Wolcott, 1982). Suffice it to say these forms of learning seem to be largely absent from the research regarding learning and schooling during the pandemic crisis. But this is not specific to the pandemic context. It can be argued that the learning loss discourse fits squarely within the historical lack of recognition of alternative understandings to learning loss, which exist outside this hegemonic discourse but are often overlooked. From an educational anthropological perspective, however, it is productive to distinguish between ‘schooling’ as institutionalised, often state regulated, forms of intentional instruction and ‘education’ referring to, broader, lifelong processes of cultural training by which the members of a given society, ethnic or social group define themselves as

Reflections on Education in the Wake of COVID-19 in Nepal  33 knowledgeable or “educated” according to specific cultural criteria (Levinson and Holland,1996: 2). A hyper-focus on formal learning loss has blinded most from considering that students from historically marginalised backgrounds have been deprived of this essential learning that takes place beyond math class in their pursuit of formal education. Informal learning is often discredited as it cannot be quantified or turned into a standardised metric of learning (loss). Thus, there is a pervasive lack of recognition in terms of what counts as learning, who defines this, and for what ends this distinction of learning serves. While brought into glaring focus during the COVID crisis, this distinction between legitimate and illegitimate learning has, as we will return to later, persisted since the 1950s as a central element in the education discourse in Nepal. But before getting into the document analysis, we provide some reflections on the methodology of research during COVID.

Studying Education in a Pandemic: Methodological Reflections and Analytical Framework Research grounded in social encounters and physical presence in the field been under severe constraint during the pandemic due to restricted travelling and demands for social distancing in physical space. With prolonged school closures, conventional school-based ethnography has been equally challenged. Accordingly, researchers have been compelled to expand their methodological toolbox and redirect their gazes towards other sites of learning than institutions of formal education. The present chapter therefore relies on a combination of various written documents and long-distance, digitally mediated primary data. Written documents include a publication from the Nepal Education Cluster (NEC), which came out days after the initial pandemic mandates spread across Nepal. This document assisted in creating a sense of urgency to get students back into school. In the wake of this document, a host of United Nations (UN) publications began to solidify this sense of urgency within a discourse of learning loss. Other documents explored in this chapter include a 2020 policy brief from the UN which suggests the global nature of this discourse, a 2021 report from the UN’s Secretary General, and a “case study of Nepal” co-produced by UNESCO and UNICEF in 2021. We use these sources as primary material to reveal resonance in terms of who was speaking about learning loss, how discourses of learning loss are manufactured and communicated, and why learning loss matters according to these sources. In addition, this chapter draws on 12 epistolary interviews over the span of nine months conducted by Podsakoff as part of a joint pilot study on the effects of COVID-19 on education conducted in the Autumn of 2021. Insights gained from this have been substantiated by Valentin’s longstanding ethnographic engagements in education in Nepal and expertise in the field of educational anthropology. The epistolary interviews were collected in the form of text messages and digitally transferred handwritten notes conducted among students and young adults with familial ties to Mustang, a high Himalayan district in Nepal to the south of Tibet. Contacts were established based on a previous eight-week participatory fieldwork and dozens of informal conversations conducted by Podsakoff in a boarding

34  Chase Podsakoff and Karen Valentin school in Pokhara in 2019 and mediated by a Nepali nurse who, during the pandemic, travelled back and forth between Pokhara and Mustang. The participants in the pilot study were all students, primarily young girls, who had left school in Pokhara and returned to their villages due to the COVID lockdown. According to the nurse, most of them were of Tibetan origin and children of subsistence farmers. Trekkers on the Annapurna circuit were a major source of income. Seasonal trips to Pokhara to sell handmade carpets, handbags, jewellery, and other handicrafts supplemented their income. For many of the interviewees, school was supposed to provide a pathway out of this lifestyle. A Critical Narrative Analysis (CNA)-inspired framework is used to highlight gaps and continuities between the reality according to the institutional discourse and the reality according to local narratives (c.f. Souto-Manning, 2014). Although discourse has been described in several ways (Souto-Manning, 2014: 159), discourse is defined in this chapter “as an interrelated set of texts, and the practices of their production, dissemination, and reception, that brings an object into being” (Phillips and Hardy, 2002, 3 as cited in Souto-Manning, 2014: 159). The object brought into being in this chapter is the concept of learning loss. To empirically develop the emergence of this concept, we uncover the institutional discourse, “also called power discourses,” of pandemic effects on education in Nepal (SoutoManning, 2014: 160). This discourse stems from the UN, the NEC,1 and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) in Nepal. Narratives, on the other hand, are the personal, everyday stories of people; “a form of discourse more concrete and closer to a person’s experiences” (ibid: 163, 167). Narratives are the personal stories that give insight into “how we make sense of what we know, what we feel and experience in the world in which we live” (ibid: 162). In this chapter, narratives from female students in Mustang are set in contrast to the institutional discourse. Given the limitations of data collection, we acknowledge that the empirical material in itself does not have an ethnographic solidity that enables us to draw substantial conclusions about the impact of COVID-19 on everyday school life. Therefore, the vignettes presented later in the chapter rather serve as narrative ‘snapshots’ that can help us to think beyond a policy-dominated learning loss discourse and thus point in the direction of other ways of perceiving pandemic-related impacts on education. In the following section, we first unpack the term ‘learning loss’ through a process of document analysis. This term, made visible through standardised metrics in UN publications, has entered the vocabulary of education stakeholders in Nepal and become intrinsically linked with development-related ideas of progress. We then turn our gaze towards the students and their narrations of learning experiences during the pandemic based on the data collected through letter exchanges with students in the region.

The Discourse of ‘Learning Loss’ in Nepal Days after the first nation-wide pandemic mandates were installed, the NEC published a contingency plan, which urgently called for education stakeholders to address students’ seemingly inevitable schooling loss. The plan’s objectives were to

Reflections on Education in the Wake of COVID-19 in Nepal  35 maintain the continuity of school-based learning among students while stemming COVID-19 transmission. There was a particular focus on the need to reduce the disruption of students’ learning, including targeted support to those students that [would] be disproportionately impacted, […] ensure readiness […] to send children back to school [and] develop strategies to make up for lost time during the remainder of the academic year (NEC, 2020: 5). With its focus on entirely formalized institutions of learning, the plan laid the groundwork for future publications to equate schooling (loss) to learning (loss), turning the pandemic into a moment to build on a historically rooted discourse of education in Nepal. Five months after the NEC contingency plan was published, the UN released a policy brief establishing learning loss(es) as a key consideration of the pandemic that demanded swift amelioration. However, what underpinned the UN’s concern regarding students’ formal education trajectories, especially those who are more historically marginalised, was the manufactured threat that learning loss posed to the decades of progress made on UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) (UN, 2020). Although this policy brief covered a host of pandemic effects in regard to each of the UN’s 17 SDGs, its global effects on education were named and framed in terms of learning losses. The crisis [COVID-19] is exacerbating pre-existing education disparities by reducing the opportunities for many of the most vulnerable children, youth, and adults – those living in poor or rural areas, girls, refugees, persons with disabilities and forcibly displaced persons – to continue their learning. Learning losses also threaten to extend beyond this generation and erase decades of progress, not least in support of girls and young women’s educational access and retention. (UN, 2020: 2) The main considerations in this statement are increasing disparities and the risk to “decades of progress” due to the ‘learning loss’ incurred by the pandemic-related school closures. Just over a year into pandemic mandates in Nepal, the UN held a high-level political forum on sustainable development in which learning loss was empirically quantified for the first time since the emergence of the pandemic. Out of this forum a Secretary General report was produced entitled Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. The report stated that “[h]undreds of millions of children and young people are falling behind in their learning, which will have long-term impacts” (Secretary General Report, 2021: 9). Months-old predictions were now quantitatively reflected by a drop in completion rates of primary and secondary school as well as a drop in literacy and numeracy rates (Donnelly and Patrinos, 2021; Kaffenberger, 2021; Secretary General Report, 2021: 10). Supported by this evidence, the Secretary General report reiterated the concern that “progress made over past years has been at risk since 2020 because early education facilities and primary schools closed in most countries and territories, preventing or limiting access to education, especially for children from low- and

36  Chase Podsakoff and Karen Valentin middle-income countries and territories” (Secretary General Report, 2021: 10). The concern of learning loss solidified around its limited and limiting quantitative evidence, which effectively reified the conflation between learning (loss) and schooling (loss). The analyses and concerns put forth in these UN publications limits the scope of learning to that, which can be counted in school and that which is concerned with development progress. Other scholarly literature and think tanks have a hand in reproducing this association between learning and schooling via the concept of learning loss. For example, it was posited that students’ sustained absence from school during this crisis is estimated to have led to a year or more of lost learning (Alban Conto et al., 2021; Azevedo, 2020; Dawadi et al., 2020; Hevia et al., 2022; Radhakrishnan et al., 2021). Past studies show that “3.5 months of school closure […] resulted in learning loss equivalent to 1.3 school grades” (Alban Conto et al., 2021: 2). But according to the logic in these publications, if students remained out of school long enough would they revert to preschool level knowledge? Would students remain educationally stunted? Either case is hardly a universal reality. Yet, it is a reality that is promulgated by the institutional discourse of pandemic effects on education. It is true that students had their education impacted by the pandemic, which created uneven albeit ubiquitous effects across Nepal (Dawadi et al., 2020). But rather than uncovering the nuance of learning experiences during the pandemic, learning loss has become a hegemonic lens which restricts many scholarly and policy inquiries to that which reveals how much formal learning a student has ‘lost’ resulting from pandemic-related school absence. The institutional discourse solidified further a year and half into the pandemic when a case study of Nepal’s education sector was released by UNESCO and UNICEF (2021). The analysis posited that the pandemic crisis caused students to lose “[m]ore than one academic year” and that standardised diagnostic testing is needed to be conducted across the nation to diagnose and ameliorate students’ learning loss in Nepal (ibid): When children come back to school, their levels will be even more differentiated than before COVID-19. Their competency and learning should be assessed very simply, with priority given to basic literacy and numeracy. A standardised diagnostic test, such as the planned study by the MoEST [Ministry of Education, Science and Technology] to determine learning loss, should be rolled out nationally. (UNESCO and UNICEF, 2021: 51) There are two things worth noting here. First, literacy is a nuanced concept among scholars (c.f. Gee, 1989; Kirkland, 2009). However, this UNESCO and UNICEF case study in collaboration with the MoEST in Nepal delimits a single form of literacy in the Nepali language that can be diagnosed via standardised testing within schools (UNESCO and UNICEF, 2021: 27). Second, despite research showing that the “measurements of academic achievements such as literacy and mathematical ability […] do not show individuals’ competencies accurately” (Sheedy, 2018: 16),2 these are the precise measurements used by the UN and

Reflections on Education in the Wake of COVID-19 in Nepal  37 stakeholders in Nepal’s education sector to address and take ameliorative action against learning loss. The concept of learning loss is conveniently consistent with the historical and political momentum of the idea in Nepal that learning is limited to that, which takes place in school. Since the 1950’s, education was formally acknowledged as a key mechanism to develop Nepal as well as develop a national identity across the country’s diversity (Ragsdale, 1989). Nepal was repeatedly referred to as a “backward” nation in official education plans, policies, and documents that were sponsored or published by the Government of Nepal (c.f. NNEPC, 1956; MoE, 1971). Historically, ‘backwardness’ was quantified by low literacy rates and percentages of rural populations in Nepal (c.f. NNEPC, 1956). Local epistemologies were undermined as another sign of “backwardness” (Pigg, 1992) and the antidote, the “fix” to this idea of a “backward” country, was formal schooling (NNEPC, 1956; MoE, 1971). Although learning loss during the pandemic has gained significant momentum as a concern, it is necessary to reflect on how this concept corresponds with the deeply historical and political foundation of development ideals in Nepal. Despite this consistent conflation between schooling and learning spanning from the 1950’s to the present context, can the experiences of learners during the pandemic be homogenized into a single story of learning loss? Partially, yes. Over 8.5 million Nepali students had their education disrupted because of pandemic mandates (Dawadi et al., 2020). Many students, parents, and teachers can relate to the story of learning loss across the country (UNICEF, n.d.). That said, learning loss is not an a priori, apolitical concept to merely explain pandemic realities. It is a concept to construct a pandemic reality. As a concept, learning loss compresses the diversity of pandemic learning experiences into a single story. This is a story of lost education and playing “catch up,” especially among the most impacted students including girls and women, the differently abled, and other historically marginalised groups (UNESCO, 2021). No alternative understandings of learning or education are considered. There is no space for a holistic understanding of students’ learning experiences during the pandemic with learning loss. This concept effectively partitions out the broader scope of students’ experiences who continued learning during the pandemic.

Pandemic-Related School Closures: Other Sites of Learning Over the past three to four decades, a burgeoning body of ethnographic research on education in Nepal has pointed to the importance ascribed to school-based education as a tool for national integration and identity-formation (Ragsdale, 1989; Skinner and Holland, 1996) and as a key driver in a development-driven modernisation project (bikas) (Pigg, 1992). Likewise, studies have portrayed how, from the perspective of ordinary people, the correlation between formal education and development has translated into an enduring faith in schooling as a central factor for social mobility (Faye, 2023; Valentin, 2005).3 The number of school-going children, literacy rates and other education-related development indicators have increased drastically4 and it is hard to refute that schooling makes a difference in

38  Chase Podsakoff and Karen Valentin opening up possibilities on, for example, the labour market and participation in various societal institutions. However, by addressing the burning issues on the ground, educational research in Nepal has predominantly focused on school-based learning (Valentin and Pradhan, 2023) and thereby contributed to reinforce the perception of schooling as the most legitimate space for learning underpinning the discourse of learning loss. With few exceptions focusing on musical apprenticeship (e.g. Bernéde, 2016; Singh and Palanchoke, this volume) and indigenous knowledge and literacy (Acharya and Robinson-Pant, 2019), less scholarly attention has been paid to informal learning taking place in non-institutionalised settings. This is so even though apprentice-based forms of learning have been integral to caste-related occupational practices (Adhikari and Gellner, 2023) and that much learning needed to secure a livelihood, for example the skills of farming, continues to take place along with school-based learning. With the pandemic-related school closures, children and youth were in some sense relocated to these other sites of learning and faced a vastly different everyday life from what they were used to as school-goers. This was clearly reflected in the epistolary letters in which students, mostly female, from a boarding school in Pokhara reflected on the experiences of lockdown and of the return to their home communities in Mustang. In a bit of serendipity, government mandates during COVID provided students an opportunity to return to their families, getting a school “holiday for such a long time”, celebrating festivals, and learning skills in their natal communities that they had been deprived from learning during their years pursuing formal education in the city. But days of lockdown turned into weeks. Concerns about schooling began to circulate among the student returnees. With seemingly no end to the lockdown in sight, students began to wonder what would happen with their schooling. For many of these students, digital schooling options were not readily available. This posed a major roadblock for students who relied on non-digital, remote schooling during the lockdown. Some participants expressed that remote schooling and internet connectivity were some of their greatest challenges during lockdown. Pema, a 17-year-old who returned to Mustang in the final months of her primary education, shared that: “There was no school during lockdown. We bought data to join online classes, but network facilities were very poor. And most of the time we missed our classes.” Aligning with this point of view is Karma, a Mustang returnee who was studying for her Secondary Exit Examinations when the lockdown mandate swept over the nation. She expressed: […] during my stay in hometown [Mustang], I was not able to focus on my study. There used to be a lot of work from morning to evening. Our school had conducted online classes, but I was not able to join because of the phone tower problem. As I was from a small village [in Mustang] there was no proper phone tower so I must say that was my biggest challenges. But beyond the infrastructural challenges with her schooling, one of Karma’s reflections about her return to Mustang during the COVID crisis is worth noting. She shared her initial reaction about returning to her hometown and how her

Reflections on Education in the Wake of COVID-19 in Nepal  39 perspective had changed over time: “First, I thought it be boring staying up there in homeland [Mustang] but later I got to learn many things related to culture, field work, and many more.” Her initial thoughts about returning to her hometown sat in contrast to “learning many things related to culture, field work, and many more”. These are some of the local practices that are often overlooked in determining what counts as learning from the standpoint of the institutional discourse. Karma continued to describe her regular schedule during lockdown, which included doing housework, fieldwork, and tending to her family’s five cows and two horses. She reflected on what this meant to her: “[…] so, that’s my normal life during lockdown. That’s how I spent a normal day. I was happy that I learnt those things during lockdown.” (bold for author’s emphasis). Likewise, 17-year-old Pema shared that she was “scared as well as happy”: “I was very worried about my studies and how long it (lockdown) would last […] From other side I got to spend quality time with my parents […] I got to experience many new things such as farming, cooking, etc.” Another interlocutor, 21-yearold Tenzin, shared that lockdown changed her perspective, expressing a duality in her perspective rooted in her experience in Mustang. Tenzin wrote: After lockdown, my view on life changed. Before I was really busy between home and college. I used to think life as so narrow. After lockdown I realized that there are lots of things to appreciate about. I learn cooking, [carrying out] domestic work, get lots of time to spend with parents. (bold for author’s emphasis) Lhatso echoed similar sentiments in terms of learning new skills unique to her natal community in Mustang: When I don’t have classes, my dad take me to field and let me try fieldwork and it was very difficult and challenging. But at the same time, knowing how to do fieldwork […] was one of my biggest successes. Learning how to do animal husbandry, fieldwork, and practices associated with expected gender roles in their natal communities during lockdown was characterised in multiple ways; “happy that I learnt those things” according to Karma; experiencing “many new things” according to Pema; “one of my biggest successes” according to Lhatso, and “life chang[ing]” for Tenzin. As shown in the interview snapshots above, learning skills that were not part of the school curriculum turned out to be a central part of their experience during and after lockdown. On one hand, the students were acutely aware of the lack of digital infrastructure that contributed to their lost time in school, which led them to speculate on the repercussions similar to those posited by the UN. On the other hand, the mandates related to the COVID crisis brought them back to their natal communities affording them the opportunity to learn skills they had been deprived of learning in their pursuit of formal schooling. Resonating with accounts from elsewhere in South Asia (Ela et al., 2021; Morgan et al., 2022; Roy and Brown, 2022), the letters are just small glimpses into the students’ life beyond school and do

40  Chase Podsakoff and Karen Valentin not of course provide a substantial empirical basis for making any claims about the effects of COVID. But they serve as a reminder to make space for an understanding of alternative forms of learning to be considered on equal footing to the hegemonic conceptions of school-based learning and to open the door for a more holistic understanding of the forms of learning that took place during the pandemic.

Conclusion While the pandemic crisis has been shaping the current moment of educational concerns in Nepal, it has built upon the historical trajectory of educational concerns in a context of chronic crises. We have attempted to show that the education discourse and students’ narratives portrayed the impacts of the COVID crisis differently. Although educational discourse portrayed the effects of the crisis in terms of learning loss and risk to development progress, students’ narratives revealed a host of new learning realities based on gaining natal community knowledge and skills. Their experiences occur beyond the purview of learning loss and are often excluded from analyses regarding pandemic effects on education. We have revealed herein the hegemonic discourse of learning loss during the COVID crisis in Nepal and how nuance and contradictions to this discourse emerge from students’ lived experiences expressed through their narratives. In light of educational discourse in Nepal coalescing around the concern of learning loss it is again worth asking: what is the use of drawing a causal link between learning loss and COVID-19 in a context of chronic crisis? First, this link reinforces a hegemonic framing of education and its conflation with schooling (loss), exemplified in policy and governance practices. Second, it maintains the legitimacy of quantifiable metrics of knowledge attainment via in-school testing. Third, it manufactures a single story of pandemic effects on education to justify the first two points. In sum, learning loss is a concept which “… illuminate[s] certain dynamics, processes, and relations, while […] occlud[ing] others (Lund, 2014: 226). However, the notion of learning loss reverberates, or resonates (c.f. Lund, 2014), between the institutional discourse and the student narratives from Mustang. This means it cannot be disregarded as irrelevant nor can it be simply reduced to a policy invention. That said, the concept of learning loss has a core problem in that it is used and defined so narrowly that learning becomes something that only occurs in school. This chapter offers insight to reimagine education in a context of persistent crisis by reframing learning to include the formal and informal channels that facilitate the development and assembly of new knowledges. By looking beyond schooling we begin to glimpse into the ways learning continued during the pandemic reflecting a much wider spectrum of learning processes. If we stop and think about pandemic effects on education, we cannot overlook that students continue to learn in manifold ways, including, but not limited to, attaining new hard and soft skills, engaging with community, and (re)creating their sense of self and identity. By broadening our scope of what counts as learning, we begin to see that these are not learning losses. They are just some of the gains made visible by looking beyond the concept of learning loss.

Reflections on Education in the Wake of COVID-19 in Nepal  41

Notes 1 “The Education Cluster is led by the Department of Education under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and is co-led by UNICEF and Save the Children” according to publication outlining response efforts to the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. https:// wwfasia.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/nepal_education_cluster.pdf. 2 To be clear, Sheedy argues that literacy and numeracy are insufficient measurements of competencies because they “fail to incorporate attitudes, beliefs and behaviours, the so-called social outcomes that constitute the various benefits of education in the noneconomic spheres of life” (Sheedy, 2018: 60). 3 For a detailed review of ethnographic scholarship on education in Nepal, see Valentin and Pradhan (2023). 4 UNESCO and UNICEF claim “spectacular gains” over the past two decades in Nepal including “high levels of primary school enrolment, rising literacy rates, increased numbers of pupils continuing to secondary education” (2021: 58).

References Acharya, S. and Robinson-Pant, A. (2019). Women, literacy and health: comparing health and education sectoral approaches in Nepal. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 49(2): 211–229. Adhikari, K. and Gellner, D. (2023). Two steps forward, one step back: Dalit experiences of primary and secondary education in West-Central Nepal. In Valentin, K. and Pradhan, U. (Eds.), Anthropological perspectives on education in Nepal: Educational transformations and avenues of learning. Oxford University Press. Alban Conto, C., Akseer, S., Dreesen, T., Kamei, A., Mizunoya, S., and Rigole, A. (2021). Potential effects of COVID-19 school closures on foundational skills and country responses for mitigating learning loss. International Journal of Educational Development, 87: 1–11. Azevedo, J. P. (2020). Learning Poverty Measures and Simulations. Policy Research Working Paper. Retrieved from World Bank Document. www.semanticscholar.org Bernéde, F. (2016). The house of letters: Musical apprenticeship among the Newar Farmers (Kathmandu Valley, Nepal). Oral Tradition, 30(2): 281–318. Brøgger, K. (2019). How education standards gain hegemonic power and become international: The case of higher education and the bologna process. European Educational Research Journal, 18(2): 158–180. Chen, L.K., Dorn, E., Sarakatsannis, J., and Wiesinger, A. (2021). Teacher survey: Learning loss is global – and significant. McKinsey & Company. Retrieved from https://www. mckinsey.com/industries/education/our-insights/teacher-survey-learning-loss-is-globaland-significant Coleman, S. (2018). The elusiveness of political truth: From the conceit of objectivity to intersubjective judgement. European Journal of Communication, 33(2): 157–171. Dawadi, S., Giri, R., and Simkhada, P. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 on the education sector in Nepal - challenges and coping strategies. Sage Submissions. Preprint. Donnelly, R., and Patrinos, H. A. (2021). Learning loss during Covid-19: An early systematic review. Prospects. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-021-09582-6 Ela, M. Z., Shohel, T. A., Shovo, T.-E.-A., Khan, L., Jahan, N., Hossain, T., and Islam, N. (2021). Prolonged lockdown and academic uncertainties in Bangladesh: A qualitative investigation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Heliyon, 7(2): 1–8. Faye, R. (2023). Navigating class through education: Urban poor families’ choice of schools. In Valentin, K. and Pradhan, U. (Eds.), Anthropological perspectives on education in Nepal: Educational transformations and avenues of learning. Oxford University Press.

42  Chase Podsakoff and Karen Valentin Gee, J. P. (1989). What is literacy? Journal of Education, 171(1): 18–25. Hanushek, E. A., and Woessmann, L. (2020). The economic impacts of learning losses. OECD Education Working Papers. https://doi.org/10.1787/21908d74-en Hevia, F. J., Vergara-Lope, S., Velásquez-Durán, A., and Calderón, D. (2022). Estimation of the fundamental learning loss and learning poverty related to COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. International Journal of Educational Development, 88: 1–9. Huong, L. T., and Jatturas, T. N. (2020). The COVID-19 induced learning loss – what is it and how it can be mitigated? The Education and Development Forum (UKFIET). Retrieved from https://www.ukfiet.org/2020/the-COVID-19-induced-learning-loss-what-is-itand-how-it-can-be-mitigated/ Kaffenberger, M. (2021). Modelling the long-run learning impact of the COVID-19 learning shock: Actions to (more than) mitigate loss. International Journal of Educational Development, 81: 1–8. Kirkland, D. E. (2009). The skin we ink: Tattoos, literacy, and a new English education. English Education. Retrieved from https://www.uwlax.edu/globalassets/academics/ conted/2016-rrs-handout-kirkland-skin.pdf Lefter, V., Brătianu, C., Agapie, A., Agoston, S., and Orzea, I. (2011). Intergenerational knowledge transfer in the academic environment of knowledge-based economy. Amfiteatru Economic, 8(30): 392–403. Lund, C. (2014). Of what is this a case?: Analytical movements in qualitative social science research. Human Organization, 73(3): 224–234. Levinson, B. A., and Holland, D. C. (1996). The cultural production of the educated person: An introduction. In Levinson, B. A., Foley, D. and Holland, D. C. (Eds.), The cultural production of the educated person: Critical ethnographies of schooling and local practice. Albany: SUNY Press, 1–54. Levinson, B. A., and Sutton, M. (2001). Introduction: Policy as/in practice—A sociocultural approach to the study of educational policy. In Sutton M., Levinson B. (Eds.), Policy as practice: Towards a comparative sociocultural analysis of educational policy. Westport, CT & London: Ablex Publishing, 1–22. Mannion, G. (2012). Intergenerational education: The significance of reciprocity and place. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, 10(4): 386–399. MoE. (1971). The national education system plan for 1971–76. Retrieved from https://www. martinchautari.org.np/storage/files/thenationaleducationsystemplanfor-1971-english.pdf Morgan, C., Tsai, M.-C., Hsu, C. E., Chow, H.-W., Guo, H.-R., and Lee, M.-H. (2022). Qualitative impact assessment of COVID-19 on the pedagogical, technological and social experiences of higher education students in Taiwan. Education and Information Technologies. Ndaruhutse, S., Riggall, A., Page, E., Kashefpakdel, E., and Guerriero, S. (2021). Learning loss, learning gains and wellbeing: A review of policy and grey literature. Education Development Trust. NEC. (2020). COVID-19 education cluster contingency plan. COVID-19 Education Cluster Contingency Plan, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.doe.gov.np/assets/uploads/files/ 54ba4942574885a514869a72a6b456cd.pdf NNEPC. (1956). Education in Nepal. Report of the Nepal National Education Planning Commission. Retrieved from https://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/ rarebooks/downloads/Education_in_Nepal.pdf Phillips, N., & Hardy, C. (2002). Discourse analysis: Investigating processes of social construction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412983921 Pier, L., Hough, H. J., Christian, M., Bookman, N., Wilkenfeld, B., and Miller, R. (2021). Covid-19 and the educational equity crisis: Evidence on learning loss from the CORE data collaborative. Policy Analysis for California Education. https://edpolicyinca.org/ sites/default/files/2021-06/r_pier_jun2021.pdf

Reflections on Education in the Wake of COVID-19 in Nepal  43 Pigg, S. L. (1992). Inventing social categories through place: Social representations and development in Nepal. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 34(3): 491–513. Poudel, K., and Subedi, P. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on socioeconomic and mental health aspects in Nepal. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 66(8): 748–755. Radhakrishnan, K., Angrist, N., Bergman, P., Cullen, C., Matsheng, M., Ramakrishnan, A., Sabarwal, S., and Sharma, U. (2021, March 29). Learning in the time of COVID-19: insights from Nepal. Open Knowledge Repository. Retrieved from https://openknowledge. worldbank.org/handle/10986/35384 Ragsdale, T. A. (1989). Once a hermit kingdom. Ethnicity, education and national integration in Nepal. New Delhi: Manohar Publications. Roy, S., and Brown, S. (2022). Higher education in India in the time of pandemic, sans a learning management system. AERA Open, 8(1): 1–15. Sah, R., Sigdel, S., Ozaki, A., Kotera, Y., Bhandari, D., Regmi, P., Rabaan, A. A., Mehta, R., Adhikari, M., Roy, N., Dhama, K., Tanimoto, T., Rodríguez-Morales, A. J., and Dhakal, R. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 on tourism in Nepal. Journal of Travel Medicine, 27(6): 1–3. Secretary General Report. (2021, July 22). Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals: Report of the Secretary-General. United Nations Economic and Social Council. Retrieved from https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3930067?ln=en#record-files-collapse-header Sharma, N. (August 10, 2020). Half of Nepal’s girls may drop out of school. Nepali Times. Retrieved from https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/half-of-nepals-girls-may-drop-outof-school/ Sheedy, C. (2018). Hegemony and assessment: the student experience of being in a male homogenous higher education computing course. Practitioner Research in Higher Education Journal, 11(1): 59–69. Souto-Manning, M. (2014). Critical narrative analysis: The interplay of critical discourse and narrative analyses. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 27(2): 159–180. Skinner, D. and Holland, D. 1996. Schools and the cultural production of the educated person a Nepalese hill community. In Levinson, B. A., Foley, D. and Holland, D. C. (Eds.), The cultural production of the educated person: Critical ethnographies of schooling and local practice. Albany: SUNY Press, 273–299. UN. (2020). Policy brief: Education during COVID-19 and beyond. Retrieved from https:// www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2020/08/sg_pol icy_brief_covid-19_and_education_august_2020.pdf UNDP. (2020). Rapid assessment of socio-economic impact of COVID 19 in Nepal: United Nations Development Programme. UNDP. Retrieved from https://www.undp.org/nepal/ publications/rapid-assessment-socio-economic-impact-COVID-19-nepal UNESCO. (2021). UNESCO COVID-19 education response education section issue notes. Recovering Lost Learning: What can be Done Quickly and at Scale? Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000377841 UNICEF. (2021). Government of Nepal and Partners Launch campaign to mitigate learning loss wrought by COVID-19. UNICEF. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/nepal/press-releases/ government-nepal-and-partners-launch-campaign-mitigate-learning-loss-wrought-COVID UNESCO and UNICEF. (2021). Nepal case study: Situation analysis on the effects of and responses to COVID-19 on the education sector in Asia. Retrieved from Nepal Case Study. pdf (unicef.org) UNICEF. (n.d.). Continuing children’s education in Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic. Child and Family Tracker - Education.pdf. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/ nepal/media/14216/file/Child_and_Family_Tracker_-_Education.pdf

44  Chase Podsakoff and Karen Valentin Valentin, K. (2005). Schooled for the future? Education policy and everyday life among urban squatters. Greenwich, Connecticut: Information Age Publishing Inc. Valentin, K. and Pradhan, U. (eds.) (2023). Anthropological perspectives on education in Nepal: Educational transformations and avenues of learning. Oxford University Press. van Noord, J., Spruyt, B., Kuppens, T., and Spears, R. (2019). Education-based status in comparative perspective: The legitimization of education as a basis for social stratification. Social Forces, 98(2): 649–676. Vigh, H. (2008). Crisis and chronicity: Anthropological perspectives on continuous conflict and decline. Ethnos, 73(1): 5–24. Wolcott, H. F. (1982). The anthropology of learning. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 13(2): 83–108. The World Bank, UNESCO, and UNICEF. (2021). The state of the global education crisis: A path to recovery. World Bank. Retrieved from https://documents.worldbank.org/en/ publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/416991638768297704/the-state-ofthe-global-education-crisis-a-path-to-recovery

3 Taḥnani Dāphā Khalaḥ’s Apprenticeship Programme Revitalising Indigenous knowledge during a Global Pandemic Pranab Man Singh and Pushpa Palanchoke Introduction Many Indigenous scholars and researchers have written about how Indigenous knowledge systems are different in their ontological, epistemological and methodological approaches as compared to Eurocentric knowledge systems that are dominant in academia and within mainstream educational systems. While some attempts have been made to introduce Indigenous knowledge into mainstream education systems, as scholars have noted, the goals of these approaches are not necessarily about “how to understand and support Indigenous education, but how to further transplant Western education into the minds” (Abidogun and Falola 2020) of Indigenous people. Against these dominant forces of global education, Indigenous people have persistently resisted in their own way. Scholars have, therefore, noted that Indigenous people “must stop looking for legitimacy within the coloniser’s education system and return to valuing and recognizing our individual and collective intelligence on its own merits and on our own terms” (Simpson 2014). In this paper, we present an apprenticeship programme by Taḥnani Dāphā Khalaḥ (TDK), an Indigenous dāphā music group from Taḥnani, a town located in Kirtipur municipality in Nepal. It presents how TDK utilised the pandemic to revitalise their knowledge systems. The confluence of two factors – the global pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus and Nepal’s adoption of a federal system of governance – combined to create a unique “window of opportunity for change” (Birkmann et al. 2010) to allow TDK to remember, revitalise and restore its meaning within the community. Their act of survival, especially during a global pandemic, provides us insights into how Indigenous communities, utilising their own knowledge, navigate their way through crisis. In doing so, they challenge the dominant Eurocentric educational system despite their exclusion from mainstream education. Dāphā is a music genre that is practised by the Indigenous Newa people of the Kathmandu Valley for over four centuries. Dāphā music is based on a complex rāg and tāl system which is common to most South Asian music traditions. Before the Gorkhali conquest of Kathmandu Valley, most Newa neighbourhoods had their own dāphā khalaḥs that were an integral part of the socio-cultural makeup of Newa settlements. The dāphā khalaḥ and the ākhāḥ chẽ, the place where dāphā music is learned and practised, were important spaces for learning to be Newa. DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688-5

46  Pranab Man Singh and Pushpa Palanchoke However, the number of active dāphā khalaḥs and ākhāḥ chẽs in Newa settlements has fallen with each generation. Taḥnani Dāphā Khalaḥ and its activities are part of the Indigenous knowledge systems1 of the Newa people of Kathmandu Valley.2 The term ‘Indigenous’ is used here because of the way TDK is positioned and members position themselves in relation to the modern Nepali state. However, we need to be careful in the way we use the term Indigenous. Linda Tuhiwai Smith highlights the problem with the term Indigenous in the way “it appears to collectivise many distinct populations whose experiences under imperialism have been vastly different” (Smith 2012). Following her lead, the paper attempts to locate the ‘Indigenous’ within a community, locale and history – namely, that of TDK and the Newa people of Kathmandu Valley. This paper speaks of the particular experience of the Newa Indigenous people and within them, a specific Newa community currently residing in Taḥnani, Kirtipur. It details how the pandemic shut down Nepal’s mainstream education system and as a result, created time and space for TDK to come together to revitalise their music tradition. Digital connectivity and technology were seen as panaceas for educational programmes during the global pandemic. However, digital platforms, built under the influence and prerogative of Western modernity, were unable to accommodate the embodied and socially situated knowledge of TDK. Relying on their own ways, during the pandemic, TDK was able to connect and create platforms to build alliances, engage in dialogue, and situate themselves in relation to the modern Nepali state. Through this paper, we suggest the need for a more critical approach to our understanding of education within Nepal’s mainstream school system. We highlight the importance of Indigenous knowledge systems for their people and their way of being. We also suggest that Indigenous knowledge systems are not compatible within the modern school system, built as part of a Eurocentric knowledge system, because Indigenous pedagogies have to be practised in situ and are grounded in the particular ontologies, epistemologies and methodologies of their particular Indigenous knowledge system.

Indigenous Methodologies The authors of this paper have been working closely with TDK members since early 2020 through the Folk Lok programme run by the Satori Centre for the Arts (SCA). Pushpa Palanchoke, the project lead for the Folk Lok programme, was directly engaged in the activities described in this paper. She actively participated in the apprenticeship programme and documented it. Since joining TDK, Palanchoke, a musician herself, has been singing and composing songs with TDK. Pranab Man Singh, a director at SCA, provided guidance in terms of the methodology used by Folk Lok and supported the design and implementation of various activities in collaboration with TDK. Although both authors are from the same Newa Indigenous group, neither are from Kirtipur, nor are we from the same caste group as the majority of TDK members. It is important to acknowledge that when we started, we both knew little about the dāphā tradition and relied upon a programme methodology

Taḥnani Dāphā Khalaḥ’s Apprenticeship Programme  47 influenced by the works of seminal Indigenous and critical scholars like Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Marie Battiste, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. When Pushpa approached TDK, it was to initiate a short-term collaboration of a few months between Folk Lok and TDK. This collaboration was to lead to the production of a musical set based on the dāphā music tradition and would be featured in a music festival. Pushpa was welcomed in by TDK’s senior gurus who shared their knowledge by remembering and retelling their stories and talking about their musical tradition. This worked well as we were outsiders who had little knowledge of the history of the Newa community in Kirtipur. Popular historical accounts of Kirtipur recalled how the Gorkhali armies had chopped off the noses of all the inhabitants of Kirtipur after they conquered it, as punishment for the resistance they offered. The interest we showed in their music and histories got them excited and validated their knowledge. Our engagement with TDK started in January 2020, but by February 2020 the news of global pandemic was making waves. The music festival, for which the initial collaboration was planned, was postponed. This was the first opportunity that the pandemic created – it allowed us to extend our engagement. In March, Nepal entered a pandemic induced four-months long lockdown, but the process of remembering continued. Without a fixed deadline to produce a performance, we were able to spend more time sharing stories and ideas in-person and over online platforms. These conversations reaffirmed the importance of the dāphā khalaḥ to its own members and their community. We communicated over phone calls and digital platforms like Zoom, and occasionally in-person, while adhering to all necessary safety measures. However, the elder gurus struggled with digital platforms as it dislocated them from the way dāphā knowledge is embodied and expressed. Towards the end of 2020, after months of conversations, TDK decided to take steps to revive its apprenticeship programme in January 2021 even though the pandemic was still ongoing. The apprenticeship programme eventually led to its membership growing from 14 senior male members in early 2020 to over 60 members comprising youth, women and men from the surrounding community by early 2022. Our conversations with TDK were led by Folk Lok’s coordinator, Pushpa Palanchoke. They saw her interest in dāphā music as both a validation of their tradition and an opportunity to address their biggest challenge – intergenerational transmission. As the coordinator for the Folk Lok programme, Pushpa was guided by an agenda that was “focused strategically on the goal of self-determination of Indigenous peoples” (Smith 2012). Smith sees self-determination as “a goal of social justice which is expressed through and across a wide range of psychological, social, cultural and economic terrains” (Smith 2012). The Folk Lok programme’s approach is informed by Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s seminal book Decolonizing Methodologies (1999). As she states: It is surely difficult to discuss research methodology and Indigenous peoples together, in the same breath, without having an analysis of imperialism, without understanding the complex ways in which the pursuit of knowledge is deeply embedded in the multiple layers of imperial and colonial practices.

48  Pranab Man Singh and Pushpa Palanchoke This required us to come to terms with Nepal’s history of colonialism and imperialism and how these forces have shaped Indigenous communities. We learnt TDK was dispossessed of their lands by the Nepali state. This took away many of the resources that they relied on to keep their traditions alive. We also borrowed from the Indigenous research agenda Smith defines in her book as one having “the goal of self-determination of Indigenous peoples” (Smith 2012). Our engagement with TDK was guided by the values of reciprocity and responsibility as we wanted to give back something to the community in return for their willingness to share their knowledge and space with us. Valerie J. Shirley and Deidra Angulo in their chapter ‘Enacting Indigenous research methods’ note that “giving back” entails “having a relationship with the community in order to know and understand what may be useful to them” (Windchief and San Pedro 2019). Our programme’s approach was guided by this understanding – we were there to learn, support and engage in areas where TDK saw value in our input. We go into our work with TDK later in this paper but first, we take a critical look at Nepal’s imperial and colonial history and how it has influenced TDK and the dāphā music tradition.

Reviving Indigenous Education: Taḥnani Dāphā Khalaḥ and Dāphā Music Any tour of the old cities of Kathmandu Valley reveals a city that was home to a complex system of education that encouraged knowledge production and creative expression. However, the first planners of Nepal’s modern educational system stated, “There is no wide-spread tradition of education to bolster the efforts to develop new schools; there are no patterns to light the way” (Pandey et al. 1956). Seeing education as a means to meet the needs of a newly modern nation state, they saw the need for a universal system of education to ensure the “success of democracy, development and national integration” (Bhatta and Mehendale 2020). However, national integration meant having to deal with the many different Indigenous peoples and their knowledge systems. Taking their cue from colonial practices around the world, they stated, “If the younger generation is taught to use Nepali as the basic language, then other languages will gradually disappear and greater national strength and unity will result” (Pandey et al. 1956). The active suppression of Indigenous languages was an explicit educational policy designed to gradually decimate Indigenous languages in favour of Nepali, the state sponsored language of the ruling Brahmins and Chhetris. The exploitation of Indigenous peoples manifested itself in other ways as well. The establishment of Tribhuvan University in particular had a massive impact on the socio-cultural life of the Newa people in Kirtipur. When the government first announced its plans to establish the university, it gave the impression that only 500 ropanis3 of land would be taken away from the local holders, however, around 3,703 ropanis were eventually acquisitioned by the university (Maharjan 2021). The loss of land impoverished the city and disrupted socio-cultural life. Men and women in Kirtipur lost their means for sustenance and had to join the labour force as unskilled or semi-skilled workers in the city. This disrupted traditional ritual

Taḥnani Dāphā Khalaḥ’s Apprenticeship Programme  49 cycles that were in sync with their farming practices. Bharat Maharjan, a local cultural expert, states that many monuments, temples and dāphā khalaḥs also lost their land.4 Dāphā Khalaḥs lost access to the funds that would support annual rituals and festivals, the building and maintaining of instruments, holding communal feasts, and conducting public performances. TDK’s fate was no different to other dāphā khalaḥs in Kirtipur and they lost most of the lands that supported their musical practices and rituals. Highlighting the centrality of dāphā khalaḥs to Newa settlements, Richard Widdess in his book, Dāphā: Sacred Singing in a South Asian City, asserts that according to local Newa tradition, every neighbourhood provided four necessities for a social life: a source of water, a temple, a platform providing shelter for trade, and last, but not the least, a dāphā khalaḥ (Widdess 2016). Taking away resources that supported dāphā khalaḥs was equivalent to preventing them from sharing and transmitting their knowledge. In Newa communities, dāphā music and the dāphā khalaḥ were a valuable tool for educating the younger generation till the 1900s (Widdess 2016). Dāphā khalaḥs apprenticeships are held on a periodic basis at their ākhāḥ chẽ, which literally translates as ‘house of letters’ (Bernède 2016). Through the practice of music, apprentices learned to read and write via songs, while also learning the ways of their community by participating in various annual ritual calendar events and life events of community members. At the ākhāḥ chẽ, they entered social life and become adult members of the community. More recently, dāphā khalaḥs have begun to include community members from other castes and women. Five years prior to the global pandemic, another natural disaster – two earthquakes in 2015 – had led to the rushed promulgation of Nepal’s new Constitution. It established Nepal as a federal state with three autonomous governments – local, provincial and federal. As a result of this, in 2017, Nepal held its first local and provincial government elections. The devolution of centralized state power changed the relationship between Nepali citizens and the state. In Kirtipur, a municipal unit with ten wards, this translated into a local government that was immediately more responsive to its local voter base, the Newa Indigenous community. In 2019, Taḥnani Dāphā Khalaḥ (TDK) was able to convince its municipal government to construct their own ākhāḥ chẽ as a community centre. After a long history of neglect, the support that dāphā khalaḥs have begun to receive from municipal governments have given the tradition a lifeline. The ākhāḥ chẽ created a new space for the dāphā khalaḥ that was recognized as a public community space. This opened up new possibilities in terms of inclusive place-making. By place-making, we mean the act of generating and establishing relationships in a particular space as part of a process in “identifying, designating, designing, building, using, interpreting and remembering” (Gieryn 2000). While the federal structure created avenues for TDK to address its historic social, political and economic disenfranchisement, the COVID-19 pandemic presented a new set of challenges. TDK’s knowledge systems rely on regular participation in rituals and public events that take place throughout the year. The restrictions posed by the lockdown and safety measures that needed to be practised in between lockdowns severely limited TDK’s ability to gather and function. Like many other Indigenous groups, TDK faced a dilemma on whether or not to

50  Pranab Man Singh and Pushpa Palanchoke conduct their annual feasts and festivities given the restrictions imposed by the state and the very real risks the virus posed to their elderly members. In addition to this, they did not see online platforms as a means through which any of their activities could be satisfactorily replicated.

TDK’s Apprenticeship Programme during the Global Pandemic Although the local government in Kirtipur has begun to respond to the needs of dāphā khalaḥs, the tradition itself had been in steady decline. There were only nine functioning dāphā khalaḥs left in Kirtipur by 2019, when at one time, the city boasted over two dozen. With younger generations spending most of their time in schools and there after seeking to find their way in a modern economy, memberships in dāphā khalaḥs have been decreasing. This gradual demise has been witnessed by most dāphā practitioners in all Newa communities, and TDK’s senior members were concerned that dāphā music practice might die out with their generation. Once our engagement with TDK started, many of their members shared their concern that younger community members were not interested in participating in the annual activities of their community including the practice of dāphā music. Many of the older members were disheartened and felt they themselves were attending to their dāphā activities out of compulsion and habit rather than with any excitement or interest. TDK’s older members hoped Folk Lok would help them engage the younger generation and articulated two key issues they were facing in engaging them. The first was the radically changed socio-cultural world that the younger generation occupied. The old masters at TDK were concerned that the younger generation, with their focus mostly centred on the mainstream educational system and ways to integrate into Kathmandu’s modern economy, didn’t see any benefit to being a part of a dāphā khalaḥ. It seemed impossible to compete for their attention against the global trappings of social media and their aspirations for traveling and living abroad. Most TDK members themselves saw their tradition as outdated and disconnected from contemporary life in Kirtipur. The second issue was on how to recruit and train a new generation of apprentices given that they had not held an apprenticeship programme for over three decades. While the earlier problem dealt with issues of recruitment, many of TDK members, who had joined during the last apprenticeship programme, thought that methods of teaching and learning also needed to be updated. They complained that although they knew how to play the instruments, they had only learned how to play certain repertoires and not been taught how to create music. They also said that while they sang dāphā songs, most of the songs were opaque to them given that some were centuries old and were in other languages like Sanskrit and Maithili that they were not familiar with. The younger members of TDK mentioned that they had only just started understanding the history and significance of the dāphā music tradition to the Newa people. When they had apprenticed, they had done so just because it was expected of them, and it was what had always been done. In response to this, TDK made a concerted effort to adapt their pedagogical approach. This highlights the

Taḥnani Dāphā Khalaḥ’s Apprenticeship Programme  51 challenges an Indigenous community faces when they have to oscillate between two different knowledge systems that have very different ontological and epistemological positions. The senior members questioned whether they had to adapt their tradition to fit into the ways that knowing and understanding operate within the Eurocentric model, or whether their knowledge could continue to be transmitted by practicing their tradition. Eventually, in consultation with Folk Lok, TDK adopted a hybrid model that utilised elements of both knowledge systems. Our conversations with the dāphā members, centred on a practice of remembering and recalling the past. This process helped them identify ways to “revitalise” (Smith 2012) the dāphā tradition. In March 2020, the government announced a national lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic that would stay in effect for four months. The nature of the lockdowns in Nepal gave TDK members the opportunity to continue the conversations they had started with us over an extended period of time at a time when all of their family members were present and could be a part of them. Additionally, with Folk Lok, TDK continued hosting conversations online and we organised two rounds of online workshops with young community members in their teens and early twenties, centred on local histories and intergenerational conversations. Both these workshops were made possible because Nepal’s modern education system had shut down, giving them the time to participate in such activities. The pandemic thus had the overall effect of increasing intergenerational conversations in the community that encouraged the remembering of stories and practices. This culminated in TDK and Folk Lok collaborating to host an international online forum, “Dāphā Calling: Revitalizing our musical heritage”, in November 2020. The forum brought together academics, dāphā practitioners, music festival organisers, folk artists, local government representatives, and tourism entrepreneurs on to an online space to speak about the tradition. Motivated by the conversations and support committed by local municipal officers, local entrepreneurs, local musicians, and other dāphā practitioners, TDK decided to initiate their apprenticeship programme in 2021. In between the first and second wave of the pandemic in Nepal, the lockdowns were loosened enough for TDK to begin their apprenticeships in January 2021. TDK understood that “complexity and uncertainty need to be considered in any adaptive or strategic planning dealing with the consequences of global environmental, social, political and economic change” (Birkmann et al. 2010). While they developed a detailed strategic plan, they had a clear idea of what they needed to do. TDK’s inaugural event was the first time that any traditional music group within Kirtipur had invited modern-day stakeholders to the initiation of its traditional apprenticeship. The event was co-organised with Folk Lok and was chaired by the Mayor of the Kirtipur Municipality Ramesh Maharjan, accompanied by the Coordinator of Culture and Tourism Section Ramesh Man Dongol, and the Ward Chair Aman Maharjan. At the public inauguration of its apprenticeship, in the presence of governmental representatives, the press, and other dāphā khalaḥs, TDK promised to become more inclusive and innovative. This promise was highlighted by featuring female-led music performances, designed to encourage the women, from 14 to 70 years, from their community to join the apprenticeship.

52  Pranab Man Singh and Pushpa Palanchoke The decision to include women and other caste groups within TDK’s space was not a spontaneous decision. A lot of homework was done during the pandemic, when the outside world was closed, and senior TDK members were able to spend more time conversing with the next generations. These conversations, some of which were held in consultation with Folk Lok, led to an agreement on adopting “flexibility” (Widdess 2016) in the more rigid pattern through which apprenticeships were previously conducted. This reflects the ability of dāphā music and its tradition to allow for “change, variation and substitutions” that leads to new combinations and expressions to which “cultural meanings become attached” (Widdess 2016). As TDK exercised its flexibility, it became an agent for the creation of new cultural meanings. The inauguration programme marked a significant moment of change. Change is “an alteration in the state or direction of social, economic, political, and environmental conditions that deviates from pre-disaster conditions” and is “substantial in terms of the impact on people’s lives” (Birkmann et al. 2010). Ten young men between aged 20–40 signed up to learn the Dāphā’s percussion instrument, khiṃ . However, while some women from the community showed an interest in the idea of learning to play dāphā, no one signed up. This was partly anticipated by TDK’s senior members, and they had worked with Folk Lok to plan for multiple events over the next two months to engage women from the community and invite them to join the apprenticeship. For instance, during the month of Pohelā (Jan-Feb), when TDK members gather annually to sing at their pātī,5 we organised multiple events to encourage women in the community to engage with the musicians. Regular conversations with women from the community led to Sushila Maharjan, a member of the local women’s group Taḥnani Misa Pucha (TMP), to suggest starting a flute apprenticeship. She shared that women in the neighbourhood could imagine themselves learning the flute rather than singing/playing dāphā. This encouraged us to make preparations for flute classes and to support recruitment, we invited a group of female dāphā practitioners from Bhaktapur to perform in Taḥnani. Prior to and after the performance, the musicians from Bhaktapur spoke about how they came to play dāphā music and how it had opened them up to new prospects and opportunities. Their performance inspired many women in Taḥnani, and as a result of this programme, over 40 women signed up for the flute apprenticeship. Since then, some of the women apprentices have started to learn how to play the khiṃ , have learned how to sing dāphā songs, and have even written their own dāphā songs. A year on, in March 2022, the new and old members of TDK performed for an audience of over 1,000 enthusiastic listeners during the Echoes in the Valley music festival in Kiritpur. As of April 2022, TDK had effectively doubled its membership and many young men and women from the community were now regularly engaged with the TDK’s annual musical calendar.

Learning and Knowing within an Indigenous Context As the previous section shows, significant changes were observed in the practice of dāphā music, and the way place-making happened around TDK during the pandemic. While TDK was already considering these changes prior to the COVID-19

Taḥnani Dāphā Khalaḥ’s Apprenticeship Programme  53 pandemic, the pandemic created a unique and unexpected scenario that helped accelerate this change. The pandemic certainly exacerbated fears of the dāphā music tradition being further imperilled, but it also gave the community an opportunity to look inwards, hold long and honest conversations, and accept the need to adapt to the realities of a modernizing Nepal. It should be noted that what has kept the dāphā tradition alive – annual ritualized practices tied to caste and kin – also served to hold it back from change. The pandemic presented a moment that not only disrupted Nepal’s modern economy, but it also affected traditional ritual cycles. This created the space and more importantly, the immediate need to adjust and adapt to current socio-political realities. For centuries, the Newa people of Kirtipur have been following their own annual calendar that starts from the new moon of Kachallā by participating in a procession that normally falls around late October or early November. The music that dāphā khalaḥs play is a key element of the procession that ends with a town wide communal feast. In the third month of the Newa calendar, TDK takes part in the Indrayani Jatra, the biggest festival of the year in Kirtipur. TDK plays a significant role in placing the laḥ svāṃ , a specific plant (botanical name taxus wallichiana) on the main chariot. They are also required to perform a specific ritual to move the statue of the Indrayani goddess from the Bagh Bhairav temple, where she is sheltered for the entire year, to her main shrine at Dev-Dhoka from where she is placed a chariot and taken all over town. During four different months within the Newa calendar, TDK also conducts month-long singing sessions at its pātī. In addition to this, they provide musical accompaniments to various life rite ceremonies of community members like weddings, name giving ceremonies of newborn children, coming of age ceremonies of teenagers, celebrations of elders in the community reaching certain ages, and eventually, during funerals as well. The annual cycle ends with TDK hosting a religious processional dance called the debī pyākhaṃ , the dance of the goddess, during the last month of the Newa calendar. During this month, a troupe of dancers wearing masks of three protector deities – Indrayani, Brahmayani and Bhairav – are taken around town accompanied by dāphā music. Dāphā music and dāphā khalaḥs are “contextually situated” (Bradley 2012) in nature and its surrounding locale. However, as discussed earlier, centuries of oppression had reduced their ability to function and give continuity to their way of being. But “[…] disasters can catalyse structural and irreversible change by creating new conditions and relationships within environmental, socioeconomic and political structures, institutions and organisations” (Birkmann et al. 2010) and the pandemic contributed towards re-establishing TDK’s context and created the time and space to allow for it to situate itself in the new context of a modern federal Nepal. Aside from assisting in recruitment efforts, Folk Lok supported TDK’s apprenticeship programme by connecting TDK to other dāphā experts and khalaḥs. Through these connections, TDK saw itself as part of a broader Newa revival movement within the Kathmandu Valley. It was able to situate itself within the broader context of the Newa people and their place within Nepal’s national history. This further secured their identity in opposition to the homogenising efforts

54  Pranab Man Singh and Pushpa Palanchoke of the Nepali state and created space to decolonise. To decolonise is not just to fight against the governing structures of colonialism, but is also to “recover ourselves, to claim a space in which to develop a sense of authentic humanity,” (Smith 2012) and not one defined by an imperial power. During our initial conversations on dāphā music with TDK’s members, they tended to use words like “preserve”, “save”, and “conserve” when talking about their music tradition. This language was informed by the dominant discourse on heritage conservation prescribed by the state. For the Nepali state, Indigenous culture and heritage are ossified remains of the past and are “frozen in time, guided by knowledge systems that reinforce the past and do not look towards the future” (Battiste 2005). As our conversation with TDK extended due to the pandemic, more people from the wider community were also able to participate in these conversations in formal programmes as well as informal meetings. By the fall of 2020, TDK’s articulation changed to favour words like “adapting”, “transforming”, and “mobilizing”. This change was built on the introspection the pandemic afforded and with it, a growing recognition of how their knowledge system was different from that of academia. Their growing understanding was in line with the United Nation’s Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of the Heritage of Indigenous People states that, “the heritage of an Indigenous people is a complete knowledge system with its own concepts of epistemology, and its own scientific and logical validity” (Battiste 2005). The members of TDK were conscious that they needed to adapt the way apprenticeships had worked in the past. They knew they needed to make their apprenticeship programme accessible to a younger generation that was growing up in a rather different socio-cultural context. However, they also understood that they had to remain true to the pedagogy that they had traditionally employed. To address these perceived needs, our year-long conversations with TDK encouraged them to take advantage of Satori Centre for Arts (SCA) experience in artsbased educational curricula, research and knowledge production. SCA, through its Folk Lok programme, saw its role as that of a mediator and facilitator allowing for dialogue and the building of connections that opened up ways for TDK to determine its own way forward. In its conversations with TDK, it emphasised the importance of following a process that takes “one small step further towards self-determination”, and enables people “to heal and to educate” (Smith 2012). With the help of Folk Lok, TDK’s apprenticeship programme incorporated a three-day introductory workshop on the history of the dāphā music tradition conducted by the dāphā scholar and practitioner, Tri Ratna Manandhar. These sessions functioned more conventionally like a mainstream educational classroom. This format was familiar to all the young apprentices and allowed them to frame the ākhāḥ chẽ as a learning space rather than a religious/ritual space. With Folk Lok’s help, TDK was able to adapt their teaching and learning process to parallel some of the components of Nepal’s modern arts educational practice. For instance, unlike in earlier days, when flute learning happened orally and apprentices learned by watching and mimicking, Rabindra Maharjan, son of one of TDK’s senior members and trained in north-Indian classical flute, incorporated his modern music educational experience and music transcription skills into his sessions.

Taḥnani Dāphā Khalaḥ’s Apprenticeship Programme  55 Through such sessions, apprentices also learned about the history of their community. For instance, as they learned how to transcribe music, they also learned that transcriptions were strictly prohibited within dāphā traditions in the past by the Nepali state’s policy of suppressing Indigenous languages. The drawbacks of such a policy were immediately evident to the apprentices. The transcriptions helped create a common musical language and allowed for easy transmission. Within six months, younger apprentices had easily grasped the transcription system and were able to help older apprentices who had joined them. Following their apprenticeship tradition, TDK conducted two consecutive ritual ceremonies in September and October of 2021 to mark the completion of the training. These rituals, introducing apprentices to their first public performances, were conducted between lockdowns making these rare public gatherings all the more special, hence reinforcing the group’s sense of community. Not long after this, some of the women apprentices of TDK signed up for a singing workshop. During the workshop, these women wrote a new song around the folktale of Lal and Hira, a folk tale that we had encountered during our year-long conversation with the senior dāphā members. Apprentices remembered hearing the folk tale and engaged in retelling and sharing the tale with each other. TDK’s senior gurus recalled hearing their own parents and grandparents talking about a time when the story of Lal and Hira was performed on public stages around Kirtipur. With most of Taḥnani’s younger generation spending their time in mainstream schools and on the internet and TV, such folk tales are not being remembered and retold as they used to be. The pandemic forced families to sequester together and created opportunities for the older generation to remember and share these stories. The apprenticeship programme helped introduce younger members to their history and identity. It allowed them to understand and appreciate themselves as bearers of Indigenous knowledge. The pandemic created “a space in which significant change can occur in relations in and between socioeconomic, organisational, political and environmental domains” (Birkmann et al. 2010). It led to dialogues between community members that encouraged them to determine their own response to TDK’s challenges and the pandemic. TDK’s musical practice provided the younger generation a foundation from which to acknowledge the different ontological and epistemological position of their own knowledge system in contrast to the Eurocentric paradigm under which modern education operates. The 2002 Garma Statement on Indigenous Music and Performance states: It is through song, dance and associated ceremony that Indigenous people sustain their cultures and maintain the law and a sense of self within the world. Performance traditions are the foundation of social and personal wellbeing. The preservation of performance traditions is therefore one of the highest priorities for Indigenous people […] Without immediate action, many Indigenous music and dance traditions are in danger of extinction with potentially destructive consequences for the fabric of Indigenous society and culture. (“The National Recording Project for Indigenous Performance in Australia (NRP)” 2002)

56  Pranab Man Singh and Pushpa Palanchoke TDK’s apprenticeship programme is rooted in their musical practice that actualizes their age-old relationship to their land and climate. During the lockdown and pandemic, TDK’s ākhāḥ chẽ, proved to be an alternative learning space for people of varied age groups to learn music and make sense of their own Indigenous knowledge system. At a time when modern education became “disembodied, went virtual, not actual” (Shrestha and Gnawali 2021), TDK’s apprenticeship programme helped its community establish stronger roots and connections with themselves and to their land.

Towards Many Conclusions: Rethinking Education from Indigenous Perspectives Our experience in adopting an Indigenous research methodology directed towards supporting TDK’s project of revitalisation was guided by our values of reciprocity and responsibility. The methodology itself came about from conversations and in response to our growing understanding of TDK’s knowledge system. Our work with TDK is still ongoing and we hope to continue contributing to a richer understanding of Indigenous knowledge systems in Nepal. We see our work as an important contribution to challenge the dominant ways that education is understood and practised in Nepal. As we have discussed in this essay, most Indigenous people including the Newa people in Taḥnani, live in between two knowledge systems. On the one hand, they are as much a part of the Eurocentric knowledge system that they have acquired by participating in mainstream education and modern economy. On the other hand, they are also the custodians of the Indigenous knowledge systems that have been passed down to them by their ancestors. The choices present to Indigenous people is not of choosing one over the other, but of determining the best way to live and be in a world where both knowledge systems can operate with respect and reciprocity shown between them. This was evident in the way TDK was able to use the pandemic as an opportunity to amalgamate its Indigenous knowledge with that of the dominant knowledge system to bring their community together, revitalise their music tradition, and mitigate the effects of the pandemic. Our experience with TDK suggests that the continuity of Indigenous knowledge systems cannot be ensured by incorporating a few local curriculum classes within the mainstream educational system. Policy makers, Indigenous activists, and educators all need to acknowledge the Eurocentric model that Nepal’s school system and response to the pandemic are built on. They also need to view Indigenous knowledge as part of a system onto itself that can provide different ways to mitigate a crisis. TDK learned from the crisis that they “must stop looking for legitimacy within the coloniser’s education system and return to valuing and recognizing our individual and collective intelligence on its own merits and on our own terms” (Simpson 2014). It was obvious that digital online platforms could not accommodate the in situ knowledge system of TDK, however TDK responded to this crisis by relying on their own ways to knowing and being. It was when Nepal’s modern state system broke down during the pandemic that TDK responded in their own way. This

Taḥnani Dāphā Khalaḥ’s Apprenticeship Programme  57 suggests that we need to acknowledge the adverse impact our modern education system has on Indigenous children by denying them access to their own knowledge systems. The modern system not only discounts Indigenous knowledge by not recognizing it within its categories of literacy, but also takes Indigenous children away from their land and people, forcing them to assimilate into a homogenised standard that is acceptable to the ruling elite’s understanding of being a Nepali citizen. The experiences shared in this paper should make it evident that academia and the educational system in Nepal needs to seriously consider its role in supporting the oppression of Indigenous peoples and their ways of being. This does not have to mean a complete rejection of Western knowledge, but it does mean questioning and challenging the dominant knowledge system so that we may build an educational system that is not top down. A land-up educational system will not only allow our students to learn Indigenous knowledge, but also equip them with the tools to converse, communicate and add to the accumulated knowledge and understanding of academia.

Notes 1 The plural is used in acknowledgement of the different ways that knowledge operates within different caste groups among the Newa people. 2 TDK members belong to the Newa people who are indigenous to the Kathmandu Valley. They have a distinctive way of life that was based on a balance of living in dense urban settlements, farming the surrounding countryside, and trading across the Himalayas. They have been living in the valley for over a millennium, speak their own language (Nepal Bhasa), have their own calendar, and follow a mix of Animist, Hindu and Buddhist traditions. Their socio-cultural calendar follows the agricultural and seasonal cycle of the Kathmandu Valley. 3 A ropani is a unit of land measurement equivalent to 508.74 sq. meters. 4 Maharjan 2018a; Maharjan 2021; Maharjan 2018b. 5 A public rest house where dāphā music is also played.

References Abidogun, Jamaine M., and Toyin Falola, eds. 2020. The Palgrave Handbook of African Education and Indigenous Knowledge. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Battiste, Marie. 2005. “Indigenous Knowledge: Foundations for First Nations.” WINHEC: International Journal of Indigenous Education Scholarship (1): 1–17. Bernède, Franck. 2016. “The House of Letters: Musical Apprenticeship among the Newar Farmers (Kathmandu Valley, Nepal).” Oral Tradition 30 (2). https://muse.jhu.edu/ article/642209 Bhatta, Pramod, and Archana Mehendale. 2020. “Educating the Nation Through Schooling: The Status of School Education in Nepal.” In Handbook of Education Systems in South Asia, edited by Padma M. Sarangapani and Rekha Pappu, 1–27. Global Education Systems. Singapore: Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3309-5_16-1 Birkmann, J., P. Buckle, J. Jaeger, M. Pelling, N. Setiadi, M. Garschagen, N. Fernando, and J. Kropp. 2010. “Extreme Events and Disasters: A Window of Opportunity for Change? Analysis of Organizational, Institutional and Political Changes, Formal and Informal Responses after Mega-Disasters.” Natural Hazards 55(3): 637–655.

58  Pranab Man Singh and Pushpa Palanchoke Bradley, Deborah. 2012. Good for what, good for whom?: Decolonizing music education philosophies. na. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195394733.013.0022 Gieryn, T.F. 2000. “A Space for Place in Sociology.” Annual Review of Sociology 26(1): 463–496. Maharjan, Anil, dir. 2018a. Kirtipur TU Unsolve Story. YouTube Video Format. https:// youtu.be/jf8XUpWj4Kc Maharjan, Monalisa. 2018b. “Indigenous Practices of Heritage Conservation: The Guthi System of Kathmandu Valley.” ICH Communities, 2018. Maharjan, Rabindra. 2021. “The Effects of Globalization, Modernization, and Politics on the Apprenticeship of Dāphā Music. An Ethnographic Study from Taḥnani, Kirtipur, Nepal.” Master’s Thesis, Sweden: Department of Musicology, Uppsala University. https://drive. google.com/file/d/13vf4XOLr7QJzizKYT8wHPm7kYWLVe_ev/view?usp=sharing Pandey, Sardar Rudra Raj, K.C. Kaisher Bahadur, and Hugh B. Wood, eds. 1956. Education in Nepal: Report of the Nepal National Education Planning Commission. Kathmandu, Nepal: The Bureau of Publications. Shrestha, Sagun, and Laxman Gnawali. 2021. “Emergency Response in Education Policies during COVID-19 in Nepal: A Critical Review.” IAFOR Journal of Education 9(2): 163–181. Simpson, Leanner Betasamosake. 2014. “Land as Pedagogy: Nishnaabeg Intelligence and Rebellious Transformation.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 3(3): 1–25. Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. 2012. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. 2nd ed. London & New York: Zedd Books Limited. Dunedin: University of Otago Press “The National Recording Project for Indigenous Performance in Australia (NRP).” 2002. http://www.aboriginalartists.com.au/NRP_statement.htm Widdess, Richard. 2016. Dāphā: Sacred Singing in a South Asian City: Music, Performance and Meaning in Bhaktapur, Nepal. 1st ed. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315258515 Windchief, Sweeney, and Timothy San Pedro, eds. 2019. Applying Indigenous Research Methods: Storying with Peoples and Communities. Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education. New York: Routledge.

4 Negotiating Space and Equity in the On/Offline Classroom The Hostel, the Home and the Faceless Screen Sameer Abraham Thomas Introduction The response from educational institutions to the COVID-19 pandemic has involved a shift to an online educational model, where the site of learning becomes the home, rather than the educational institution. This makes the spatial dimension of the crisis in education diffuse because of the difference in spatial contexts of individual students in their homes, particularly when said homes are spread across such a geographically, economically and culturally diverse country as India. Rather than thinking of the experiences of students and teachers in terms of physical space, we are compelled to consider these experiences as united by the temporal rhythms of classes and assignment deadlines, though even these are complicated when it comes to asynchronous models of teaching (which I will not go into in depth in this chapter; see Gibertson and Dey, Chapter 6 in this volume). The “Zoom classroom” can then be considered the temporal space of crisis in education, while the home and the hostel constitute the physical spaces under examination here. By drawing attention to the physical dimension of homes and hostels as living and learning environments, I hope to prompt a rethinking of education even outside the context of the pandemic. In this chapter, I attempt to use an autoethnographic approach as a means of connecting my individual experience of teaching students online with those of other educators as well as with the material circumstances of the students in question. In particular, I would like to produce a layered narrative, in order to “focus on [my] experience alongside data, abstract analysis, and relevant literature” (Ellis et al. 2010). Drawing on Kathy Charmaz’s formulation as presented by Ellis et al., I organise my findings by showing how, in my research, “data collection and analysis proceed simultaneously”, while recognising that my findings serve more as a “source of questions and comparisons” than a “measure of truth” (as quoted in Ellis et al. 2010). In other words, I will present the rationale behind my analysis by narrating the process of data collection, in order to offer the reader experiences, problems, and possible solutions with the knowledge that this can only serve as a somewhat limited introduction to the experiences of teachers during the pandemic. My recommendations are greatly influenced by the idea of a “pedagogy of care” as introduced by Dr Anannya Dasgupta, Director of the Centre for Writing and Pedagogy at Krea University, as part of which I taught a required first year course titled “Writing DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688-6

60  Sameer Abraham Thomas and Oral Communication” (WOC). This pedagogy was presented as a set of guiding principles adapted to the challenges posed by online education. I will also explore some formulations and accounts of application of this pedagogy that I subsequently encountered while conducting my research on this chapter. Care in these accounts is linked to a number of practices rather than abstract formulations. K.E. O’Connor defines caring as showing “emotions, actions, and reflections that result from a teacher’s desire to motivate, help or inspire their students” (as quoted in Owusu-Ansah and Kyei-Blankson 2016, 4). Broadly speaking, educators associate care with love, compassion, hope, concern, interest and—most crucially—sharing and vulnerability, which they say facilitates education by providing motivation and reducing alienation (Acevedo 2020; Bali 2015; hooks 1994; Mershon 2018; Owusu-Ansah and Kyei-Blankson 2016). Many of these accounts are inspired by the work of bell hooks and Nel Noddings. I have only been able to look at some of the writing of the former here, but Noddings’ work in this area is clearly quite influential as well. I hope to create some awareness of the principles and recommendations contained in such accounts for future emulation and experimentation in both online and offline education. The impetus to explore this topic came from my experience teaching at the Centre for Writing and Pedagogy (CWP) at Krea University, a private fully residential university in Andhra Pradesh, from 2019 to 2022. My work there involved teaching two required courses for first year undergraduate students titled “Writing and Oral Communication” and “Literature and the Arts”. While teaching for the latter course began on campus during the third trimester of the academic year 2019–2020, with the onset of the pandemic, Krea University made the decision to send all students to their homes and discontinue classes until eventually a system for teaching online was put in place. I taught for one trimester from my office at the Krea University campus in Sri City, with all my teaching in subsequent terms being done from my home in New Delhi. My research into the question of hostels and homes as learning environments began when writing a paper to present at the ‘Education in Crisis: Rethinking Education in (Post)-Pandemic South Asia’ Conference organised by Education. South Asia on 23–24 July 2021. My method when writing that paper continues here. It involves narrating my personal experience teaching during the pandemic, including informal conversations with colleagues, and using these as a starting point for further analysis. My data is limited to reportage on education in India during the pandemic, publicly available reports and statistics, and literature on the pedagogy of care generated by educators. While I try to keep my observations pertinent to available information regarding education in India as a whole, for representative purposes, I have used sample data and/or personal experiences from Krea University and Delhi University, as these are the institutions with which I am most familiar. My analysis of the available data leads me to identify lacunae and shortcomings in the available infrastructure for online learning but in doing so also draws attention to similar problem areas in the offline learning model, particularly when it comes to universities that do not guarantee hostel facilities for every student admitted, as is the case with Delhi University. The differential impact on students is determined by their access to digital technology; economic class; and the health, safety and stability of students in their learning and residential environments. These

Space and Equity in the On/Offline Classroom  61 necessarily will have intersections with inequities of caste, gender, sexual orientation and religion. However, in the absence of more detailed information regarding the same, I have restricted myself only to those observations that might reasonably be made with the admittedly limited material with which I have engaged. I hope these additional dimensions of inequity may be explored by others.

The Faceless Screen Every time I take a class online, I make the same mistake. I begin my class by saying, “It’s great to see all of you.” The truth is that the online classroom of today is often a grid of black squares with names on them and no people that I can actually see. I share my screen and see my face accompanied by fewer black boxes. Those students who had their cameras on turn them off now. I don’t insist that they turn them on. Teaching in that moment feels even more solipsistic. I meet some of these black squares during my office hours where they sometimes turn their cameras on to reveal the unfamiliar faces of my undergraduate students. I speak without necessarily knowing if they’re listening. I often have to prompt students to respond. I’m not sure if they are silent because they’re thinking, distracted, or because there’s something wrong with the connection—sometimes, students turn on their cameras but then are forced to turn them off because of the lag or lack of audio or frozen feed. One student always responds to my question with a protracted silence. Prodding them elicits a request to repeat my question, a request necessitated by, they tell me, their poor connection. This happens often with the same student. I’m quite sure they’re trying to cover up the fact that they were just not paying attention and are logging in merely for the sake of attendance. However, it would be unreasonably cynical to think this is true of every student who doesn’t turn on their camera, so I give them the benefit of the doubt. Some students who turn their cameras on seem to be in rooms that ensure them a degree of privacy. Some students remain muted so that the sound of kitchen work and people yelling doesn’t interrupt the class. I can’t really expect such students to be as willing to unmute and speak as others. I imagine they’re having difficulty hearing me. But then how do I know whether or not they’re following? The chat box is a boon; students can type questions and comments there as I’m teaching. Sometimes the messages distract me and make me lose my train of thought. Sometimes, I miss messages. But I can always circle back to them and address them. Sometimes student respond to each other; as I teach, a parallel conversation is going on in the chatbox. I’m glad to see they are so engaged; I’m worried that they’re getting distracted. How do I know there aren’t completely irrelevant conversations going on through the private messaging feature on Zoom? Of course, students can whisper to each other or text each other in a physical class too, but online, such uninterest cannot be spotted easily. On the other hand, furtive whispers are impossible in the Zoom classroom: there is no physical proximity, no other students to hide behind. A yellow border appears around their black square whenever they talk; whispers never interrupt my class. Yet however distracting or frustrating such whispers might be in the physical classroom, they also are a clear indication that students are uninterested.

62  Sameer Abraham Thomas Then again, perhaps the options to turn off your camera and mute your microphone offer students a sense of security and confidence. There’s a degree of emotional exhaustion involved in seeing oneself onscreen for hours on end, resulting in attending class becoming, in the words of one of the teachers I spoke to at Delhi University, a constant performance. There is an element of performance even in the physical classroom, but turning off your video removes the constant self-awareness of that performance that comes from seeing yourself on your screen. Marissa Shuffler, associate professor at Clemson University, directly uses the metaphor of “performance” when she writes: “When you’re on a video conference, you know everybody’s looking at you; you are on stage, so there comes the social pressure and feeling like you need to perform. Being performative is nerve-wracking and more stressful” (as quoted in Jiang 2020). Shuffler goes on to recommend that turning on the camera should be made optional. In other words, what seems to be a problem on my end may be a solution for my students. Using the chatbox can reduce the anxiety and insecurity that might prevent students from speaking up. The hand-raise function on Zoom is much less intimidating than physically raising a hand in the offline classroom would be. A small yellow hand emoji appears in the corner of a black square, and it is pushed up to the top in order to catch my attention. If I want to complete my train of thought, I can briefly acknowledge them and inform them that I’ll come back to them later. They don’t have to keep their hand raised all the way through, nor do I have to remember who wanted to speak if they put their hand down. After moving from campus in Sri City to my home in Delhi that I share with my father, I take classes in my bedroom, which happens to be quite far from the router. More frequently now, I begin to face the same issues they did. They often have to interrupt me to inform me that I’m frozen. I have to ask them, “What’s the last thing you were able to hear clearly?” Sometimes, my laptop informs me that my connection is unstable; class is frequently interrupted because I need to ask “Am I audible?” This question is also my last recourse when I face dead silence. This is partially because it invariably elicits some response, and partly because I’m genuinely uncertain whether or not they can hear me. I don’t need to ask why my students don’t turn on their cameras. In occasionally apologetic tones, they inform me that many of them don’t turn on their cameras because of the unstable Internet connection that is available; turning off the camera frees up bandwidth that allows them to have a more uninterrupted experience. Other students, in the hopes that this will further help their classmates, also turn off their video feeds. I’m struck by how considerate this simple act is. For me, what seemed to be an expression of disinterest could now be interpreted as a small gesture of solidarity. A moment of empathy follows, one that leads me to look beyond the faceless screen to the digital infrastructure that produces it.

Indian Internet Infrastructure The ‘ICUBE 2020’ report on Internet Adoption in India by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Kantar (2021) estimated the number of active Internet users (those who accessed the Internet in the month prior to the

Space and Equity in the On/Offline Classroom  63 study) in India as 622 million users, or 43 percent of India’s total population (1433 million). This percentage varies between rural and urban areas, with the number of users in rural areas constituting as low as 31 percent of the rural population, while 67 percent of India’s urban population were active Internet users. There were also disparities between states when it came to Internet penetration. In addition to the urban-rural and state-wise divide, the report noted a gender divide with the ratio between male and female active Internet users both nationally and in rural areas being 58:42. In urban areas, the ratio is 57:43. The same report also reveals the dependence of Internet users on mobile phones, with only 17 percent of users using personal computers nationally, the number going down to 13 percent in rural areas and up to 22 percent in urban areas. This is significant in the context of online education as it indicates that models of teaching that assume the use of devices other than mobile phones may involve teaching or evaluation methods that a sizeable proportion of students are technologically ill-equipped for. I wonder now how many of my students were actually able to read the information on my PowerPoint presentations clearly, or how many were able to make notes or contribute to shared Google Docs with ease. Among active Internet users, poor connectivity and unreliable power supplies are a serious issue. A recent QS I-Gauge report (2020) surveyed 7594 students from across India, of whom 81.03 percent were undergraduates. 1.85 percent of their respondents said they had poor to no Internet connectivity. Of those respondents, 53.49 percent faced poor connectivity, and 46.51 percent faced signal issues. Even when it came to students with home broadband, 3.02 percent faced cable cuts, 53.42 percent faced poor connectivity, 11.47 percent faced power issues and 32.09 percent faced signal issues. Of respondents using mobile hotspot connections, 40.18 percent faced poor connectivity, 3.19 percent faced power issues and 56.63 percent faced signal issues. All of this led to the conclusion that …the infrastructure in terms of technology in India has not achieved a state of quality so as to ensure sound delivery of online classes to students across the country. It is seen that both the State and the private players have not yet managed to overcome technical challenges, for instance, in providing adequate power supply and ensuring effective connectivity as the data reveals. (7) That the availability of a resource—with such unreliability, limited penetration, and disparities along the lines of gender and geographic area—should be so crucial to the viability of online education is troubling. Imagine if entry into physical classrooms were contingent on students’ Internet speeds at home; it would be unacceptable, and it should be unacceptable when it comes to online education. Several colleagues I’ve spoken to at Krea or elsewhere share the same or similar complaints about this mode of teaching with me. Their experiences bring up the same concerns as those described by Frank R. Castelli and Mark A. Sarvary in “Why students do not turn on their video cameras during online classes and an equitable and inclusive plan to encourage them to do so” (2021):

64  Sameer Abraham Thomas Perhaps the most obvious benefit [of teaching in person] is the ability to communicate with nonverbal cues. Instructors benefit from receiving nonverbal cues from their students such as smiles, frowns, head nods, looks of confusion, and looks of boredom, so that they can evaluate their teaching in real time and accordingly to improve student learning. […] Instructors that perceive a higher amount of nonverbal responsiveness also rate themselves as having been more effective. (3566–3567) Castelli and Sarvary write in the context of their research at Cornell University. While in this case, their observations match those expressed by the Indian teachers I have talked to, the difference in contexts is important to note. The survey of undergraduates enrolled in the Investigative Biology Laboratory course at Cornell University, conducted by Castelli and Sarvary, found that three of the most commonly expressed reasons were concerns about their appearance, the presence of others in the background, or an unwillingness to show their home environment to their peers (3568–3570). Notably absent is the problem of Internet connectivity: [W]e were initially concerned about the “digital divide,” in that many of our students might not have access to a reliable Internet connection or to a computer with a working webcam and microphone. […] To find out if this was the case, we surveyed our students during a pause in classes before remote instruction began. Fortunately, only a small percentage of students indicated these problems (webcam: 2%; Internet: 5%; N = 301). (3566) The insignificant contribution of the digital divide in the context of students at Cornell University does not hold true for online education in the Indian context. This fact points towards the inherent challenge of talking about the experience of teaching during the pandemic as a global phenomenon. To do so requires that we consider the lived experiences of both teachers and students in their diverse contexts. This constitutes the beginning of an act of re-centring the educational space from that of the classroom or its virtual equivalent (the Zoom classroom) to that of the home. We have to remember that we’re not teaching the grid we see on our screens, whether it has faces or not. We’re teaching a multitude of individual learners, each of them inhabiting a different space, with a noticeable lack of equity when it comes to what that transformation of space means for their education.

The Home and the Hostel In addition to the differential access to Internet connectivity that divides students, we need to acknowledge the social dynamics of the home that create inequitable learning environments. It is senseless to assume that ease of learning can be the same for every student when there are those who are responsible for household chores (the extent and nature of which is often gendered), those who face abuse in different forms, those who must share or vie for space to study, those who face

Space and Equity in the On/Offline Classroom  65 challenges around physical and mental health, those who live in regions prone to conflict or natural disasters, and those who don’t have to worry about any of these things (Majumdar 2020). What’s crucial to remember is that while we’re talking about these issues in the context of online education, some of them do not go away with a return to the physical classroom. Even when the same physical classroom is the site of learning, day scholars have to go home to similarly diverse spaces where the realities of abuse and limited access to medical facilities and information technology can interfere with the responsibilities of completing assignments and keeping up with readings that can easily be taken for granted. Even after the pandemic is over, teachers need to acknowledge that the home environment is not disconnected from the learning environment. There is then a pressing need to pay attention to perhaps the most direct solution to this problem—hostels. Hostels should ideally provide safe environments, access to educational and medical resources, and create a community and culture of learning and support. They ensure convenient access to campus facilities such as mess halls serving nutritious food, laboratories, studios and libraries. And, of course, there should be a reliable Internet connection that everyone has access to. Unfortunately, there is a massive shortfall of hostel rooms available for the number of students admitted every year by universities like Delhi University (DU). Section 33 of the Delhi University Act of 1922 stipulates that “Every student of the University [(other than a student who pursues a course of study by correspondence)] shall reside in a College or a Hall, or under such conditions as may be prescribed by the Ordinances.” The reality of student accommodation at DU today is a far cry from this. In 2021, Kainat Sarfaraz reported that: Of the around 280,000 applicants to DU this year, only 40% aspirants (115,000) are from Delhi-NCR areas and the remaining are from across India. Of the 20 DU colleges offering hostel facilities (till 2019), six offer both male and female hostels, while 12 colleges offer only female hostels and the rest offer only male hostels. Apart from these, the university also has a hostel for undergraduate students on the north campus […] in 2019, a total of 3,752 seats were available in these hostels—far fewer than the number of outstation students (146,955) that year. It’s also worth noting that while DU has more women’s hostels than men’s hostels, not every college has women’s hostels; Hindu College, established in 1899, had its first women’s hostel admit students in 2017, after a controversy regarding the fact that the women’s hostel charged higher fees than the men’s hostel, a requirement the principal at the time attributed to a lack of funds from the University Grants Commission (UGC) (Chettri 2017). More recently, members of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) criticised Hansraj College for building a “cow centre” to house a single cow on land that they claim had earlier been marked out for the construction of a women’s hostel, the lack of which was allegedly a factor in the male-female gender ratio of the college having reached 62:38 (Aswani 2022). Post-pandemic, the availability of hostel seats is set to reduce even further, meaning even more students will have to find paying-guest accommodations or

66  Sameer Abraham Thomas rent flats in a city as crowded and expensive as Delhi, on top of paying tuition. Several colleges have considered converting hostel rooms to single occupancy, which could reduce the number of hostel rooms by as much as half the current number, as is the case for Indraprastha College for Women (Sarfaraz 2021). This is a direct consequence of the pandemic as, in the words of Saikat Majumdar (2020), “[c]ommunal living … is the essential principle behind residential life—and it is the very reality of communal life that has become the threat”. Yet conversion to single-seater rooms without at least off-setting the deficit by expanding hostel facilities would be short-sighted and push students to find other lodgings which, in addition to the added cost, do not allow all residents the kind of security and stability that student housing should provide. The response of some landlords to the national lockdown during the pandemic has shown this to be the case as some students reported forced evictions at short notice, harassment and threats of violence, and forfeiture of security amounts to compensate for overdue rent payment (Chhabra 2020; Jain 2020). While the Delhi government instructed landlords not to force students to pay rent in April 2020, there was no such instruction afterwards even as the lockdown continued. Consequently, a survey of 1,400 tenants in the National Capital Region (NCR) conducted by the Student Tenants’ Union Delhi (STUD) showed that 19 percent claimed they risked dropping out of college if landlords continued to demand rent (Chhabra 2020). The concerns listed above are particularly troubling because they are linked to DU, India’s premier public university that students from all over the country, from various social and economic strata, apply to. DU is an egregious example, but all around the country, hostels can often only provide a conducive learning environment—an indispensable prerequisite of education—on a competitive basis, which could sometimes be on the basis of marks. This is particularly problematic when we consider that the inequitable access to a learning environment is an impediment to academic performance in the first place, thus creating the risk of a vicious cycle. Thankfully, as per government regulations, universities like DU have reserved hostel seats for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students, along with students with disabilities. While this is significant, other factors also need to be considered when assessing the need for a different learning environment, even for students who have their homes in the city but might be negotiating the kinds of challenges at home that we have discussed in the previous section.

A Brief Note on Mental Health and Disability The need to keep in mind the mental health of our students has become vital during the pandemic. A UNICEF report on the mental health of adolescents titled On My Mind (2021) presents the different ways in which the pandemic has produced new challenges and stressors to students. Most notably, it shows how adolescents worry and express sadness about “the spread of COVID-19, social isolation, increased risk behaviours, and challenges with remote education” (25). The fear of their loved ones getting infected was compounded by the isolation and lack of support systems that were a result of lockdowns. Students were unable to meet their friends and were prone to indulge in risky and addictive behaviour

Space and Equity in the On/Offline Classroom  67 including drug use. Perhaps most relevant to our context, the respondents expressed “heightened anxiety due to remote learning, diminished education quality and increased work during the pandemic” leading to apathy and lack of motivation (26). We might add here the influence of “Zoom fatigue”, a term familiar to many teachers during the pandemic. The physical and emotional exhaustion experienced by both teachers and students in the online mode creates anxiety and impedes social interaction (Jiang 2020; Spicer 2020). The possibility that these problems affect our students must be kept in mind, particularly because they are likely to be invisible to us. In the absence of face-to-face interaction, the already precarious state of mental health of students in India becomes difficult to address within an educational context. The State of the World’s Children 2021 UNICEF report found that 1 in 7 Indians between the ages of 15 and 25 years were depressed or lacked interest in doing things (“UNICEF report spotlights…” 2021). Limited access to social support, disruption of both educational and recreational routines, and concern for family income and health were reported as consequences of the pandemic that affected the wellbeing of Indian youth. Particularly troubling is the fact that Indian children are reluctant to seek help, and remain undiagnosed. According to the press release cited above, a UNICEF and Gallup survey showed that only 41 percent of young people aged 15–24 in India said it was good to get support for mental health problems. In such a situation, being able to provide a safe and supportive environment in the form of a caring classroom and/or adequate student accommodation becomes necessary. A study involving students at Pondicherry University found a positive association between higher levels of depression and poor accommodation. Unsatisfactory accommodation was shown to be a stressor while satisfaction with the living environment was shown to play a positive role in students’ mental health (Deb et al. 2016). In other words, addressing the need for quality student accommodation may pay dividends when it comes to the wellbeing of our students. Side-by-side, we need to consider how the classroom may be transformed to address this concern. Here, I’d like to briefly add something Dr Anannya Dasgupta observed: the expectation that “participation” should be vocal, and the inherent visuality of the traditional learning process ignores the lived reality of people with disabilities, something that the online mode has also drawn attention to. Much more attention needs to be paid to this than I’ve been able to within this chapter. If the technologies and practices of online education are to be integrated into the physical classroom, they may make learning more accessible to students with disabilities, but only if the design of such educational models considers such experiences to be fundamental and not merely deviations from the norm. Equally important is to consider the significant variation that exists within the broad category of “disability” and not to assume that the needs and challenges of all learners with disabilities can be addressed at once or in the same manner. For example, for those unable to vocally participate in class, the chatbox would be a valuable resource even in physical classrooms. Even outside of the context of learners with disabilities, teachers like Dr Sucheta Mahajan at JNU have found that the chatbox allowed for more vibrant and involved discussions than ever. It helped to

68  Sameer Abraham Thomas include students who might not feel comfortable speaking, particularly in the somewhat impersonal, unsympathetic, performative space of the online class. Yet however helpful such an intervention might be for learners, it remains a resource that relies on the assumption of sightedness. This may be ameliorated by reading out chat responses, as I regularly do in my classes, but this requires a constant mindfulness of the presence of all kinds of learners in the classroom.

Pedagogies of Care Inside the Classroom Our efforts to adapt our teaching to the online model shows that there is a need for a pedagogy of care, recognising the value of compassion, empathy and trust in the educational process. What teachers can do is carry the lessons of the pandemic forward—to turn the temporal space of crisis imposed on us into a holistic ethos of care that is independent of crisis. By recognising that the home is a space of learning in addition to the classroom, and by remembering that the controlled hostel environment was never available to every student, we need to re-conceptualise what we mean by participation or engagement, or even evaluation. My limited research into the pedagogy of care shows that the solutions and adaptations that I and the teachers I know arrived at—whether intuitively or thoughtfully—have been put into practice by other educators. Some of them have been inspired by bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (1994). In the Introduction, hooks describes her experiences as a learner and how they informed her own teaching practice. When talking about her early education at a racially segregated school, she presents “school” as an alternate space to “home”, and a preferable one in some respects: “Home was the place where I was forced to conform to someone else’s image of who and what I should be. School was the place where I could forget that self and, through ideas, reinvent myself ” (3). This spatial division between the home and the classroom disappears in our online mode, yet we still hope that our classrooms act as that space of discovery and joy that hooks valued. If our students seem disengaged, the merging of these two distinct spheres of operation may be a contributing factor. In fact, Gianpiero Petriglieri describes something similar when he links the anxiety students feel in the online mode to the “self-complexity theory”, the theory that individuals have multiple context-dependent aspects (Jiang 2020). In the online mode, the distinct contexts disappear in a way that is inimical to our wellbeing. Remembering this can help us modify standard classroom practice to account for the new normal. Teachers like Dr Dasgupta encourage their students to be present in class even if it means turning off their cameras, or lying down, or not being able to speak. This has made attending class less intimidating and more suited to the environments the students are in. When demanding visibility or some kind of postural decorum might come in the way of students showing up, adaptation becomes key. Beyond the spatial challenges of constructing the classroom as a place of care, the question of teaching goals is something that hooks (1994, 3) draws attention to. She describes the experience of being taught in desegregated schools as being vastly different, in which “[k]nowledge was suddenly about information only” as a result of which she “lost [her] love of school”. This experience greatly informed

Space and Equity in the On/Offline Classroom  69 hooks’ teaching practice. She writes that “[t]he first paradigm that shaped [her] pedagogy was the idea that the classroom should be an exciting place, never boring. And if boredom should prevail, then pedagogical strategies were needed that would intervene, alter, even disrupt the atmosphere” (7). The shift from imagining the classroom as a place for communicating information to one of producing excitement may seem to be a radical one, but the experience of teaching in the pandemic shows how the two are closely related. When alienation and disengagement are coming in the way of our students’ learning experiences—which they are, as we learnt from the UNICEF On My Mind report—the conscious battle against boredom that hooks describes becomes all the more necessary in order to ensure that traditional learning goals can be achieved. The reorientation of teaching towards staving off boredom and apathy instead of merely knowledge-delivery and assessment is something that we consciously practiced at Krea-CWP. Instructors were encouraged by our Director to aim to keep students engaged in the online mode. We introduced the use of regular worksheets in our writing classrooms and allotted marks for their timely completion to ensure that students were not alienated by lectures that might not be able to incorporate their input, while also allowing instructors a means of noticing if a student’s interest was flagging as evidenced by their failure to submit worksheets and assignments on time. We approached such instances with compassion and the recognition that the temporal space of crisis requires a degree of flexibility. We made sure to remember that lack of engagement should not immediately be seen as a lack of intention or dedication to learning, but quite possibly as a sign of physical, mental or emotional challenges being faced by the student at home. Sensitivity of this kind requires a transformational approach to how we treat our students. Katharine Mershon (2018) writes that “we can use the mistakes students invariably make—from cases of plagiarism to poor email etiquette and typos—as learning opportunities rather than moments to humiliate or shame students in person or online”. As writing instructors, we make it a point at Krea-CWP not to get caught up in calling out typos and grammatical mistakes, while using anonymised student samples to teach revision strategies. And as a teacher who has had students submit work late or indulge in plagiarism, I have found that showing concern and providing help is as crucial as reprimanding students in such cases. Some other structural interventions that can help create an environment of care in the classroom include creating guidelines for conduct in the classroom, encouraging discussion and questioning by students, regularly providing and seeking constructive feedback to and from students, and clearly linking assignment work to learning outcomes (Bali 2015; Mershon 2018; Owusu-Ansah and Kyei-Blankson 2016).

Care and Sharing in the Teacher–Student Relationship Instilling the joy of learning can also be achieved through a reimagining of the teacher–student relationship. Hooks (1994, 3) writes that at her first school “[her] teachers made sure they ‘knew’ [the students]. They knew [their] parents, [their] economic status, where [they] worshipped, what [their] homes were like, and how [they] were treated in the family”. While examining existing literature on the

70  Sameer Abraham Thomas pedagogy of care, Anthony Owusu-Ansah and Lydia Kyei-Blankson (2016) mention that one of the ways in which a teacher can show care is by taking an interest not just in the academic life of their students, but their non-academic lives as well. The On My Mind report (2021) tells us about how the pandemic made our students worry about the safety of their family. The turmoil this creates can and does impede the process of learning, particularly when the family in question may be in the same room as where the online class is taking place. When the line between the academic and non-academic is blurred in this way, the need to be cognisant of our students’ personal life becomes more valuable when teaching. On-campus accommodation would be helpful here, but the distance between teacher and student can be an interpersonal one as much as it can be geographic. The solution to the challenge of interpersonal distance is a fairly simple one: sharing. Owusu-Ansah and Kyei-Blankson (2016, 5) write that the creation of an environment of care can involve something as simple as the teacher asking students what they did over the weekend or expressing interest in things students had shared previously. I take some time at the top of every class to ask each and every student how they’re doing, giving them the room to vent if they need to, to be vulnerable in a safe environment, or to refrain from doing so if they don’t feel comfortable. A colleague teaching at a college in DU, where classes had to be suspended because students weren’t showing up, revealed the value of turning some classes into what they called “counselling classes” where students were free to share the struggles, losses and difficulties they were facing. This allowed students to see each other as real human beings, allowing for bonds of sympathy and community, while also making the class seem less exclusive and intimidating. Mershon (2018) would start her classes by asking her students what was on their minds. She would also conduct a 5–10-minute freewriting exercise every week in which students were asked to reflect on the previous week, particularly on instances in which they apologised to others (since apologies were part of the focus of the course). While sharing is important, there is a danger that the inherent power imbalance in the teacher–student relationship may make such sharing exercises feel intrusive or unwanted. To address this, it is important for teachers to participate in the sharing so that the activity becomes mutual rather than a demand being put forth by an impersonal figure of authority. As hooks (1994, 21) put it, “[p]rofessors who expect students to share confessional narratives but who are themselves unwilling to share are exercising power in a manner that could be coercive”. Recognising that sharing involves making yourself vulnerable requires teachers to model that vulnerability themselves. Mershon (2018) would participate in the freewriting along with her students. Rather than demanding that students read out what they wrote, she would make it clear that they were not compelled to do so, while herself taking the initiative to read out what she wrote. This involved sharing her own struggles with mental health in order to destigmatise the conversation around it. Being vulnerable as a teacher can involve something as simple as openly acknowledging and apologising for one’s mistakes (Bali 2015). This requires sacrificing any illusions that the teacher is perfect, mysterious, unimpeachable or invulnerable. In return, it allows students to see teachers as real people (Owusu-Ansah and KyeiBlankson 2016, 6). And, if there are things we should wish to keep private from

Space and Equity in the On/Offline Classroom  71 our students, so too must we cultivate the “humility of ‘knowing we do not know’” (Bali 2015) every detail of our students’ lives. This is not the same as the wilful ignorance that certain ideals of professional distance might encourage, but involves a sense of respect and compassion for students while maintaining an openness for sharing to take place. It is still important to remember that bringing personal and potentially traumatic experiences and vulnerability into the classroom comes with certain risks that need to be accounted for. Maha Bali (2015) recounts an incident in which sharing the fact that she was late to class because she had to attend a funeral would have caused distress to a student who had recently lost their mother. Clearly, sharing must come with a degree of discretion. That said, rather than being a reason for keeping sharing out of the classroom entirely, this incident shows how having personal knowledge of her student’s non-academic life helped Bali to be a more compassionate and caring teacher. She writes that this requires the actions of knowing students, sharing experiences with them, empathising with their situations, imagining how they might respond and responding accordingly. Physical touch as a means of comforting students in the form of a hug is one such response that Bali pays attention to. At the same time, she recognises that there are factors that might make such an intervention inappropriate, particularly when it comes to questions of gender. Being mindful of the differential ways in which gender operates in the classroom space is especially crucial when it comes to teachers showing vulnerability. Mershon (2018) writes that emotional labour is most often made the responsibility of women and people of colour when more privileged individuals would be better placed to show vulnerability without having to worry about how it might undermine their authority or endanger their safety. Rather than seeing the risks of sharing as grounds for abdicating the responsibility for emotional labour in the classroom, educators like myself who enjoy privileged subject positions need to learn from those who do not, in order to participate in that labour in a manner that puts our privilege to good use.

Conclusions and Beginnings The experience of online education has shown that the home environment needs to be factored into how we conceptualise education, an insight that remains relevant offline. We have seen how India’s Internet infrastructure and the hostel facilities of universities like DU are sorely inadequate for students’ online and offline needs. To address these shortcomings, it is first essential that private and public Internet providers improve and expand Internet infrastructure and penetration in the country. Furthermore, it is clear that educational institutions should receive and allocate more funds for student accommodation. Just constructing hostels is not enough. We should also remember that existing hostels are by no means perfect. Expanding hostel facilities needs to involve regular maintenance, adherence to safety guidelines, and accessibility to students with disabilities. Discriminatory curfews and dress codes that unfairly police the bodies and behaviours of female students must be challenged, and the possibility of violence targeted at individuals because of their religion, caste, race, sexual orientation or gender identity needs to

72  Sameer Abraham Thomas minimised, if not eradicated. If private landlords can be criticised for ousting tenants without due notice and with an apparent lack of sensitivity, the same criticism must be directed against certain hostels during the pandemic who did the same, allegedly accompanied by racist remarks against North-eastern women at DU (Press Trust of India 2020), and pressure from university authorities at Jamia Millia Islamia University to sign forms claiming that students were voluntarily vacating their hostel rooms when in fact they were being compelled to do so (Shankar 2020). We need to remember that “home” does not mean the same thing for everyone, and that while the pandemic restricted the learning space to the home, the return of offline education needs to come with serious attempts to create safe, fair and affordable residential spaces at educational institutions. All of this will take time, and is immensely dependent on the actions of entities other than educators. What is in our control as teachers is the application of the pedagogy of care in our classrooms. It’s important that we try to make the classroom the space for community and solidarity, in the absence of the space of the hostel. We need to recognise the value that has and the difference it makes, and always should have made, to students stuck at home in the pandemic, but also to the students we expect to have in our offline classrooms one day. The faceless screen will not always be the new normal. But for now, it can motivate us to see the alienation that some have ignored in the offline classroom, and to make our own small contributions to keeping it out of our pedagogy.

References Acevedo, Beatriz. 2020. “Pedagogy of care in times of crisis.” ARU Blogs, April 28. https:// aru.ac.uk/blogs/pedagogy-of-care Aswani, Tarushi. 2022. “Hansraj students unhappy as college gets its own cow for ‘research’.” The Wire, January 28. https://thewire.in/education/hansraj-students-unhappy-as-collegegets-its-own-cow-for-research Bali, Maha. 2015. “Pedagogy of care—Gone missing.” Hybrid Pedagogy, April 20. https:// hybridpedagogy.org/pedagogy-of-care-gone-massive/ Castelli, Frank R., and Mark A. Sarvary. 2021. “Why students do not turn on their video cameras during online classes and an equitable and inclusive plan to encourage them to do so.” Ecology and Evolution, 11: 3565–3576. doi: 10.1002/ece3.7123 Chettri, Shradha. 2017. “Hindu College throws open hostel but fee issue remains.” The Indian Express, July 22. https://indianexpress.com/article/education/hindu-collegethrows-open-hostel-but-fee-issue-remains-4761977/ Chhabra, Ronak. 2020. “Delhi: Survey suggests students at risk of forced evictions amid lockdown.”NewsClick, May 19. https://www.newsclick.in/delhi-survey-suggests-studentsrisk-forced-evictions-lockdown COVID-19: A wake-up call for Indian Internet Service Providers. 2020. Report by QS I-Gauge. Deb, Sibnath, Banu, Parveen R., Shinto Thomas, R. Vishnu Vardhan, P. Tirupathi Rao, and Nigar Khawaja. 2016. “Depression among Indian university students and its association with perceived university academic environment, living arrangements and personal issues.” Asian Journal of Psychiatry 23: 108–117. doi: 10.5430/wje.v6n3p1. Ellis, Carolyn, Tony E. Adams, and Arthur P. Bochner. 2010. “Autoethnography: An overview.” Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12(1), Art. 10. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1101108

Space and Equity in the On/Offline Classroom  73 hooks, bell. 1994. “Introduction: Teaching to Transgress.” in Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge. Internet Adoption in India: ICUBE 2020. 2021. Report by Kantar. Jain, Samyak. 2020. “No end to Delhi University students’ woes as landlords threaten to evict those who can’t pay rent.”Newslaundry, July 6. https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/07/06/ no-end-to-delhi-university-students-woes-as-landlords-threaten-to-evict-those-whocant-pay-rent Jiang, Manyu. 2020. “The reason zoom calls drain your energy.” BBC, April 22. https:// www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200421-why-zoom-video-chats-are-so-exhausting Majumdar, Saikat. 2020. “When campus is safer than home: Is it time universities bring back vulnerable students?” Outlook, July 28. https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/ opinion-when-campus-is-safer-than-home-is-it-time-universities-bring-back-vulnerablestudents/357534/ Mershon, Katharine. 2018. “A pedagogy of vulnerability.” Craft of Teaching in the Academic Study of Religion, October 22. https://craftofteachingreligion.wordpress.com/2018/ 10/22/a-pedagogy-of-vulnerability/ On My Mind: How adolescents experience and perceive mental health around the world. 2021. UNICEF. A companion report to The State of the World’s Children 2021. https:// www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-children-2021?utm_source=referral&utm_ medium=media&utm_campaign=sowc-web Owusu-Ansah, Anthony, and Lydia Kyei-Blankson. 2016. “Going back to the basics: Demonstrating care, connectedness, and a pedagogy of relationship in education.” World Journal of Education 6(3): 1–9. doi: 10.5430/wje.v6n3p1 Press Trust of India. 2020. “Women’s panel notice to Delhi University over forcing students’ to vacate hostel.” NDTV, May 12. https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/delhi-commissionfor-women-sends-notice-to-delhi-university-over-forcing-northeast-women-studentsto-vacate-hostel-2227177 Sarfaraz, Kainat. 2021. “Finding hostel room will prove a challenge for new DU students.” Hindustan Times, October 14. https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/delhi-news/ finding-hostel-room-will-prove-a-challenge-for-new-du-students-101634234152842. html Shankar, Aranya. 2020. “Jamia students allege university is forcing them to vacate hostels amid lockdown.”The Indian Express, May 2. https://indianexpress.com/article/education/jamiauniversity-students-hostel-vacate-lockdown-coronavirus-6390570/ Spicer, Andre. 2020. “Finding endless video calls exhausting? You’re not alone.” The Conversation, May 6. https://theconversation.com/finding-endless-video-calls-exhaustingyoure-not-alone-137936 “UNICEF report spotlights on the mental health impact of COVID-19 in children and young people.” 2021. UNICEF, October 5. Press release. https://www.unicef.org/india/ press-releases/unicef-report-spotlights-mental-health-impact-covid-19-children-andyoung-people#:~:text=Press%20release%20UNICEF%20report%20spotlights%20 on%20the%20mental,average%20of%2083%20per%20cent%20for%2021%20countries

5 Rethinking Teacher Preparedness in Post-Pandemic Sri Lanka Manjula Vithanapathirana and Sakunthala Yatigammana Ekanayake

Introduction During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sri Lankan schools were estimated to have been fully closed for 28 weeks and partially closed for 15 weeks.1 When schools closed in Sri Lanka on March 13th, 2020, a directive was made to provide distance education to 4.2 million schoolchildren (Gamage and Zaber, 2021). With this sudden move, school principals, teachers, students, and parents faced the challenge of organising digital teaching and learning without sufficient time to prepare. School education, which is referred to as ‘General Education’ in Sri Lanka, was the most adversely affected level in the education system by the COVID-19 pandemic. The sudden directive to transfer to online teaching and learning, referred to as ‘emergency remote online teaching and learning’, was an unfamiliar way of teaching and learning for the entire system of school education. The challenges faced by teachers in addressing the effects of the sudden transformation into online teaching cannot be overlooked or forgotten. While there could be a considerable impact of the emergency reversal to remote learning, there is also a need to consider preparedness for the uncertainties that the future might bring (Trust and Whalen 2020). This chapter presents an analysis of the experiences of teachers with an effort to explore and rethink teacher preparedness for potential future crises. It focuses on the main challenges faced by teachers, which centre around four aspects: curriculum adaptation for online teaching, pedagogical know-how to teach online, technological knowhow for online delivery, and equity aspects related to the use of online platforms during an emergency. By paying attention to these issues, the chapter will foreground the role of teacher preparedness in ensuring the versatility of teachers to face uncertainties. Sri Lanka is at present facing the worst economic crisis since independence. Among many issues, severe shortages of fuel created a range of issues in the operation of public and private transport. Schools were closed once again after being closed for many months due to COVID-19, reverting to online education in 2022 (Save the Children, Press release, June 22, 2022).

DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688-7

Rethinking Teacher Preparedness in Post-Pandemic Sri Lanka  75

Theoretical Perspectives of Crisis Leading to the Need to Reform Teacher Education According to an early definition, a crisis is when a group, organisation, or community experiences a “serious threat to the basic structures or the fundamental values and norms of a system, which under time pressure and highly uncertain circumstances necessitates making vital decisions” (Rosenthal et al., 1989: 10 as cited in Boin et al. (2018: 24). A more recent approach to the crisis theory, derived from varied sources across diverse fields of study, “focuses on how individuals confront and manage major life crises and disruptions to their established patterns of personal and social identity” (Moos and Holahan, 2007: 107 cited by Baker (2021: 2)). Crisis as a psychological phenomenon continues to appear in literature. According to Boin et al. (2018: 25), in a crisis, the perception of an urgent threat is accompanied by a high degree of uncertainty. Discussion of crisis in the context of COVID-19 emphasises that the COVID19 pandemic largely fits the definition of crisis: ‘an event that has the potential to cause a large detrimental change to the social system and in which there is a lack of proportionality between cause and consequence’ (Walby, 2015: 14, cited in Walby 2022: 9). Walby (2022) extends that a crisis has three elements including temporality, lack of proportionality, and scale, and hence a crisis is an event of a relatively short duration that has consequences for a much longer duration (Walby, 2022: 2). This is congruent with the OECD report 2020, which attracts attention to the impact of forced school closures due to COVID-19 in 188 countries. The report shows that there has been an absence of formal schooling due to the pandemic. It questions how much learning may not have occurred with the school closures even though distance learning has taken place to ensure continuity, and highlights the need to focus on its long-term impact on student outcomes which is referred to as the “hysteresis” effect in education. The term hysteresis is used in the context of education to denote the long-term impact of school closures. (OECD, 2020). The effects of hysteresis are mostly psychological, which may cause problems in reorienting the students back into education after the crisis is over. The term ‘crisis’ has been discussed in a more positive sense as well, where it can also serve as a critical turning point. The concept of ‘crisis,’ thus, can be an important way of thinking about some forms of contemporary social change (Walby, 2015; Bergman-Rosamond et al., 2020 cited by Walby, 2022). In terms of a change in education as experienced through the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most compelling outcomes of the COVID-19 crisis has been the need to improve digital literacy and technology-enabled learning through strengthening teacher capacity for blended learning and OER for online learning (Ogange, 2020).

Teacher Preparedness for Online Teaching in Sri Lanka In Sri Lanka, before the pandemic, there was no practice of online teaching and learning. The sudden introduction of online teaching, therefore, placed a huge demand on teachers to ensure effective remote education, without adequate

76  Manjula Vithanapathirana and Sakunthala Yatigammana Ekanayake preparedness for and competence in digital technologies. Prior to the pandemic, all schools functioned across three terms in an academic year in a face-to-face modality. There was no formal and compulsory regular remote learning via radio and television for school children except as supplementary support. The responsibility of teacher education lies with universities, the National Institute of Education, the Ministry of Education, and the Provincial Ministries of Education in each province. Teacher education programmes are either pre-service or in-service. In addition, school-based teacher education programmes are also launched for continuous updating of teacher capacities. The responsibility of graduate teacher professional certification lies with universities and the National Institute of Education. Currently out of the 17 universities in Sri Lanka, only two universities have faculties of education and only three other universities have departments of education that are dedicated to formal teacher professional development and certification. Teacher education is conducted in Sinhala. Tamil and English media enable trainees to follow the professional programs in their mother tongue or working language. These teacher education programmes are implemented as onsite or as distance training programmes. However, the distance training conducted is mainly printed modular-based and not using online modalities. Regarding the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) literacy of Sri Lankan teachers, the Ministry of Education has implemented a number of programs on ICT education that provide training in basic competency and are related to the pedagogical aspects of the integration of ICT into teaching and learning. This training is aimed mainly towards teaching ICT for the GCE Advanced Level classes. The launch of E-Thaksalawa (E-school) in 2013 can be considered an important milestone. E-Thaksalawa is the national-e-learning portal or open-source Learning Management System for general education. This platform is for students and teachers and provides access to a range of content in Sinhala, Tamil and English. In order to increase the usage of E-Thaksalawa and ensure widespread access, the Government of Sri Lanka has made arrangements to provide access to the website free of charge through any telephone network. Currently, several internet service providers in the country are providing special e-learning student data packages allowing children to study at home (UNESCO and UNICEF, 2021). This facility is accessed by many with the daily logging exceeding a million, yet only 40% of students have internet connectivity, and even fewer have a device to access it (Sedere, 2021, p.487). However, documented issues related to the quality of teacher education programmes raise a need for urgent action. According to Sethunga et al. (2016), the teacher education curricula offered by various institutions have not been revised or modified to cater to the needs of the changing school curricula, even though the school curriculum has been subjected to several major and minor reforms over the past two decades. Similarly, Vithanapathirana (2019) highlights a range of priorities for reforming teacher education including digital technologies for the classrooms in the future, blended learning, and blended professional learning programs. Planned blended learning teacher education models are a new concept, in Sri Lanka, especially where conventional teacher education has been practised for decades. The first blended teacher education program in Sri Lanka, although not

Rethinking Teacher Preparedness in Post-Pandemic Sri Lanka  77 developed as a response to COVID-19, is currently being planned through the project titled ‘Contemporary Teaching Skills for South Asia’ popularly known as CONTESSA (Contessa, n.d.). Aimed at capacity building in primary teacher education, the project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union and directed by the University of Graz in Austria and Dresden University of Technology in Germany. The University of Colombo and the Open University of Sri Lanka are the Sri Lankan partners in the project (Vithanapathirana, 2021: Hummel and Vithanapathirana, 2022 59). Gunawardena (2017) indicates that there are major shortcomings in the quality of teacher education as there is no consensus on the kind of teacher professional development that needs to be in place. As a result, the blame for school failures is placed on teachers and there is little focus on reforming existing social inequalities that exist in Sri Lanka. Liyanagunawardena and Williams’s (2021) study on Emergency Remote Education (ERE) experience in Sri Lanka shows that ERE was seen as a temporary shift of instructional delivery to a different medium during the pandemic. While teachers have offered some form of ERE to their pupils, amidst a range of challenges, its implementation has not been satisfactory.2 A study by Gangahagedara et al. (2021), based on the central hills in Sri Lanka, examined how various stakeholders used online-based distant learning as an emergency modality and highlighted that out of 102 responses, about 49% of the teachers responded negatively to the attitudinal question “How often do you use ICT facilities for the TLP?” in the teacher questionnaire. Only 18% of the teachers responded positively, and 32% were uncertain. The findings revealed that 27.9% used standard online teaching platforms, during the pandemic lockdown. Additionally, 36.5% of teachers and 41.2% of students favoured WhatsApp for teaching–learning (Gangahagedara et al., 2021). Other studies on teacher education show a similar lack of preparedness among teachers in Sri Lanka (Abayasekara and de Silva, 2021). Amarasinghe’s study (2021a) of in-service teacher trainees at the University of Colombo shows that only 50% of in-service teacher trainees used computers and the internet at home and in cyber cafes. Teachers shared a hesitation towards online learning, which was particularly focused on online assessments due to unreliable internet facilities in their residences. The lack of awareness of online learning was very prevalent in the postgraduate teacher trainee sample (Vithanapathirana, 2020). A study conducted in 2019 just before the pandemic through several focus group discussions data on ICT integration in school and university education in an overall sense, without focusing on ICT specializing programmes, revealed that Sri Lankan ICT-in-education policies highlighted key constraints of ICT integration. These constraints include a lack of ICT infrastructure in universities and schools and a limitation of human resources. Although the integration of ICT in education as a national policy was initiated in the 1980s, Sri Lankan academics and students have limited to no experience in using ICT for academic purposes, they have sufficient skills to use it for social purposes. Therefore, it is important to consider the background and experience of local academics and students as well as how they use ICT in their social as well as academic lives. This knowledge will help with the development and implementation of future policies and professional

78  Manjula Vithanapathirana and Sakunthala Yatigammana Ekanayake training programs that range with the background, experiences, needs, and expectations of academics and students (Jalilov et al., 2020). Teacher training, knowledge, and skills related to ICT and online teaching are important factors in understanding the situation of an unexpected transfer to digital and online teaching–learning strategies. Building on previous studies, this chapter focuses on teachers’ experiences of online teaching in Sri Lanka and how the lack of teacher preparedness can manifest in new modalities of teaching.

Research Questions and Methodological Outline of the Study In order to understand the issue of teacher preparedness during the pandemic, this study focuses on the way curriculum is implemented by teachers in an online format. The authors paid close attention to how teachers transitioned to online teaching approaches, and what challenges were faced by teachers in acquiring the skills and in coping with the working knowledge needed for online teaching. This chapter also focuses on new modalities that are emerging for general education in the future. The study was conducted using a small-scale mixed quantitative dominant explanatory mixed methods design (Leech and Onwuegbuzie, 2009) mainly through an online survey in early 2022. Even at the time of data collection, the schools and universities were not open, and thus a self-administered online questionnaire was used as the main data collection tool using a Google form designed in the Sinhala language to explore the reflections on teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first section of the questionnaire focused on general personal information and verification of whether the respondent engaged in online teaching, the second section on curriculum implementation by teachers during online teaching mainly focused on challenges, and the third one on teaching strategies adopted and challenges faced by teachers. The Google form comprised three sections with 23 questions in total. The questionnaire was piloted with five teachers and this small group provided feedback, which was used to refine the questionnaire before the data collection. Consent from the participants was obtained through a cover letter emailed to each recipient of the Google form. The instrument was emailed to a convenience sample of 160 graduate teachers from all districts of Sri Lanka. They were alumni of the university’s Post Graduate Diploma in Education programme. All participants were professionally qualified with Postgraduate Diplomas in Education, and in general, the level of computer literacy of the sample was satisfactory. Socio-economically they all were middleincomers; of the 87.3% of females and 13.7% of males. Of the teacher sample, 90% was from all types of government schools according to the school classification by the Ministry of Education, and 5% of the sample was from international schools. The schools were from urban, semi-urban, and rural localities. While researchers recognised that convenience sampling may restrict the generalisation of these findings, the objective of this study would suffice to identify the teacher education needs in uncertainties which is the main objective of this work. In addition to the online survey, 20 telephone interviews were conducted to obtain elaborated responses to the questions on the Google form. The research was done during the closure of universities and therefore, researchers were unable to

Rethinking Teacher Preparedness in Post-Pandemic Sri Lanka  79 conduct face-to-face in-depth interviews with the respondents. Hence, the researchers did not have an opportunity to observe respondents’ facial expressions and gestures. But telephone conversations may have allowed respondents to be more honest, as they did not have to make direct eye contact with the interviewer. The responses were recorded and translated from Sinhala into English by the researchers. The following sections discuss the findings of the online survey and the interviews of the teachers who experienced online teaching and learning with the school closure for over 16 months. The schools have been largely physically dysfunctional since the initial shutdown in March 2020. 86.7% of the 135 responses were of female teachers as the majority of Sri Lankan are females. A large majority of the sample (90%) were between ages 30 and 50. Of the total, 35% of teachers were from urban schools while 40% were from semi-urban schools and 25% were from rural school contexts.

Findings ‘Technostress’ in Teachers The teacher technostress is considered as the stress associated with the use of technology in the classroom from a lack of adaptation to the technological environment (Al-Fudail and Mellar, 2008). The data from the present study revealed that having to transfer to online teaching without training led to technostress in teachers, creating anxiety and uncertainties among teachers. This chapter uses the term ‘technostress’ from the study by Vithanapathirana (2020) to indicate the psychological and emotional pressures felt by the teachers especially due to the transfer to online teaching without training. Almost all teachers were aware of the concept of e-learning, mainly through E-Thaksalawa (E-school). However, teachers indicated that they never anticipated a situation where day-to-day schooling would be replaced by it. Students and teachers were expected to suddenly shift to online teaching by utilising the range of content textbooks, syllabi, teacher instruction manuals, subject-related educational software, revision question papers, supplementary reading material, etc. through this portal. Therefore, the sudden change to the online modality was a surprising move for them and they were confused about how to use the portal for the routine timetabled teaching in school before the closure due to the pandemic. These findings reiterate the analysis presented by Vithanapathirana in 2020 with the graduate teachers who were not specially trained in ICT. Out of the teacher sample, only 42% possessed a personal computer. A negligible percentage used a borrowed laptop from a relative or a friend for the purpose of conducting teaching, and the majority used a smartphone. One of the key challenges the teachers faced was the need for more than one smartphone for the family. Several issues arose as their children who are involved either in school education or higher education also were compelled to use one for e-learning, and in addition, older offspring and spouses had to use their smartphones to work from home during the lockdown. A teacher’s experience expressed in an interview is given below:

80  Manjula Vithanapathirana and Sakunthala Yatigammana Ekanayake […] during the pandemic, conducting online teaching was a really difficult task for me due to the unavailability of required number of suitable electronic devices such as laptops, as I could rarely use my laptop for teaching because most of the time my son, who was in Grade 10, had to use [it] for his online classes. So I had to do my teaching with my mobile phone with a small screen, which is much smaller than a computer screen. This scenario and findings of unavailability of a personal computer are similar to Amarasinghe’s (2021a), who explored the perceived ICT skills of a sample of in-service teacher trainees enrolled from all parts of Sri Lanka in the Postgraduate Diploma in Education program. It was revealed that only 50% of in-service teacher trainees used computers and the internet at home and in cybercafes. The said difficulty of using a mobile phone for educational purposes is highlighted by Dissanayake (2021, p. 97). It is stated: As the majority of the students use mobile phones for educational purposes, visibility is on a small screen, as opposed to a larger image and script on a laptop. Staring at the phone screen at length can also cause eye strain. With regard to the use of different technological tools, the most popular (over 80 %) were Zoom and WhatsApp in remote teaching. One teacher expressed this experience in the following manner: I am doing all the things related to IT in my school. When we were instructed by the principal, I created a WhatsApp group for the staff, and then through that I teach other staff members how to use WhatsApp for teaching initially. Not only that then using WhatsApp I send them all the instructions on how to install and use Zoom for teaching. However, another teacher reported that since the majority of the staff members of her school did not have an understanding of the use of WhatsApp it was very difficult to start online teaching immediately when the need arose and it took some time. Zoom became highly popular in Sri Lanka in the education sector during the pandemic. Google Meet and Microsoft Teams were less popular. It could have been due to the fact that the Government of Sri Lanka subscribed to Zoom for educational purposes. However, though most teachers were found to be aware of some Google features, they rarely use some of the features in secondary classrooms (Amarasinghe, 2021b). With regard to training, only 21.5% received the opportunity of participating at least in a few training sessions on online teaching. Even though Zoom was promoted by different companies, there were fewer opportunities for teachers to obtain training on how to use Zoom and specific features of Zoom to make a lesson effective.

Rethinking Teacher Preparedness in Post-Pandemic Sri Lanka  81 For instance, an expression of one teacher from a government school is given below. Unfortunately awareness sessions on Zoom or Google Meet or Microsoft Teams have not been conducted by the Ministry of Education, Provincial or zonal level. We learnt it from other colleagues and family members little by little. Actually, we learned on a trial-and-error basis. As a result of this it took more than 3 months to get used to Zoom. The government schoolteachers indicated that there were only ad hoc training programmes organised by some schools and education offices. The following statement confirms this situation: In my first five weeks of online teaching, during the sessions, I did not switch on my video camera as I was so anxious to do so. After attending a session during my postgraduate diploma session on online education, I realised the importance of the teachers’ virtual live presence through the video camera to enhance the active participation of students.

Inability to Cover the Curriculum Content This sudden change in the mode of delivery created added stress on teachers, mainly because they were unable to cover the curriculum content. 79.2% of the government schoolteachers expressed that they were unable to complete teaching the syllabi through online teaching when compared with the former experience of face-to-face teaching. It is the general understanding that syllabi of all subjects in a particular grade are expected to be covered term-wise in order to complete the syllabus by the end of the year. The coverage of syllabi is an indicator of the attainment of learning outcomes of a particular grade and is considered an essential measure to fulfil the final evaluation of learning outcomes. All school principals make sure that the entire syllabi of each grade are considered in the teaching–learning process to complete the graded structure in education. These teachers reflected that a further adaptation to the curriculum was necessary to be done for the successful implementation through online teaching when compared with the normal classroom teaching with which they were familiar. Teachers are troubled, as online teaching consumes more time than conducting the same lesson in an onsite class due to difficulties in the progression of the lesson. The main reason is the inability to make a clear negotiation with the students during each step in the lesson. The interviews with international schoolteachers revealed that they had already initiated appropriate alternatives to the curriculum: In my school, the Edexcel curriculum unit on the ‘familiar field work’ where students used to go to real settings, collect data, analyse data and complete a report, had to be changed to ‘unfamiliar research’ where the secondary data are used instead of primary data.

82  Manjula Vithanapathirana and Sakunthala Yatigammana Ekanayake 77% of the teachers indicated that all curricular components could not be taught through online teaching. The most highly expressed (83.7%) challenge regarding online teaching and learning was about conducting practical hands-on activities. Interview findings revealed that the practical components related to the curriculum were not completed although most of the theory contents were covered. This was confirmed by the teachers’ excerpts during the interview. A common expression was as follows: I am a primary teacher and managed to cover 80% of the theory content. Difficult to do most of the practical components. However, only simple activities were completed by sending the instructions to the parents asking them to guide the students to do the activity, capturing some images, and WhatsApp them. Later, I provided them with the feedback. As the duration of a timetabled period was not changed for online teaching and learning, a majority of the teachers expressed that time was inadequate for implementing an online lesson especially when it involved hands-on activities. As a result, the completion of the recommended allocations of content implementation within a given time in the teacher instruction manual was not possible. They (75%) also indicated that it was very difficult to get active student participation in online lessons. A teacher expressed as follows: Only one teacher reported that she managed to complete the syllabus with the support of presentations, available online resources like laboratories, videos and images and other available resources for the students and also considering students’ ICT competence. According to her, the practical components were assessed by going through the videos sent by students as evidence of their active engagement in activities.

Preparedness as a Critical Teacher Pedagogy The study shows the significance of teacher preparedness not only for school curriculum but also for the ways in which teachers are able to face uncertainties in the context of crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The teachers in the schools that had provided training and support, before and during the pandemic, had different experiences with the uncertainties posed by online teaching. International schools in Sri Lanka are a rapidly growing type of private fee-levying school that conducts both local and mostly foreign curricula in the English-medium mainly for local students. In Sri Lanka, these international schools are not under the governance of the Ministry of Education, and are free to implement their education as they see fit. Having motives of running education as a private business, they have to compete with the quality of education in the rising number of international schools and the longstanding government schools. Therefore, these schools attempt to introduce various modern approaches and do not hesitate to introduce ICT-based communication and teaching. An international schoolteacher’s experience was entirely different, due mainly to the training that they had already received.

Rethinking Teacher Preparedness in Post-Pandemic Sri Lanka  83 Our school administration conducted a number of virtual awareness sessions as well as hands-on sessions on the use of virtual learning platforms and related teaching, learning, and assessing strategies. They were very useful. Thus, within a week all the staff members managed to start online teaching and continuous training supported teachers to further enhance their competence. Online teaching has not been included in the teacher education curricula in any of the teacher development programmes either pre-service or in-service training in Sri Lanka. Only the application of ICT for teaching is included in many teacher training programmes where various applications are taught to be used for the enrichment of face-to-face classroom teaching. The findings from this sample show the impact of this lack of training. Of the teacher sample, 75% indicated that it is not possible to adopt a range of student-centred teaching–learning methodologies during online teaching when compared to face-to-face teaching; 64.7% of them indicated that they frequently used teacher-dominant lecture methods during online teaching and some lessons could be conveniently done. Other difficulties were the inconveniences of using teaching–learning supportive material (53%) and the inability to implement collaborative learning activities (87.4%). Teaching methods enabling social connectedness (e.g., video meetings and learning videos created by the teacher) were not practised. Teachers’ views recorded during the interviews support the occurrence of this situation and indicate the following in general: I completed all my online synchronous sessions as teacher-led lectures. It was difficult for me to retain students’ active participation throughout the lesson. I know that those lessons were not successful, and I could not meet 50% of the expected learning outcomes. Very recently during my Master of Education programme, I came to know about the available facilities in Zoom to do collaborative learning using breakout rooms and Google apps. Overall the data showed that teachers’ implementations of online teaching did not vary greatly in terms of strategies used. Another major issue expressed by 68.8% teachers was the challenge of not being able to assess the students using the in-person strategies they were familiar with. Since none of the teacher training programmes that existed before the pandemic focused on online teaching and assessment, it is not a surprise that teachers were unaware of the possible strategies for online assessment. When considering the teachers’ reflections on their actions during online teaching during the pandemic, it is clear that the majority of teachers were not aware of how to use online platforms effectively. Although some have undergone a few training sessions and were able to impart teaching using the options available, the majority seem to be in need of systematic training for online teaching. Additionally, the finding indicates that teachers were able to recognise the positive impact of online teaching on the process of teaching and learning. They proposed that online teaching could be integrated, and a suitable blended learning approach can be implemented even when school teaching and learning are reverted to normal

84  Manjula Vithanapathirana and Sakunthala Yatigammana Ekanayake operations. However, they emphasised that this should become practised, after examining the contents of existing curriculum content.

Conclusion This chapter has shown that teacher preparedness plays an important role in the sustainability and quality improvement of general education to face uncertainties. The most important conclusion that can be made is that Sri Lanka was not prepared for online educational delivery due to the multifaceted digital divide and state of teacher training. This should be considered in any future implementations of emergency implementation of online education. Being a country where both general and higher education have been imparted face-to-face for decades, Rethinking the changes towards teaching and learning for emergencies is essential. The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a large scale of pedological experimental work. The chapter shows that there has been a positive shift towards Rethinking for a change through teacher education and that they have realised the need for more systematic training for online teaching and learning. In considering the contemporary discussions of introducing online learning in Sri Lanka, blended learning is a much-favoured model. However, it is not certain whether in a crisis an opportunity to combine the face-to-face model with online learning would be feasible. However, it would be better to initiate training the teachers for and through online and blended learning to induct the teachers into online platforms and teaching, learning, and assessment frameworks. In Rethinking post-COVID-19 education context in Sri Lanka, it is fitting to quote George Laryea-Adjei, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia, to iterate the necessity of the investment toward ensuring consistent learning despite the challenging circumstances which are applicable to Sri Lanka as well: The more teachers are trained, equipped, and supported on distance and blended learning, the better they will be able to reach all their students, This is a critical investment we need to make for children as the region gears up for future waves of COVID-19. We need to build systems which can weather any storm and keep children learning, no matter the circumstances.

Notes 1 According to Abayasekara and de Silva (2021) these numbers– especially for full closures, are significantly higher compared to all country income group averages. These figures are likely to considerably increase further, given the current indefinite closures following the third wave of the pandemic. 2 A similar finding was made by a case study of a semi-urban school with 150 students in a suburban area in the western province of Sri Lanka revealed that during the lockdown period, around 67% of students in the selected school participated in e-learning sessions continuously. 73% of the students who participated in e-learning sessions used their parents’ android mobile phones. Other students had to borrow mobiles from their neighbors. Students of low-income families faced difficulties related to poor environments for schooling from home (Liyanage, 2020)

Rethinking Teacher Preparedness in Post-Pandemic Sri Lanka  85

References Abayasekara, A., & de Silva, T. (2021). The ‘Talking Economics’ the Blog of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) Titled ‘Mitigating Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 Education Crisis: Priority Areas for Action, dated June 7, 2021. https://www.ips.lk/ talkingeconomics/2021/06/07/mitigating-sri-lankas-covid-19-education-crisis-priorityareas-for-action/ Al-Fudail, M., & Mellar, H. (2008). Investigating Teacher Stress When Using Technology. Computers & Education, 51, 1103–1110. Amarasinghe, P. D. H. S. (2021a). Information Communication Technology (ICT) skills of in-service teacher trainees at the University of Colombo: Where are we in the process of developing ICT competence from the pedagogical dimension? (Conference session). 7th International Conference on Social Sciences, University of Sri Jayawardenapura, Sri Lanka, March 18–19. Amarasinghe, S. (2021b). ICT Teachers’ Use of Google Features in Secondary Classrooms in Sri Lanka: Professional Development Towards Blended Learning. International Conference on Teacher Education and Learning (online), April 23–24, 2021. Baker, J. S. (2021). Poetry and Possible Lives: Crisis Theory with/in Teacher Education Programs. Teaching and Teacher Education, 105, 103393. Bergman-Rosamond, A., Gammeltoft-Hanse, T., Hamza, M., Hearn, J., Ramsan, V. and Rydstrom, H. (2020). The case for interdisciplinary crisis studies. Global Discourse, 12(3–4). https://doi.org/10.1332.204378920X15802967811683 Boin, A., t’Hart, P., & Kuipers, S. (2018). Crisis Approach. In H. Rodríguez et al. (eds.), Handbook of Disaster Research, Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research, pp. 23–38. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63254-4_2 CONTESSA (n.d.) Contemporary Teaching Skills for South Asia, https://contessa-project.eu/ Dissanayake, A. K. (2021). Learning to Learn with COVID-19: An Exploration into Sri Lankan Undergraduates’ Attitudes and Experiences vis-à-vis Emergency Remote Teaching. University of Colombo Review (New Series lll), 2(1), 79–101. Gangahagedara, R., Karunarathna, M., Athukorala, W., Subasinghe, S. & Ekanayake, P. (2021). Emergency Teaching–Learning Methods (ETLM) during COVID-19: Lessons Learned from Sri Lanka, Education Sciences, 11, 579. https://doi.org/10.3390/ educsci11100579 Gamage, S. N., & Zaber, M. (2021). Innovation in Teaching and Learning in Distance Mode during COVID-19 in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Proceedings of the National Conference on COVID 19: Impact, Mitigation, Opportunities and Building Resilience, Colombo, National Science Foundation, Sri Lanka, 519–526. Gunawardena, G. B. (2017, November, 22). Transforming teacher education in Sri Lanka: challenges of change (Keynote address). University of Colombo Annual Research Symposium 2017, Faculty of Education, University of Colombo. Hummel, S., & Vithanapathirana, M. (2022). Contemporary Teaching Skills to Address the Changing Role of Teachers in Sri Lanka as a Result of the Long-Term Social Impacts of COVID19 Pandemic, International Webinar on Long-Term Social Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic, National Academy of Sciences, Sri Lanka, 22–24 February 2022. Jalilov, O., Köhler, T., Vithanapathirana, M., Karunanayaka, S. P., Hummel, S., & Sheehan, B. (2020). Proceedings of the conference paper titled “EduTec Implementation in a global higher education network. Empirical data from a field study in South Asia” presented at GeNeMe Conference, Dresden, Germany, October 8, 2020. Leech, N. L. & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2009). A Typology of Mixed Methods Research Designs, Quality and Quantity, 43, 265–275.

86  Manjula Vithanapathirana and Sakunthala Yatigammana Ekanayake Liyanage, L. N. (2020). Impact of lockdown on education of students during COVID - 19 pandemic in Sri Lanka: A special reference to Sri Pemananda Maha Vidyalaya. Kadawatha Proceedings of the Research Symposium on COVID -19 Pandemic: Development Challenges and Opportunities-FGS Annual Research Symposium, UOC, Colombo, December 15, 2020. Liyanagunawardena, T. R. & Williams, S. A. (2021). Emergency Remote Education: Experience from Sri Lanka During COVID-19, Asian Journal of Distance Education, 16(1), 207–229. Moos, R. H., and Holahan, C. J. (2007). “Adaptive Tasks and Methods of Coping with Illness and Disability,” In Coping with Chronic Illness and Disability – Theoretical, Empirical, and Clinical Aspects. E. Martz and H. Livneh (eds.), (New York, NY: Springer), 107–126. OECD (2020). Education and COVID-19: Focusing on Long Term Impact of School Closures, https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus Ogange, B. O. (2020). Futures Approaches Essential for Teacher Development in an Era of Crisis,https://www.col.org/news/futures-approaches-essential-for-teacher-development-inan-era-of-crisis/ Rosenthal, U., Charles, M. T., & t’Hart, P. (Eds.). (1989). Coping with crisis: The management of disasters, riots and terrorism. Springfield: Charles C. Thomas. Save the Children (2022). Sri Lanka Closes Schools for the Fourth Time This Year Amid Worsening Fuel Shortage: Save the Children Press Release, June 22, 2022, https://www. savethechildren.net/news/sri-lanka-closes-schools-fourth-time-year-amid-worseningfuel-shortage Sedere, U. M. (2021). Policies, strategies, and other interventions to build a resilient general education system in the country, Panel discussion on ‘Education during COVID-19 pandemic’. Proceedings of the National Conference on COVID 19: Impact, Mitigation, Opportunities and Building Resilience, Colombo, National Science Foundation, Sri Lanka, 484–489. Sethunga, P., Wijesundera, S., Kalamany, T., & Karunanayake, S. (2016). Study on the Professional Development of Teachers and Teacher Educators in Sri Lanka. Research Series, 2014 (2). National Education Commission, Sri Lanka. http://nec.gov.lk/wp-content/ uploads/2016/04/2-Final-.pdf Trust, T. & Whalen, J. (2020). Should Teachers be Trained in Emergency Remote Teaching? Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 28(2), 189–199. Waynesville, NC USA: Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education. Retrieved June 4, 2022 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/215995/ UNICEF for Every child, Sri Lanka (2021). https://www.unicef.org/srilanka/press-releases/ repeated-school-closures-due-covid-19-leading-learning-loss-and-widening-inequities Vithanapathirana, M. (2019 February 14). Professor J.E. Jayasuriya Memorial Lecture-29 Towards reforming teacher education: Concerns and priorities (Keynote address). J.E. Jayasuriya Memorial Foundation, Sri Lanka. Vithanapathirana, M. V. (2020). E-readiness and Techno-anxiety of postgraduate teacher trainees: Exploring the psychological climate for introducing a Blended Learning teacher education program through CONTESSA project. University of Colombo Annual Research Symposium 2020. Vithanapathirana, M. (2021). Blended Learning as an Emerging Approach to Teacher Education in Higher Education in Sri Lanka: Lessons from a State-of-the-art Review. University of Colombo Review (New Series III), 2(1), 57–74. Walby, S. (2015). Crisis. Cambridge: Polity Press. Walby, S. (2022). Crisis and Society: Developing the Theory of Crisis in the Context of COVID-19. Global Discourse. https://doi.org/10.1332/204378921x1634822877210

Part II

Rethinking Education Inequalities

6 Rethinking the Neighbourhood School in Post-Pandemic India Synchronicity and Segregation Amanda Gilbertson and Joyeeta Dey

There is a long history of privileged children being educated separately from poor and low-caste children in India. During British colonization, access to formal schooling was initially limited to upper-caste and landowning elites, and after Independence, progress on universalizing access to schooling was slow. By the time significant progress was finally made in the 1990s, elite and middle-class children were exiting the government school system in large numbers in favour of private schools (Thapliyal 2016). Today, many low-income families also send their children to private schools (Kingdon 2017), but significant variation between schools in terms of fees and quality ensures that children tend to study alongside those from similar socio-economic backgrounds to themselves (Juneja 2016). The need to replace this system of segregation and stratification with a ‘common school system’ was articulated by India’s National Education Commission of 1964–1966, known as the Kothari Commission, which called for a system of ‘neighbourhood schools’ attended by all children who live in the vicinity. Initially conceived of as a system of government and government-aided schools, the aspiration for a common school system was undermined by increasing privatisation. Responding to this, the Right to Education (RTE) Act of 2009 included private unaided schools in the common school vision. Section 12(1)(c) of the RTE Act mandates that private schools function as ‘neighbourhood schools’ by educating underprivileged children without charging fees. In this chapter, we suggest that experiences of distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic provide a lens through which to rethink the neighbourhood school. When schools closed for nearly two years, existing inequalities within and between schools became more visible, and questions about the significance for educational equality of a shared space and shared timing for learning were asked in different ways. We explore tensions between access and integration, synchronicity and asynchronicity, commonality and difference by juxtaposing two contexts of Indian schooling – implementation of Section 12(1)(c) of India’s RTE Act and distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first context, policy makers sought to reduce differences between children by giving them a common experience of learning synchronously in the same classroom at the same time, whereas in the second, online learning was celebrated by many as a mode through which education can happen anywhere at any time (Dhawan 2020; Chettri 2022). DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688-9

90  Amanda Gilbertson and Joyeeta Dey We locate both these contexts in a history of debates about ‘neighbourhood schools’ as part of a ‘common school system’. The Kothari Commission’s report noted that there was increasing segregation in the school system with ‘the minority of private, fee-charging, better schools meeting the needs of the upper classes and the vast bulk of free, publicly maintained, but poor schools being utilised by the rest’ (Kothari 1970, 14). The Commission asserted that neighbourhood schools would ‘bring the different social classes and groups together and thus promote the emergence of an egalitarian and integrated society’ (Kothari 1970, 16). This vision of the neighbourhood school is one in which simply providing access to education is insufficient. Instead, integration achieved through spatial and temporal synchronicity is envisaged as central to achieving equity in education outcomes. Commitment to this vision waned through the 1990s as India’s schooling system became highly privatised (Tukdeo 2019), but the RTE Act (2009) reinvigorated the idea. Section 12(1)(c) required (unaided) private schools to ensure that 25 per cent of children in new entrant classes were from ‘economically weaker sections’ or ‘disadvantaged categories’. However, after a decade of very uneven implementation of Section 12(1)(c) – due to its administrative complexity, private school resistance and a lack of political will to enforce (Gorur and Arnold 2020) – the neighbourhood school appeared to again fall off the political agenda. The 2020 National Education Policy does not mention Section 12(1)(c) and proposes instead a system of school clusters or complexes in which private schools are paired with government schools, encouraging a sharing of resources and occasional interaction but allowing for the continued segregation of students from different socio-economic backgrounds (Ministry of Human Resource Development 2022). We suggest that experiences of distance learning should serve to revive political interest in the neighbourhood school. During school closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, in the context of a deep digital divide, asynchronous modes of digital learning, particularly messaging via WhatsApp, were much more widely accessible than the synchronous mode of live video conferencing. However, the ineffectiveness of asynchronous modes and the inaccessibility of even these lowtech modes for many led to reliance on private tutors and informal ‘mohalla’ (neighbourhood) schools, widespread calls for schools to reopen, and (for some) a renewed sense of the importance of being in the same place at the same time. While advocates of a common school system envisage a future of education that is egalitarian and desegregated, another vision that holds great sway among policymakers, entrepreneurs, and middle-class parents is the idea of the digitalised school (Shanbaug 2021; Kant 2022). Sometimes these two visions are articulated together. Writing about ‘community schools’ in an article in The Economic Times, Chairperson of the National Knowledge Commission, Sam Pitroda (2006), asserted that in the future such schools ‘will be fundamentally different from the present concept of duster, chalk, blackboard, teachers and classrooms […] with focus on new tools and new technology such as the internet’. Rather than ‘scheduled classrooms’, these new modes of learning would enable asynchronous ‘self-learning at an early age’. During the pandemic, schools were forced into these futures in ways that brought this vision of a community/neighbourhood school freed from the constraints of time and space into serious question.

Neighbourhood School in Post-Pandemic India  91 We join other scholars in noting that contrary to the ‘anytime, anywhere’ vision of online learning, inequalities in time and space significantly impact the experiences of distance students (Sheail 2018). However, we diverge from prior studies in emphasising the importance of a shared time and space for learning and the potential to exacerbate inequalities when the learning of underprivileged students is separated from that of privileged students. Our aim in juxtaposing distance learning during the pandemic and Section 12(1)(c) implementation is to highlight the parallels across these two contexts and thereby reveal the risks of losing sight of the importance of integrated or desegregated learning experiences when prioritising access to learning. In the remainder of this chapter, we describe the methods used in our studies of Section 12(1)(c) implementation and distance learning during the pandemic, and discuss the issues of segregation and synchronicity that arose in each of these studies before concluding.

Methods Fieldwork for the study of Section 12(1)(c) implementation was conducted in Lucknow, the capital of the state of Uttar Pradesh, between August 2019 and March 2020. We focused on implementation in three private English-medium schools, chosen because each was reasonably positive about Section 12(1)(c). Overt barriers to implementation – private school resistance and state inaction – are well-documented, and so our aim was to understand how Section 12(1)(c) is implemented in the (apparent) absence of overt resistance. Our school-based research consisted of semi-structured interviews with principals, teachers, support staff, and parents (both Section 12(1)(c) beneficiaries and those paying fees), as well as observation of classrooms, school events and teacher meetings. In addition to the school-based research, we also analysed media reporting on the provision, and conducted semi-structured interviews with policy makers, academics, bureaucrats, politicians, development professionals, representatives from private school associations, journalists and activists, all of whom had been involved with Section 12(1)(c) in some way. Research was conducted in a mix of Hindi and English. In this chapter, we focus on the story of one of the Lucknow schools. The school we call Arcadia is located in an affluent area of town and has some of the highest fees in the city – around INR5000 per month. It is affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education, and has over 2000 students in classes from Nursery to 12th grade. Research for the study of distance learning during the pandemic involved interviews with parents (n = 54), teachers (n = 18) and school leaders (n = 3) from four schools – Arcadia, a second school from our Lucknow Section 12(1)(c) research, one school in Dehradun and one in rural Uttarakhand. This was a convenience sample of schools with which the researchers had established relationships through prior research. We call the second Lucknow school the small Lucknow school as it has just over 200 students in classes from Nursery to 7th grade. This school charges fees of around INR1500 per month, but also has many students from underprivileged families, including many Section 12(1)(c) beneficiaries, who pay reduced or no school fees. Accordingly, it caters to more working-class and lower-middle-class

92  Amanda Gilbertson and Joyeeta Dey families than Arcadia. The Dehradun school in our study is located on the outskirts of the city, is run by an NGO, and is affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations. It has over 800 students in classes from pre-nursery to 12th grade and charges fees of between INR1730 and INR3480 per month, although many students are from low- and middle-income families and pay significantly subsidised fees. The rural Uttarakhand school in our study is a private school with 70 students in classes up to 5th grade. Fees range from INR350 to INR800 per month. It is the only English-medium school in the area, is affiliated to the Uttarakhand Board, and caters to an underprivileged population of farmers and daily wage workers. Although the schools in the distance learning study are private, they were all subject to government-mandated school closures during the pandemic starting in late March 2020. In late 2020 and early 2021, the authors and four additional field researchers conducted interviews over the phone, although in-person interviews were possible with some participants in Dehradun and rural Uttarakhand where rates of COVID-19 infection were low. Most interviews were conducted in Hindi although some, particularly those with parents and teachers from Arcadia, were conducted in English.

Section 12(1)(c) Implementation In India, the socio-economic segregation of students associated with a highly privatised school system has been heavily critiqued (Kumar 2011). However, efforts to desegregate schools, particularly via Section 12(1)(c), have met with resistance from many sectors (Sarangapani et al. 2014). A group of private schools unsuccessfully challenged to constitutionality of Section 12(1)(c) in the Supreme Court (Society for Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan v Union of India & Another 2012), and many private schools continue to resist implementing the Act, resulting in a proliferation of court cases (Srivastava and Noronha 2014), and likely contributing to the absence of Section 12(1)(c) from the 2020 National Education Policy. Elite private schools have been most vocal in their criticism of Section 12(1)(c) because they experience a significant financial gap between school fees and the amount the government reimburses schools for each Section 12(1)(c) student as well as a socio-economic gap between the fee-paying and Section 12(1)(c) students. Unlike most elite private schools in Lucknow, Arcadia, has not been publicly opposed to Section 12(1)(c). Indeed, the school has a long history of educating underprivileged students. However, in this section we demonstrate that many at the school have reservations about Section 12(1)(c) and feel that underprivileged students can be better educated separately from privileged students. We argue that this relies on a prioritising of access over integration in interpreting the aims of Section 12(1)(c). One of the key concerns articulated by school leaders and teachers at Arcadia was that Section 12(1)(c) students would develop negative feelings from seeing other students with things that their own families could not afford: ‘one odd day they might see something very nice, and the parents can’t afford. It may develop anger. It may develop a lot of things’ (Arcadia principal). Arcadia has dealt with this

Neighbourhood School in Post-Pandemic India  93 by trying to invisibilise class differences between students. For example, they provide stationery and tell students to bring only simple lunches. The teachers in the school also adopt a strategy of non-acknowledgement of differences. We heard the line ‘we don’t differentiate’ again and again in interviews with Arcadia teachers: As a teacher, I don’t differentiate children. I forget ki [that] these are RTE children. If management does not tell me these are the RTE children, I do not know […] Actually, we teach all the students equally. We don’t differentiate. We don’t differentiate. However, the school was bifurcated between the majority who asserted there was ‘no differentiation’ at all and the minority who contended that ‘differentiation’ was unavoidable and segregation was therefore preferable. One Arcadia principal, for example, said that: ‘the RTE should not be mixed with the regular children, especially our school type of children because what we are doing a kind of injustice to them’. In these discussions, comparisons were often made with a separate Hindimedium afternoon school for disadvantaged students that Arcadia runs on the same grounds, which we call Asha. This ‘outreach school’ long precedes the RTE Act and was an independent initiative of the school, not prompted by government policy. Another Arcadia principal asserted: ‘RTE students, if they were to join our [Asha], I’m telling you they would flower. But nobody wants to put them in [Asha]. Why, I don’t understand.’ Arcadia had a policy of mainstreaming high achieving Asha students into Arcadia classes, but we heard that several Asha students had struggled in Arcadia and had been moved back to Asha. A decision had been made to stop the mainstreaming of Asha students in the future: ‘every year we used to get a certain number of [Asha] girls to the regular school, but now they have stopped because the girls are happy in [Asha] itself ’ (Arcadia principal). The School Director explained: The English is perhaps the biggest barrier. There are social issues that they face, and the sad part is when some of them do begin to look down on their families. They feel that they’re better […] I think social integration is important; it needs to happen everywhere. It’s also complicated […] They lose confidence, lose self-esteem, they start feeling nervous because of their peers. Laura Day Ashley (2005, 134) argues that schools running outreach programmes face a dilemma between commonality and difference as they struggle to give outreach programme children an education that is appropriate to their needs and provides equality of opportunity. The managers of schools in Ashley’s research justified their perpetuation of parallel tracks in education for privileged and underprivileged students by expressing concerns about underprivileged students’ ability to cope with English-medium education, the sense of inferiority that the outreach programme children might feel if ‘mainstreamed’ into the private school, and their lack of home support (2005, 141). Thus, the asynchronous mode of the outreach school was framed as better suited to the needs of underprivileged students even as questions remained about whether equality of opportunity is possible in a segregated system.

94  Amanda Gilbertson and Joyeeta Dey As in Ashley’s research, the key justifications at Arcadia for segregation were language, home support and ‘inferiority complexes’. Explaining the struggles with Asha mainstreaming, one of the Arcadia principals said: The problem was of the language; the problem was the home environment. They were not able to get any help from home, so consequently they were not doing well in classes […] So if they’re better off in [Asha], let them be … Because [Asha] – we were like the main school only, but according to their needs, according to their standard. Teachers and school leaders also asserted that temporal and spatial asynchronicity better meets the needs of underprivileged students on the grounds of more space (a whole school rather than just a few seats in a ‘mainstream’ classroom) and timing that allows students to work in the mornings. We surmise that Arcadia’s perspective that Asha is a better place for Section 12(1)(c) students was underpinned by an interpretation of Section 12(1)(c) as being primarily about providing underprivileged children with access to quality education. This conflicts with the emphasis on integration in official documents accompanying the RTE Act: Admission of 25% children from disadvantaged groups and weaker sections in the neighbourhood is not merely to provide avenues of quality education to poor and disadvantaged children. The larger objective is to provide a common place where children sit, eat and live together for at least eight years of their lives across caste, class and gender divides in order that it narrows down such divisions in our society. (Government of India 2012, 7–8) The prioritising of access over integration was not unique to Arcadia. The argument that separate schools are better for the self-esteem of Section 12(1)(c) students was expressed in the media (e.g., Kumaraswamy and Mathur 2010). A researcher from an influential Delhi think tank told us that underprivileged families would not mind if their children were educated separately from fee-paying students as all they care about is access to private schools. And a UP government bureaucrat told us the government knowingly look the other way when private schools under-report how many seats they have available for Section 12(1)(c) applicants (i.e., what would constitute 25% of their new entrants’ classes) because the overarching aim of Section 12(1)(c) is ‘greater access’ so providing access to a few constitutes success even if the critical mass of Section 12(1)(c) students in classrooms, necessary for effective integration, is not achieved. Arcadia’s approach conflicts with the perspectives of Section 12(1)(c) beneficiaries who assert that integration (spatial and temporal synchronicity) is essential to ensuring their children receive quality education. They did not apply to schools that had a reputation for teaching Section 12(1)(c) children separately, and post-admission a common anxiety was that the school would discriminate against their children and teach them in separate classrooms. Section 12(1)(c) parents identified

Neighbourhood School in Post-Pandemic India  95 the practice of segregated classrooms as rooted in discriminatory attitudes (bhed bhav) and a potential source of humiliation for them and their children. They assumed that if taught separately, their children would be provided an inferior education, a concern supported by research that shows that ‘services for the poor are poor services’ (Keefer and Khemani 2004). Section 12(1)(c) parents thus saw segregation as a greater source of feelings of inferiority than integration. A former Asha student, Shruti, who had been ‘mainstreamed’ into Arcadia classes gave a rich sense of the importance of synchronicity – both spatial and temporal – to the sense of non-discrimination. Shruti explained that when she was still attending Asha classes, she and her classmates perceived that the Arcadia students always used to feel that this is our place, our space, and we [Asha students] are secondary to them, as in we are using their resources. We never used to feel that we have the same right over that building, over that classroom and everything. This sense of using someone else’s space was conveyed by the way Arcadia students vacated classrooms at the end of their school day and the beginning of Asha classes: [T]hey leave the classrooms untidy and even when [Arcadia] used to get over every day, that was not intentional obviously, but they used to take a lot of time while packing their bags, talking to their friends, and we used to wait outside the class, matlab [meaning] ‘please vacate the place so that we can come in’. They used to take their proper time while packing and talking to their friends in the classroom. Shruti described the transition from Asha to Arcadia as ‘one of the challenging phases of my life’ as she struggled to adjust to English-medium education. However, she was a strong advocate of educating privileged and underprivileged students together: [I]n an integrated environment it’s a two-way learning process. Not only I was learning in [Arcadia], the students who were around me, they even got insights about my life. […] probably they are also the students who will go to the higher positions later on in life and they’ll start making policies so unless and until they can empathise and they can relate to the problems of people around them, so it’s a good way if both of them learn about each other’s lives. So that’s the reason integrated is better. In summary, school leaders from Arcadia argue that integration poses challenges for underprivileged students because their ‘difference’ makes them feel inferior and means that they have different needs. The architects of Section 12(1)(c), beneficiaries, and a former student argue that schools should be able to cater for difference, and that being educated separately makes the underprivileged feel inferior and leads to an inferior quality of education. In the following section, we

96  Amanda Gilbertson and Joyeeta Dey demonstrate how separate modes of education for different students were adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic, also resulting in a widening of education inequalities but without the same controversy associated with segregation in in-person learning.

Distance Learning during the Covid-19 Pandemic For many, part of the appeal of online learning lies in its potential for spatial and temporal asynchronicity – education can happen anywhere at any time. In this section, we demonstrate that the ability of online learning to happen at a distance and adapt to the temporalities of different families played an important role in ensuring wider access to education during the pandemic. However, this resulted in a digital segregation and stratification of students, particularly along lines of class and location, with urban and affluent students attending live video classes, students with more restricted digital access relying on asynchronous learning via messaging services, and remote and disadvantaged families with no digital access turning to private tutors and mohalla (neighbourhood) schools. We ask whether anything is lost in harnessing the adaptability of online learning for widening access at the expense of integration or desegregation. In our study, more affluent families and in rare cases the urban poor were able to access synchronous modes of online learning, i.e., live video conferencing. At Arcadia, for example, even Section 12(1)(c) beneficiaries were able to arrange access to a smartphone and sufficient mobile data for their children to attend live classes. Low-tech and no-tech modes of distance learning were relatively absent. At the three non-elite schools in our study, however, most could not access live classes. This is consistent with other research from India. The School Children’s Online and Offline Learning (SCHOOL) survey, involving 1362 school children (Classes 1–8) in underprivileged households, found that only 27 per cent of urban children and 12 per cent of rural children were watching live classes (Bakhla et al. 2021, 7). Low-tech asynchronous modes of distance learning such as phone calls, SMS and WhatsApp were much more widely used (Azim Premji Foundation 2020; Vyas 2020; UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia 2020). In our study and in other research, families were unable to access live classes because of a lack of an appropriate device, insufficient data, and poor internet connections. Students’ ability to access synchronous online learning was also affected in less intuitive ways relating to time. A common issue was that the family owned only one smart phone, and this device was out during the day with a working parent. A teacher from the Dehradun school in our study explained how this factor led to them to using WhatsApp videos for asynchronous teaching, showing how asynchronicity, adopted to allow inclusivity, simultaneously furthered separation: The phones were with the father or the mother, who had to go out for work. So, they didn’t have the time frame, like in the morning or the afternoon in which we wanted to teach them. So, then we decided to go with the videos. The teachers would record videos and whenever the child was free, or the

Neighbourhood School in Post-Pandemic India  97 father was at home or the cell phone was at home, they can watch it anytime they are comfortable with […] For the parents who are not able to sit the children for classes in the morning, they can give their cell phones to the children in the evening and then they can watch it. Similarly, the principal and teachers at the small Lucknow school had made the decision to use WhatsApp because video conferencing was too data intensive for many families, and there was no smart phone home during the day in many households. In addition, the small Lucknow school continued its pre-pandemic tradition of running afterschool homework support classes for underprivileged families by providing online evening classes for children who were unable to access teacher support during normal school hours due to a lack of devices. Students’ ability to access learning at particular times was affected also by the inequalities of rural public infrastructure and gender roles. A parent from the rural Uttarakhand school explained: There is no electricity during night-time for hours. Then children don’t wait for it to come back as they have to sleep also. They cannot wait till 12:00am to start with the studies […] During daytime, the networks are poor. Then we have to go out for work as we need to eat to survive […] We have cattle too to look after. They don’t understand what’s corona or what’s what. They need to eat as well or else they will die, that is also our loss. A mother from the small Lucknow school explained that scheduled online class times ‘are the peak hours for our daily life’. To help her young child access online learning at this time, she had to adjust her daily routine: ‘I started getting up very early in the morning so by the time he needs to sit for online classes I have finished most the housework and I was ready to help him.’ Although low-tech and asynchronous modes widened access, many families in our study struggled to access even these forms of digital learning. Accordingly, all three non-elite schools in our study had, during the course of the pandemic, developed ‘no-tech’ strategies involving hard copies of schoolwork being picked up and dropped off at school. Ongoing school closures were justified on the grounds that in-person learning posed too great a risk of infection (Ahuja 2021). However, several families in our study had made the decision that the harms of distance learning outweighed the risks of in-person learning and were sending their children to private in-person tuitions. These were parents who were unable to access online learning or felt illequipped to support their child’s learning: ‘In the beginning, I was the one assisting them but then I myself don’t know much. […] Later, they eventually started tuition because we have our work and cannot give much time’ (Dehradun school). This pattern of turning to in-person but non-school learning options has been observed across India. While the examples from our study were all informal, some states established mohalla classes – in-person classes in community spaces with a small number of students to enable social distancing – as a compromise between complete closure and reopening of schools (Vyas 2021, 2020; Sinha 2021; Nagari 2020). Unlike the Kothari Commission’s vision of the neighbourhood school,

98  Amanda Gilbertson and Joyeeta Dey mohalla schools during the pandemic were not attended by all children, but only by the most disadvantaged – those unable to access digital learning. India’s prolonged school closures in the context of the deep digital divide has led to significant learning loss and dropouts, especially among marginalised children, resulting in a significant widening of education inequalities (Azim Premji Foundation 2021b; Save the Children 2021; Bakhla et al. 2021). Recognising this, many parents at the three non-elite schools called for schools to reopen with COVID-safe measures such as fewer children in each classroom and social distancing: ‘There could be classes in school with some safety and distance. We could have done that’ (Parent, Dehradun School). Similarly, in the SCHOOL survey, 97 per cent of rural underprivileged households supported reopening of schools (Bakhla et al. 2021, 23). In a study conducted by Azim Premji Foundation (Azim Premji Foundation 2021a, 54), teachers wanted children to return to school as soon as possible, while in a study conducted by Singh et al. (2020) teachers favoured a ‘hybrid approach’ that included socially distanced access to physical school. Thus, while the asynchronous adaptability of online learning, together with the hybrid approach that included no-tech distance learning and in-person mohalla classes, had the advantage of enabling different methods catering to the needs of different students, it also enabled the interests of privileged and underprivileged students to become opposed. A parent from the rural Uttarakhand school in our study asserted that these opposing interests explained the prolonged nature of India’s school closures: I think schools should reopen soon. That would be best […] It’s not in our hands really, who will listen to us? Things will happen according to the guidelines of government. Government is not interested in what we have to say; neither are ministers. No one listens to us poor people. It’s different for rich people, their children go to big and expensive schools, and they have proper facilities available at home also as they have money and their kids are not in loss. It’s us who face all these problems. (Parent, rural Uttarakhand school)

Conclusion Through Section 12(1)(c) of India’s RTE Act, private schools were meant to operate as neighbourhood schools, leading to a more egalitarian and socially integrated school culture. However, our pre-pandemic ethnographic fieldwork shows that the segregationist tendencies of society found a way back, even in schools that are ostensibly eager to adopt the policy. One key feature of this process was the common understanding of Section 12(1)(c) as a policy to enable access to education for the underprivileged, as opposed to one explicitly committed to integration of classrooms through children learning together, at the same place at the same time (Gilbertson and Dey 2021). In this chapter, we trace what happens to the aims of desegregation when the neighbourhood school goes online. Our interviews reveal a similar pattern of

Neighbourhood School in Post-Pandemic India  99 access being prioritised over integration. However, an important disclaimer here is that the segregation by space (online modes for the middle-class children and separate offline modes for disadvantaged children) and time (regular school hours for middle-class children, evening classes for disadvantaged children) was made to enable otherwise impossible access to the poor through the online mode. Digital learning represents several utopic visions, one of which is the rendering of time and location irrelevant to access. However, during the pandemic, with the nationwide adoption of digital schooling, somehow the idea of both location and ‘school times’ has gained increased importance. The accommodation of classed and gendered timelines in the planning of distance learning finds resonance in histories of ‘night schools’ where, as in our evidence, ‘school’ appears flexible, expansive, and multi-sited but segregated by class (D’souza 2019). Interestingly, what is happening in this process is what the RTE mandates against, and what has historically been practised by private schools through the mode of ‘outreach schools’ where poor children receive an education at a different time, often in a different space (Ashley 2005; Thapliyal 2016). The schools in our study were very sensitive and adaptive to the needs of their disadvantaged students, but the prolonged nature of government-mandated school closures may not have been politically possible had the negative impacts of school closures been more evenly spread. The significant value attached to desegregation by working-class families in our Section 12(1)(c) research, points to the need to revive political commitment to a vision of the neighbourhood school that is not just adaptive to the needs of underprivileged students, but also, crucially, integrated.

Acknowledgements We are very grateful to all research participants for sharing their experiences with us and would like to particularly thank the school leaders for their generous support of this research. We would like to acknowledge the significant contributions to this chapter made by our collaborators on the distance learning study: Andrew Deuchar, Nathan Grills, Prerana Singh, Akruti Kristina Raaj, Kajal Kumari and Sarita Pal.

References Ahuja, Achalika. 2021. ‘Should schools reopen only after all children are vaccinated?’ The Indian Express. Accessed 31 Aug 2021. https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/ schools-reopen-children-covid-vaccination-7480424/ Ashley, Laura Day. 2005. ‘From margins to mainstream: Private school outreach inclusion processes for out-of-school children in India.’ International Journal of Educational Development 25 (2):133–144. Azim Premji Foundation. 2020. ‘Myths of online education.’ In Field Studies in Education. Accessed 31 Aug 2021. https://educationforallinindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/ Myths-of-Online-Education-by-Azim-Premiji-University-September-2020.pdf Azim Premji Foundation. 2021a. ‘Loss of learning during the pandemic and planning ahead.’ Children First 1 (1):51–56.

100  Amanda Gilbertson and Joyeeta Dey Azim Premji Foundation. 2021b. ‘The loss of learning for children during the pandemic.’ In Field Studies in Education. Accessed 31 Aug 2021. https://azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/ field-studies-in-education/loss-of-learning-during-the-pandemic Bakhla, Nirali, Jean Drèze, Vipul Paikra, and Reetika Khera. 2021. ‘Locked out: Emergency report on School Education in India.’ Road Scholarz. Accessed 4 Apr 2022. https:// roadscholarz.net/locked-out-emergency-report-on-school-education/ Chettri, Shradha. 2022. ‘Anywhere, anytime: How virtual school will fix gaps in learning in Delhi.’ The Times of India. Accessed 1 May 2022. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ city/delhi/anywhere-anytime-how-virtual-school-will-fix-gaps-in-lear ning/ articleshow/90299872.cms D’souza, Dipti Nagpaul. 2019. ‘Why Night Schools Continue to Help the Young and Old Take a Shot at the Mumbai Dream.’ Accessed 2 May 2022. https://indianexpress.com/ article/express-sunday-eye/mumbai-night-school-light-dark-5532297/ Dhawan, Shivangi. 2020. ‘Online learning: A panacea in the time of COVID-19 crisis.’ Journal of Educational Technology Systems 49 (1):5–22. Gilbertson, Amanda, and Joyeeta Dey. 2021. ‘Access versus integration: the benevolent undermining of an Indian desegregation policy.’ Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. Published online DOI 10.1080/01596306.2021.2007049. Gorur, Radhika, and Ben Arnold. 2020. ‘Hybrid models of delivery: State mandated public-private partnerships in India.’ In Privatisation and Commercialisation in Public Education: How the Public Nature of Schooling is Changing, edited by Anna Hogan and Greg Thompson, 82–97. Abingdon: Routledge. Government of India. 2012. ‘RTE section wise rationale.’ Accessed 31 Aug 2021. https:// www.education.gov.in/en/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/upload_document/RTE_ Section_wise_rationale_rev_0.pdf Juneja, Nalini. 2016. ‘Turning the tide of school segregation–India’s attempt to make its private schools inclusive.’ International Journal of Innovative Business Strategies 2 (1). Kant, Amitabh. 2022. ‘The future of learning in India is ed-tech.’ The Indian Express. Accessed 30 Jun 2021. https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/the-futureof-learning-in-india-is-ed-tech-pandemic-online-classes-7381782/ Keefer, Philip, and Stuti Khemani. 2004. ‘Why do the poor receive poor services?’ Economic and Political Weekly 39 (9):935–943. Kingdon, Geeta Gandhi. 2017. ‘The private schooling phenomenon in India: A review.’ In IZA Discussion Papers, No. 10612. Bonn: Institute of Labor Economics (IZA). Kothari, Daulat Singh. 1970. ‘Kothari Commission-Educational and National Development: Report of the Education Commission 1964–1966.’ National Council of Educational Research and Training. Kumar, Krishna. 2011. ‘Why RTE remains a moral dream.’ The Hindu. Accessed 20 May 2021. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/Why-RTE-remains-a-moral-dream/ article13897392.ece Kumaraswamy, A, and Alok Mathur. 2010. ‘RTE Act: Private schools as catalysts?’ The Hindu. Accessed 20 May 2021. https://www.thehindu.com/features/education/RTEAct-Private-schools-as-catalysts/article16625525.ece Ministry of Human Resource Development. 2022. ‘National education policy.’ Accessed 28 Mar 2022. https://www.mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/NEP_Final_English_0. pdf Nagari, Akhilesh. 2020. ‘Tripura govt introducing neighbourhood classes for students who can’t study online.’ Hindustan Times. Accessed 29 Apr 2022. https://www.hindustantimes. com/education/tripura-govt-introducing-neighbourhood-classes-for-students-whocan-t-study-online/story-BaCZNnLvKH1vLvzc3Z3XEK.html

Neighbourhood School in Post-Pandemic India  101 Pitroda, Sam. 2006. ‘Do we need neighbourhood schools?’ The Economic Times. Accessed 29 Apr 2022. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/perspectives/do-we-need-neigh bourhood-schools/articleshow/1956799.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_ medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst Sarangapani, Padma M, Archana Mehendale, Rahul Mukhopadhyay, and Annie Namala. 2014. ‘Inclusion of marginalized children in private unaided schools: The RTE Act, 2009.’ Oxfam India Working Papers. https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/handle/10546/346615 Save the Children. 2021. ‘A generation at stake: Protecting India’s children from impact of COVID-19.’ Children First 1 (1):85–92. Shanbaug, Amit. 2021. ‘Why school EdTech will dominate in a post pandemic world.’ Economic Times Accessed 22 Nov 2021. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/ services/education/why-school-edtech-will-dominate-in-a-post-pandemic-world/ articleshow/87853030.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_ campaign=cppst. Sheail, Philippa. 2018. ‘The digital university and the shifting time–space of the campus.’ Learning, Media and Technology 43 (1):56–69. Singh, Ajay K, Raja Sekhar Satyavada, Tushar Goel, Padma Sarangapani, and Nishevita Jayendran. 2020. ‘Use of EdTech in Indian school education during COVID-19: A reality check.’ Economic & Political Weekly LV (44):16–19. Sinha, Binod. 2021. ‘Mohalla classes to tide through the pandemic.’ Oxfam. Accessed 29 Apr 2022. https://www.oxfamindia.org/featuredstories/mohalla-classes-tide-throughpandemic Society for Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan v Union of India & Another. 2012. ‘Writ Petition (C) No. 95 of 2010.’ Supreme Court of India. Srivastava, Prachi, and Claire Noronha. 2014. ‘Institutional framing of the right to education act: Contestation, controversy, and concessions.’ Economic and Political Weekly 49 (18):51–58. Thapliyal, Nisha. 2016. ‘Privatized rights, segregated childhoods: A critical analysis of neoliberal education policy in India.’ In Politics, Citizenship and Rights, edited by Kirsi Pauliina Kallio, Sarah Mills and Tracey Skelton, 21–37. Singapore: Springer Singapore. Tukdeo, Shivali. 2019. India Goes to School: Springer. UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia. 2020. Guidance on Distance Learning Modalities to Reach all Children and Youth during School Closures. Kathmandu: UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia. Vyas, Ankit. 2020. ‘Status Report-Government and private schools during COVID-19.’ Oxfam. Accessed 29 Apr 2022. https://www.oxfamindia.org/sites/default/files/202009/Status%20report%20Government%20and%20private%20schools%20during%20 COVID%20-%2019.pdf Vyas, Ankit. 2021. ‘School closures have hurt Indian children – but mohalla classes may be the way forward.’ Scroll.in. Accessed 26 Jan 2022. https://scroll.in/article/998784/ school-closures-have-hurt-indian-children-mohalla-classes-may-be-the-way-forward

7 A Pernicious Combination of Pandemic and Kashmir Conflict for Students in the Valley A ‘Double Lockdown’ Nida Khan Introduction Education is seen as a tool for human development and empowerment. However, it is also socially embedded and inevitably affected by various political events based on the location and context of the institutions. This paper explores this issue in the context of the Kashmir Valley, which has experienced a long history of conflict. The geopolitical conflict in Kashmir has already seen three wars, which have been fought without any worthy solution. The region has witnessed phases of conflict and turmoil, including but not limited to, the insurgency started in 1988– 1989, Amarnath Land row agitation (2008), Machil encounter (2010), Burhan Wani encounter (2016) Pulwama attack (2019) and most recent abrogation of Article 370 (August 2019) and COVID-19 (2020–2021). Over time peace has become a distant dream in the valley and conflict has become the new normal (Ahanger, 2019). The home-outside boundaries are rendered indistinct, and Kashmir has become the most militarised zone in the world with an estimated presence of 650,000– 750,000 armed forces (including military, police, paramilitary and pro-government militias), which means that 1 security personnel is deployed for every 6 civilians. Security personnel are present everywhere in the forms of camps, checkpoints and bunkers, and even include public spaces such as university campuses, stadiums, cinema halls, schools, hospitals, recreational clubs, and government rest houses (IPTK and APDP Report, 2015; JKCCS, 2015). Military personnel are so visible in the everyday life of Kashmiri people that it’s almost impossible to ignore and is a constant reminder of state surveillance. More than 700,00 people are directly affected by conflict, mostly inhabitants of Kashmir valley and border areas and the whole state population (10 million) are indirectly affected (Boyden et al., 2002). Further, fundamental human rights are under threat with the existence of various laws that are functional in the region – Armed Forces Special Power Act (1990), J&K Public Safety Act (1978), Disturbed Area Act and have cases of half-widows, unmarked graves, stone-pelters, curfews etc. Pellet guns are a new addition to the Kashmir conflict and as per the report from Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital in Srinagar, 1253 people have been blinded by pellet guns from mid-2016-end 2018 (KSCAN, 2019). These metal pellets are spread over a wide DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688-10

Pandemic and Kashmir Conflict for Valley Students  103 area and have blinded hundreds of people and even killed 14 people (Ather Zia, 2019; Amnesty International India, 2017). Overall Kashmir has become a permanent state of emergency and Shrimoyee Nandini Ghosh, who is a lawyer and legal anthropologist based in New Delhi, highlights how in J&K there is remarkable persistence and normalisation of wartime ordinances and measures in place (Ghosh, 2020). Kashmir has witnessed prolonged conflict for more than three decades and it’s the youth (students) that have suffered the most. The generation born post-1990s has rarely seen normalcy in their whole lives; for them, conflict (which is usually a state of exception) is the new normal. Exposure to prolonged conflict, political turmoil, and militarisation has hampered the everyday life of civilians (Housen et al., 2017). According to Kashmir Mental Health Survey (2015), on average, an adult living in the Kashmir Valley has witnessed or experienced 7.7 traumatic events during his/her lifetime, and nearly 1.8 million adults (45% of the adult population) in the Kashmir Valley are experiencing symptoms of mental distress, with 41% exhibiting signs of probable depression, 26% probable anxiety, and 19% probable Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Medecins Sans Frontieres(MSF), University of Kashmir, Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS). 2016). These experiences may well exert lasting negative effects on multiple domains of functioning (e.g., cognitive, socio-emotional) that are still developing and emerging throughout childhood (Betancourt et al., 2013; Shaw, 2003). The effect of trauma and turbulence in the formative years is very much visible in children and youth. Kashmiri students suffer from a higher percentage of mental health disorders evident in terms of mood disorders, anxiety and behavioural disorder in comparison to students from other states in India (Paul and Khan, 2018). College students in Kashmir suffer from feelings of uncertainty about the future, hopelessness and social alienation (Parveen and Shafiq, 2014; Paul and Khan, 2018) and see conflict as a roadblock in their holistic development as it restricts financial growth and professional opportunities (Dar, 2011). Many Kashmiri people feel their voices are choked and to overcome or cope with this continuous turmoil, have taken to drugs and even suicide as escape mechanism from this never-ending pain (Sofiya, 2012; Naqshbandi, 2012). This paper aims to highlight how the prolonged conflict, pandemic, and double lockdown have disrupted the education system in the Kashmir Valley and acted as a pernicious combination for Kashmiri students. As the paper develops it will discuss the everyday lived realities of Kashmiri students living in conflict areas and what it means to attain education within crisis areas including the problems and challenges students have faced in the Valley in terms of – the reduced number of official working days, reduced syllabus, mass promotion, limited or no Internet access, problems in filling up common entrance forms, the adverse psychological impact of conflict, etc. The detailed interviews and personal narratives of Kashmiri students pursuing higher education were collected as part of my PhD fieldwork and will give a nuanced understanding of the phenomenon under study. Apart from highlighting the problems faced by Kashmiri students, a few positive initiatives taken by the community have also been highlighted that can be seen as a way forward followed by the conclusion.

104  Nida Khan

Crisis in Education vs. Education within Crisis/State of Exception Areas Education is an accepted part of humanitarian response in conflict and post-conflict situations. It can help to restore normalcy and safeguard the most vulnerable, protect their rights and promote tolerance and help in the process of peacebuilding and reconstruction of society for the better (Haider, 2014). Before we dwell further, we need to understand that there is a difference between “crisis in education” and “education within crisis/emergency or state of exception area”. A “crisis in education” means there are systemic problems in the education system including the quality of education, curriculum context, teaching-learning practices, teacher-pupil ratio etc. It is more in the context of what happens inside the classroom/institution, how much children learn and how the educational system can be improved etc. There is a difference, as being in school is not the same as learning. While “educa‑ tion within crisis or state of exception area” means when the education system is placed in a disturbed or conflict zone, where even basic human rights are curbed at times and a state of exception becomes the norm. The state of exception is a special form of law, rather than the suspension of the judicial order itself, the military law prevails. It is a zone of indifference where law and non-law are blurred (Agamben, 2005). The present research is located in Kashmir which has its localised state of exception leading to pedagogical abnormalities. The education system has been affected the most due to this prolonged conflict, unrest, and curfews in the valley. In the 2016 insurgency at least 25 school buildings were set ablaze. Many people including students have been arrested under the Public Safety Act (PSA) for participating in protests. Children missed classes and board exams, leading to a new phenomenon of mass promotion, followed by exams being conducted on the half syllabus, delayed results leading to loss of opportunity for students planning on migrating to other states for education. The idea of mass promotion in grades 8, 9 and 11 was first started during the 2016 uprising, and again was used in the year 2019 after the abrogation of Article 370, and once again during the pandemic. This method has adversely affected the quality, efficiency, and performance of students as reflected during competitive exams (Mannan, 2019). Everyday lockdowns and curfews have reduced the number of official working days in educational institutions leading to problems in the completion of syllabi on time. According to the report by Indiaspend, 207 working days were lost in 1991, 112 in 2010, and 130 in 2016 (accounting for nearly 60%) of total working days. Furthermore, in 2019, 182 working days were lost, and only 19 working days existed from 5th August 2020 till November 2020 (Amnesty International, 2020). To complicate things further, the Internet becomes the first casualty whenever the situation in the Valley turns from restive to volatile. Kashmir Valley has been experiencing Internet shutdowns since 2012, but it is on the rise as per Software Freedom Law Centre, India (SFLC.in), a website that tracks Internet shutdowns in India. In 2012, the Internet was banned three times, and over the years, has been on the rise as highlighted in Table 7.1. This phenomenon of Internet ban is also referred to as ‘e‑curfew’ in the region. Many people who had applied for work and education abroad could not do the same due to delays in getting passports and visas

Pandemic and Kashmir Conflict for Valley Students  105 Table 7.1  Internet shutdown year-wise in Kashmir Valley (2012–2021) Year

Number of times the Internet shut down

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

3 5 6 14 31 79 133 109 129 25

Source: Software Freedom Law Centre (Software Freedom Law Centre, India (SFLC.in). (n.d.) https://internetshutdowns.in.

as the Internet and social media were completely banned in the valley for a long period of curfews. The Valley witnessed the longest Internet ban in any democratic country: 18 months (555 days) from early August 2019 to February 2021, to get high Internet speed leading to the phenomenon of double lockdown. It adversely affected the education system, due to pandemic-related lockdowns, social distancing, and online modes of learning. Online education was a paradigm shift, and both students and teachers struggled to adapt to the change. But in the context of Kashmir, they had no Internet to fulfil their daily educational needs and the state denied it in the name of security threats. The students in Kashmir suffer from both crisis in education (systemic problem) and education within crisis or state of exception as part of the prolonged conflict of more than three decades leading to frequently occurring violence, bandhs and blockades, Internet bans etc. impeding the learning environment and the academic life of students. The recent abrogation of Article 370, and the COVID-19 pandemic added their share of problems.

Phenomenon of Double Lockdown in Kashmir In the Indian context, Jammu & Kashmir state was divided into three regions: Jammu (Hindu dominated), Kashmir (Muslim dominated), and Ladakh (Buddhist dominated). The J&K state had special provisions under Article 370 and Article 35A and enjoyed its autonomy except in cases of defence, external affairs, and communication. But on 5th August 2019, a major change was made by the ruling government and the special constitutional status of J&K under Article 370 was revoked and Article 35A was abrogated. These articles defined who is a permanent resident of the state and what are the rights and privileges that are attached with such a residency. Furthermore, Jammu and Kashmir state was divided into two union territories: the Union Territory of J&K and the Union Territory of Ladakh. This move faced strong opposition from the population and to control it, the government-imposed curfews, and telecommunication blockage, detained political leaders and imposed section 144 of the Indian Penal Code to prevent unrest in the region. The educational institutions were shut down and Internet restrictions were also put into place. Interestingly, Kashmir was already under lockdown since 5th August 2019

106  Nida Khan due to the abrogation of Article 370, a second lockdown was imposed on March 2020 when WHO declared a COVID-19 public health emergency. As a result, Kashmir Valley faced lockdown within lockdown, meaning a double lockdown. But along with it came the longest Internet blockade of 18 months (555 days) from early August 2019 till February 2021. The virus indiscriminately affected all the nations and its citizens, but little attention is paid to Kashmir as it suffered two-fold fears: one the effect of the virus, and the other of the uncertain/unknown future of J&K as a Union Territory. The Internet blockage adversely affected education, business, tourism, health, and the entertainment industry, depriving people of the essential right to connect. According to a study by the Delhi-based think tank International Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), the intensity of frequent shutdowns in Kashmir has inflicted a loss of 4,000 crores on Kashmir’s economy in six years (Kathuria et al., 2018). Vice president of Kashmir Chambers of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) stated that due to the double lockdown economy suffered an economic loss of 40,000 crore with an estimated loss of 5 lakh jobs (Akmali, Greater Kashmir, 2020). KCCI stated that from 5 August to December 2019, various sectors suffered suggested losses that include the agriculture sector loss at 2,827 crores, tourism at 2,615 crores, service sector at 2,267 crores, manufacturing at 2,466 crores, and construction at 1,629 crores (Peerzada, The Hindu, 2019). Furthermore, people who had taken up alternate career choices like an entrepreneur, digital content creators, social media influencers, etc. all came to a pause due to a long Internet ban and had to start from scratch. The double lockdown adversely affected the wellbeing of the Kashmiri people and particularly the students’ academic life.

Methodology The study focuses on Kashmir students (youth) aged 18–35 years of age, by which is meant those who have attained some level of education from Kashmir Valley and are currently pursuing higher education. Youth is considered a very important component for the development of any society and investment in youth is seen as an investment for the future (UNFPA. 2013). Globally, youth population (15–29 years) stands at 1.8 billion as per United Nations (UN), and interestingly India has 366 million (i.e., out of the total world youth population, every fifth resident (20%) is in India). According to Census 2011 in India, youth constitute 28% of the total population and have contributed over 34% in the country’s national income. Further India is expected to be the youngest country in the world by 2020 with a median age of 29 years (UNFPA, 2014). Within youth, the focus is on Kashmiri youth in India because they belong to the category of youth in conflict. Today, more than 600 million youth live in fragile and conflict-affected countries and territories (UNDP Youth Strategy, 2014–2017). Young people are both the victims and the perpetrators of the violence in the societies they live in (Ozerdem, 2016). This chapter contains a part of my Ph.D. research work and is based on empirical evidence using both primary and secondary sources of data. The field area is Kashmir Valley and as the target group is very specific so through purposive sampling, snowball sampling method was adopted. Data was collected in a phased manner during 2019–2021, and several glitches were faced in conducting fieldwork due

Pandemic and Kashmir Conflict for Valley Students  107 to the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019 and the pandemic in 2020–2021 leading to lockdowns, curfews, Internet bans and social distancing norms in place. Initially, based on contacts in Kashmir through snowball sampling, in-person interviews were conducted. But with the onset of the pandemic, online modes of data collection were explored. A Google form survey was developed and circulated among the target group along with that, respondents were contacted through phone calls, WhatsApp, and social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). At times during the pandemic, Zoom meetings and WhatsApp group calls were used to conduct interviews and focus group discussions. Respondents’ identities have been anonymised. Data were collected in both online and offline modes and a total of 30 responses were collected through in-depth interviews to attain maximum information from the same. Conducting research in the conflict areas is challenging but the repeal of Article 370 and the pandemic forces us to rethink ways of conducting research in a hybrid mode that can be a new way forward, certainly with its own limitations. The basic profile of the respondents is highlighted in Table 7.2. In terms of gender, out of 30 respondents, 19 were males (63.3%) and 11 were females (36.7%). In terms of age, a higher percentage (46.7%) were aged 31–35, followed by respondents aged 26–30 (30%). The majority of the respondents belonged to the general caste Table 7.2  Basic Profile of Respondents Basic Profile of Respondents

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Gender

19 11 3 9 14 4 22 1

63.3 36.7 10.0 30.0 46.7 13.3 73.3 3.3

63.3 36.7 10.0 30.0 46.7 13.3 73.3 3.3

63.3 100.0 10.0 40.0 86.7 100.0 73.3 76.7

3

10.0

10.0

86.7

3

10.0

10.0

96.7

1 6 1

3.3 20.0 3.3

3.3 20.0 3.3

100.0 20.0 23.3

21 2

70.0 6.7

70.0 6.7

93.3 100.0

11 18 1 26 4

36.7 60.0 3.3 86.7 13.3

36.7 60.0 3.3 86.7 13.3

36.7 96.7 100.0 86.7 100.0

Age

Caste Category

Socioeconomic status

Type of Family Marital Status

Male Female 18–25 years 26–30 years 31–35 years Above 35 years General Schedule Caste (SC) Schedule Tribe (ST) Other Backward Caste (OBCs) Others Below Poverty Poor/Working Class Middle Class Upper-Middle Class Joint Family Nuclear Family Orphan Unmarried Married

Source: Primary data collected by researcher for PhD research (2019–2021).

108  Nida Khan category (73.3%), while 8 respondents belonged to other caste categories. Religion was not a criterion in data collection, but interestingly, all 30 respondents followed Islam. There can be two reasons for it: First, Kashmir Valley has a majority Muslim population (96.41percent) followed by Hindus (2.45%) and Sikhs (0.81%). Second, the snowball sampling method of data collection adopted can have its limitations. In terms of socio-economic status majority, 70% of the respondents belonged to middle class, 20% fall below the poverty line, 6.7% belonged to the upper-middle class and 3.3% belonged to poor/working class. Type of family of respondents consists of nuclear family type (60%) to joint family (36.7%) and 1 respondent was an orphan (3.3%). Most respondents were unmarried (86.7%) and only 4 respondents were married (13.3%). In terms of the educational level of parents of the respondents, the majority (50%) of the mothers were illiterate, 23.3% had a primary education, 10% were graduates, and 3.3% had a master’s degree. As a result, with lower educational levels, a higher percentage of mothers them were either homemaker (53.3%) or unemployed (26.7%). Some were government employees (10%), working mostly as schoolteachers. Fathers’ education levels were somewhat better than mothers: 6.7% had a master’s degree, 20% were graduates, 23.3% had a 12th grade pass, 26.7% had a primary education, and 20% were illiterate. Further, in terms of occupation of fathers, higher percentages were in the government sector respondents (30%), some already retired (20%), had their own business (20%), worked in the private sector (10%), and a few cases of unemployed (10%) were also reported. Table 7.3 highlights the educational status of respondents. Out of 30 respondents, 36.7% were currently enrolled on a Ph.D., 36.7% were enrolled in master’s level degrees (MA, M.Sc. and MTech), 13.3% were pursuing graduation, 6.7% enrolled on M.Phil., 3.3% were doing post-doctorate and had enrolled in Diploma and certificate course. Gender-wise, higher percentages of males were enrolled on a Ph.D. (9 male and 2 female respondents), and for females, higher percentages were pursuing Masters’ degrees (7 females) that included MA, MSc. and MTech. To pursue higher education, the majority (66.7%) of respondents were not availing any scholarship. Out of those availing scholarship, 10 respondents (33.3%) in terms of gender included 9 males and 1 female. The majority of them belonged to nuclear families, and for everyday educational expenses depended on parents (53.3%) and spouse/ partner (3.3%), some even worked part-time (10%) to meet everyday expenses. Parttime here meant taking personal tuitions or giving classes in coaching institutions.

Challenges in Education This section will highlight the problems faced by Kashmiri students in pursuing higher education and how prolonged conflict, pandemic, and double lockdown have disturbed the education system in the Kashmir Valley.

Problems Faced and Delay in Completion of Course The majority of the respondents (73.3%) faced problems and delays in completing their course on time. There are various reasons for it as highlighted during the interviews with respondents. One major reason was frequent curfews and lockdowns in

Pandemic and Kashmir Conflict for Valley Students  109 Table 7.3  Educational Status of Respondents Educational Status Degree/Course enrolled

Availing Scholarship Meet College expenses

Problems faced & delay in completion of course

BA MA/M.Sc./ MTech. M.Phil. PhD Postdoc Diploma & Certificate No Yes Scholarship & Grants Dependent on Parents Spouse or Partner Working Part-time Yes No

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

4 11

13.3 36.7

13.3 36.7

13.3 50.0

2 11 1 1

6.7 36.7 3.3 3.3

6.7 36.7 3.3 3.3

56.7 93.3 96.7 100.0

20 10 10

66.7 33.3 33.3

66.7 33.3 33.3

66.7 100.0 33.3

16

53.3

53.3

86.7

1 3

3.3 10.0

3.3 10.0

90.0 100.0

22 8

73.3 26.7

73.3 26.7

73.3 100.0

Source: Primary data collected by researcher for PhD research (2019–2021).

the Valley either due to conflict, abrogation of Article 370, or the recent pandemic. But they had all directly led to the closure of educational institutions leading to the reduced number of official working days further creating problems in the completion of course/syllabus on time. It disrupted the academic calendar leading to an increased period for course completion. It was a major financial burn as the majority of respondents were dependent on parents and spouses for their everyday educational expenses. One of the respondents talked about her educational journey and how various events in the Valley have affected her educational experience. She stated: I was in class 8th in the year 2014 when there was a flood in Kashmir. In 2016 was in class 10th when Burhan Wani encounter happened that had adversely affected the education system, 25 schools were set on fire, followed by lockdown and curfew. I hardly went to school that year and even gave board exams on reduced syllabus. In 2018 was in class 12th and did not perform that well, as was disturbed by the unstable environment in the Valley. When I applied for graduation initial year was good but in August 2019 after the abrogation of Article 370 things became even worse. There was no Internet, phone lines were blocked didn’t know what was happening outside and even transport facilities were restricted. We were caged in our homes. No way to come to the department was just sitting at home without any information. In February 2020, the university reopened, and I came to hostel to do my project work but within 10–15 days had to return back as Covid19 restrictions were

110  Nida Khan implemented. My course was for 3 years that I completed in 4 years due to the disturbed education environment. Major part of my course I attended in online mode but that too was not functional due to frequent Internet bans in the Valley. I feel my whole educational journey till now has been full of ups and downs. The background events in the Valley have adversely affected my education. I feel it has affected my quality of education per se. (Interview)

Digital Divide and Internet Siege According to UNICEF, only 24% of Indian households have access to Internet access and only 61.8% of households own a smartphone (UNICEF, xx). Online education is the fantasy of the privileged as in the Indian context – over 220 million people can spend less than Rs. 32 per day. In such a situation, how can we expect parents to choose to give online education to their children over basic needs (Pillai, Frontline, 2021)? Kashmir Valley witnessed the longest Internet ban of 18 months (555 days) affecting around 2.5 million Kashmiri students who faced challenges due to the long Internet ban and 2G limitation (Wallen, 2020). It has been referred to as digital apartheid’ (Nadaf, 2021) in the region on the pretext of India’s ‘national security’ while the future of millions of students was at stake and neglected during COVID-19. One thing is not having the purchasing power to be able to afford Internet facilities, but in the context of Kashmir, the denial of Internet by the state in the name of security threat to the people of Kashmir is quite problematic. A student during interview highlighted the problems faced in taking online class as follows: Internet speed was so slow that it took 45 minutes to watch a 10–15-minute video along with continuous buffering and attending Zoom class was a major issue. Many a times screen would pause along with call drop and reconnecting would take another lifetime by the time class was already over. (Interview) With 2G Internet speed, online education was a major challenge even for teachers as the call would drop frequently, with continuous buffering, and little scope for teacher-student interaction. Not all students had Internet access, and uploading video and lecture notes was extremely time consuming. The case with university teachers was no different. Many teachers used to take a printout of the assignment and reading material at their own expense and deliver it to the students at their doorstep. It was more of a personal effort and could be availed by students who stayed near the school or the teacher’s house. One of the respondents who taught as a part-time teacher in school stated: Imagine the state as I have to teach chemistry to class 8th students through audio mode. It’s a struggle for the teacher first to upload the material then another herculean task for students to download it. (Interview)

Pandemic and Kashmir Conflict for Valley Students  111 Other issues students faced due to the Internet ban was the difficulty in filling in competitive examination forms. The government provided Internet facilities at a few centres like the District Deputy Commissioner’s office, Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) in Srinagar, etc. where students could submit their forms. This arrangement had its own issues as people in remote areas had to travel long distances to avail of the facility. Second, students had to wait in long queues for hours, and at times had to return without any work being done. Sometimes filling out a form took more than a week. Third, while filling in the form, students had to give the mobile number of relatives residing outside Kashmir to get a one-time password as mobile lines were restricted in the valley for a while. Furthermore, to check if the form was filled in correctly, students couldn’t even access their email (Rehbar, The WIRE, 2019). Interestingly an observable difference exists in terms of Internet access between the Jammu region and Kashmir Valley while the latter had a complete Internet ban or e-curfew, things were very much functional in many parts of Jammu. This difference is reflected by the fact that to access the Internet for business and educational purposes (filling out examination forms etc.) people used to take the train from Srinagar to Banihal in the Jammu region, which helped Kashmiri people to go online for a few hours during the Internet ban in the Valley. This train was named the Internet-Express (Aljazeera, 2020). The government has come up with various technologies to bridge this digital divide that including Tele Classes on DD Kashmir and local cable network, Video Lecture Repository using JK Knowledge Network (JKKN), radio classes organised in association with Mirchi 98.3, Samadhan AI-based educational chat box where students’ queries can be addressed to etc. There is also the Student Accessible Resource and Learning App (SARLA) which is an all-in-one portal where teachers and students can make their accounts and can access both online and offline material as per their needs (India Report Digital Education, 2020; Report on Digital Initiatives & Other Quality Interventions, 2020). These are a few of the initiatives that were taken by the government to make education accessible to all, even in times of lockdown and curfews in the context of Kashmir, so that no student would be left behind; education is a fundamental right of everyone. But the functionality and effectiveness of these technologies are not the focus of this paper; these could be interesting areas for further research.

Conflict and Pandemic: A Pernicious Combination for Students in Kashmir All the events including the three decades of prolonged conflict, lockdown, and e-curfew after the abrogation of Article 370 or the restricted social movements and lockdown due to the pandemic led to the phenomenon of ‘double lockdown’. Each harmed education during different periods. Based on the in-depth interviews with the respondents, one common notion that emerged was that conflict is a constant thing in the valley, and people have learned to live with it every day. One of the respondents stated:

112  Nida Khan Growing up and living in Kashmir, who hasn’t been affected by the conflict? All our lives have been defined by this single, untouchable reality. The indirect effect of conflict is depression, and the direct effect is constant harassment that we as a people face in our everyday life by the armed. (Interview) The double lockdown led to the longest Internet ban and the closure of educational institutions for a prolonged period. It is important to highlight that Kashmir follows a different academic calendar, where the winter vacation starts in the 2nd week of December, and school opens on the 1st week of March every year due to harsh weather conditions, which is very different from the academic calendar followed in other states in India. The first lockdown was imposed on 5th August 2019 that was prolonged till winter break. Just when the educational institutions were gearing to open up in March, COVID‑19 came to India leading to a double lockdown in Kashmir. Students reported that they felt those two years never existed. Even though they might have passed and been promoted to the next grade, but in terms of educational attainment they feel they have learned almost nothing. One of the respondents highlighted: It has been extremely difficult working post abrogation of article 370. With no communication and transport facilities, no lab work, and almost no research work could be done for nearly 6 months. This pushed my Ph.D. further [back] by 2 years. (Interview) In the context of higher education, research work came to a complete halt, with no access to the Internet and field. Students who worked in laboratories faced a major challenge, as they couldn’t access their samples leading to their work being severely affected by ruined samples and damaged equipment. They feared that they would not be able to complete their work on time, with the funding already expired and no possibility of its further extension. Respondents stated that they were unable to apply for seminars and conferences, access their email, miss deadlines and follow-up of papers sent for publication, and were unable to access and respond to emails. The administration was unable to upload the required documents on time leading to delays in receiving scholarships and funding. The library facility was inaccessible; many annual academic journal subscriptions expired without any use by students due to Internet shutdowns. Students and faculty faced problems in pursuing online courses through massive open online courses (MOOCs) platforms due to the Internet ban. A student responded: It is like Dark-ages, and we live in a pre-Internet era in Kashmir. (interview) Another student added: Just as I was starting to find my feet in the University, Article 370 was abrogated. My academic life was halted because of the curfew and Internet ban, which lasted for several months. I could not access the library, nor was I able

Pandemic and Kashmir Conflict for Valley Students  113 to use online resources to study, which caused severe disruption to my studies. My university was not equipped for online teaching when the lockdown happened due to the COVID pandemic. The academic and non-academic staff also lacked the training to counter such a change in the educational system. They haven’t bothered to tackle this issue till date. (Interview) Based on field surveys and interviews, it was observed by the researcher that a considerable difference exists in the educational opportunities made available to students living in Kashmir and students living outside conflict areas. The former lacks even the basic human right (Internet) and to expect to switch to an online mode of education during a pandemic with the existing situation is like dreaming with open eyes.

Positive Initiatives by the Community Education is seen as a tool for empowerment and, in crisis situations, plays a very important role in peace building and encourages people to aspire for a better future and quality of life. Certain initiatives have been taken by the community to make education accessible to all in the region. The first is the “Community Classes or Schooling” initiative, where educated people voluntarily take the class in open-air classrooms. Initially, this started to make education accessible to the student in remote rural areas that lacked telecom infrastructure and Internet access, and with frequent lockdowns, curfews, and Internet bans, this initiative has been appreciated by the J&K government and permitted to conduct community classes and even receive support of teachers, administration, and government (Awasthi, Business Line, 2020). The authorities regularly show up not only for inspection but also to provide whatever is needed for the classes (BBC News, 2020). The second initiative is taken by two IIT-Bombay graduates. Mubeen Masudi (the first ever to get into IIT from Kashmir) and Bilal Abidi from Lucknow developed an application called WISE APP that functions even on 2G Internet speed and solved the issue of Internet shutdowns and low Internet speed in Kashmir. It was launched in July 2020 and provides a 2G–friendly video interface along with complete classroom features and reduces the cumbersome process of using various other apps during the teaching process and does not require sharing meeting IDs and passwords, unlike other applications. Teachers can take classes, send and receive assignments, share material and take automatic attendance as well. Around 150,000 teachers and over 5 lakh students across the country are using the application The WISE App received appreciation from the Ministry of Education and was featured in PM Atmanirbhar Bharat and out of the 74 success stories was ranked 43rd in the list to mark the 74th year of India’s Independence (Geelani, Kashmir Reader, 2020; Maqbool, The Hindu Business Line, 2021; Geelani. Greater Kashmir, 2021). Another interesting case is of a Kashmiri teacher, Roohi Sultan, who made use of local things like the plastic cover of a floor packet to write, bottles to write nouns and word meanings, used dried tea leaves and sawdust to create shapes, etc., and believed in “low-cost-no cost” method of teaching and made education available to the low-income group for whom affording stationery is also a luxury. Roohi’s

114  Nida Khan innovative efforts were recognised, resulting in her selection for the National Teacher’s Award 2020 by the Ministry of Education (Sharma, The Print, 2020).

Conclusion Kashmiri students are caught in a vicious circle of prolonged conflict, disturbed everyday life, lockdown, curfews, Internet ban, and the recent pandemic. They face both a crisis in education, and education within a crisis or state of exception area leading to pedagogical abnormalities along with psychosocial problems affecting their everyday lives. There is a difference in educational opportunities made available to students living in Kashmir and students living outside conflict areas. Education is a fundamental right, and students of Kashmir have an equal right to quality education in a peaceful environment along with a safe and protected space to attain education. There cannot be one size fit all policy; rather, a context-specific policy needs to be made. Denial of the Internet by states as a measure of security threat in Kashmir along with the repetition of the model of mass promotion and half syllabus etc. since 2016, again followed in 2019, and 2020 has adversely affected the quality of education and even increased the number of years in completion of any course leading to an additional financial burden on students. It is high time that the Kashmir conflict and the status of its people which is an “open secret” that essentially revolves around common knowledge must be discussed in public (Zerubavel, 2006), and efforts must be made to find context-specific solutions for students of Kashmir. There is a huge difference between just ‘talking about Kashmir people’ and ‘talking to Kashmiri people’. It is of utmost importance, as that will address their real issues and concerns. The government has taken many initiatives, but a lot still needs to be done, like providing adequate IT infrastructure, policy to reduce Internet bans, and counselling facilities for people of Kashmiri suffering from mental health issues to name a few. Community initiatives are a positive step, but the government must make strong efforts to provide quality education for all and make it a living reality for students.

References Agamben, G. 2005. State of Exception. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. BBK (Bundesministerium fuer Bevoelkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe) 2011. Ahanger, J. A. 2019. “The chronic conflict over Kashmir.” World Affairs: The Journal of International Issues, 23(2), 88–97. Akmal, Muteek. 2020. “KCCI puts estimated losses to Kashmir economy at Rs 40,000 cr.” Greater Kashmir. July 17. Aljazeera. 2020. “How ‘internet express’ is helping Kashmiris go online.” Jan 13. https://www. aljazeera.com/features/2020/1/13/how-internet-express-is-helping-kashmiris-go-online Amnesty International India. 2020. “Situation Update and Analysis: Jammu and Kashmir after One Year of Abrogation of Article 370.” Amnesty International India. 2017. Report Losing Sight in Kashmir – The Impact of PelletFiring Shotguns, pg. 1–112. Karnataka. Ather, Zia. 2019. “Blinding Kashmiris.” Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies. 21(6), 773–786.

Pandemic and Kashmir Conflict for Valley Students  115 Awasthi, Prashasti. 2020. “Teacher parents to begin classes for J& K students.” The Hindu Business Line, Mumbai, July 28. BBC News. 2020. “Kashmir’s Open-Air Classes Offer Stunning Solution to Lockdown.” August 2. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53590847 Betancourt, T. S., Newnham, E. A., McBain, R., & Brennan, R. T. 2013. “Post-traumatic stress symptoms among former child soldiers in Sierra Leone: follow-up study.” British Journal of Psychiatry, 203(1), 196–202. Boyden, J., de Berry, J., Feeny, T. & Hart, J 2002. ‘Children affected by armed conflict in south Asia: a review of trends and issues identified through secondary research. Refugee Study Centre. University of Oxford, London. Dar, Fayaz Ahmad. 2011. “Living in a pressure cooker situation’ A needs assessment of youth in India-administered Kashmir.” Conciliation Resources Working together for Peace: London. Geelani, Kaleem. 2020. “Kashmiri and Lucknowi duo at IIT Bombay come up with app for teachers, students of J&K.” Kashmir Reader. September 12. Geelani, Syed Rizwan. 2021. “EDUCATION AMID PANDEMIC | 1.86 lakh students attend community classes at 4842 locations in Kashmir.” Greater Kashmir. July 17. Ghosh, Nandnai Shrimoyee. 2020. “Crisis constitutionalism, permanent emergency and the amnesias of international law in Jammu and Kashmir.” Third World Approaches To International Law Review, TWAILR: Reflections. May 28. Haider, H. 2014. Conflict: Topic Guide. Revised edition with B. Rohwerder. Birmingham: GSDRC, University of Birmingham. Ch-2. Housen, T., Lenglet, A., Ariti, C., Shah, S., Shah, H., Ara, S., Viney, K., Janes, S., and Pintaldi, G. 2017. “Prevalence of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in the Kashmir Valley.” BMJ Global Health, 2(4), 1–12. India Report Digital India: Remote Learning Initiatives Across India. 2020. Department of School Education & Literacy, MHRD, GoI. IPTK and APDP Report. 2015. Structures of Violence: THE INDIAN STATE IN JAMMU AND KASHMIR. Published by: The International Peoples’ Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-Administered Kashmir [IPTK] and the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons [APDP]. JKCCS. 2015. “Occupational hazard: The Jammu and Kashmir floods of September 2014.” Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society. https://jkccs.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/ occupation-hazard-jkccs.pdf Kashmir Scholars Consultative and Action Network (KSCAN). 2019. Guidance for the Resolution for the Kashmir issue September 10, 2019. Kathuria, Rajat, Kedia, Mansi, Varma, Gangesh, Bagchi, Kaushambi, and Sekhani, Richa. 2018. “The anatomy of an INTERNET BLACKOUT: Measuring the economic impact of internet shutdowns in India.” Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. Mannan, A. 2019. “Education paralysis in Kashmir: Need to protect the future.” Observer Research Foundation. Maqbool, Majid. 2021. “Teaching the WISE.” The Hindu Business Line. May 21. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), University of Kashmir, Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS). 2016. Muntazar, Mental Health Survey Report 2015. MSF, New Delhi. Nadaf, Arif Hussain. 2021. “‘Lockdown within a lockdown’: The ‘digital redlining’ and paralyzed online teaching during COVID-19 in Kashmir, a conflict territory.” Communication, Culture and Critique, 14(2), 343–346. Naqshbandi, M. Mudasir. 2012. “Drug addiction and youth of Kashmir.” International NGO Journal, 7(5), 84–90.

116  Nida Khan Ozerdem, A. 2016. The Role of Youth in Peacebuilding: Challenges and Opportunities. Retrieved from Oxford Research Group: October 26. https://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/ blog/the-role-of-youth-in-peacebuilding-challenges-and-opportunities Parveen, S., Shafiq, M. 2014. “Mental health and coping among youth in Kashmir: Implications for psychological intervention.” Delhi Psychiatry Journal, 17(2), 295–302. Paul, M. A., and Khan, W. 2018. “Prevalence of childhood mental disorders among school children of Kashmir Valley.” Community Mental Health Journal, 55, 1031–1037. Peerzada, Ashiq. 2019. “Kashmir traders peg losses after Aug. 5 steps at ₹17,878 cr.” The Hindu. December 19. Pillai, T. Meena. 2021. “Out-of-school generation: Cover story.” The Frontline. October 8. Rehbar, Quartulain. 2019. “Kashmir: Without internet, students struggle to fill forms for entrance exams.” The WIRE, December 10. Report on Digital Initiatives & Other Quality Interventions. 2020. Directorate of school Education Jammu, J&K. Sharma, Unnati. 2020. “Kashmir teacher, who uses scrap material to educate poor kids, selected for national award.” The Print. August 31. Shaw, J. A. 2003. “Children exposed to war/terrorism.” Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 6(4), 237–246. Sofiya, H. 2012. “Conflict and disappearance in Kashmir: A Sociological analysis.” Journal of Sociology, 2: 54–66. Software Freedom Law Centre, India (SFLC.in). n.d. https://internetshutdowns.in UNDP. 2014–2017. Youth Strategies 2014–2017. New York: UNDP. UNFPA. 2014. State of World Population. New York: UNFPA. UNFPA. 2013. UNFPA Strategy on Adolescents and Youth: Towards Realizing the Full Potential of Adolescents and Youth. New York: UNFPA. Wallen, J. 2020. “‘The future looks so bleak’: As schools in Kashmir stay closed, millions of children lose education. The Telegraph. August 7. Zerubavel, E. 2006. The Elephant in the Room: Silence and Denial in Everyday Life. New York: Oxford University Press.

8 The Crisis of Education Among Marginalised Learners in India during the Pandemic Reneged on the Promise of Access Dalsie Gangmei Introduction The shift to e-learning in the COVID-19 pandemic has caused educational disorientation around the globe. In this peculiar situation, access to education has become a grave concern. In a time when the “e-learning-for-all” discourse is growing pervasively, access to education is increasingly a timely question that emerges regarding the present and future of the marginalised learners1 in India. Bringing digital divide to the fore of educational consciousness has made policymakers and educationalists address the relationships between education, technology, and social exclusion. On the one hand, the technological adaptation in education is a significant opportunity to negate the barriers to learning during the pandemic. Also, adopting e-learning exacerbates pre-existing inequalities. It widens the gap between those who have digital access and those who do not, which has led to growing concern over the substantial “digital divide.” This article highlights the latter and explores the relationship between access to education and the digital divide from the experience of tribal children in Tamenglong District, Manipur, declared by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj as one of the most “backward” districts in the country, located in a region characterised by violence, conflict and underdevelopment. In addition, tribal populations are severely affected by the pandemic in terms of education, employment, and healthcare (Kasi and Saha, 2021; p. 653), making them one of the most vulnerable social groups in the country. This chapter argues that access to education during the pandemic is not simply a technological change; instead, it involves redefining who learners are, and where and how learners access education. It highlights how the insistence on e-learning during the pandemic overlooked the sheer digital inequality, unfamiliarity, and uncertainty experienced by diverse learners and presented an inaccurate image of learners as uniformly prepared for the digital world while ignoring the non-uniform privilege required for such access.

Digital Divide in India The pandemic has prompted the world to focus on technology in delivering education as a necessity for learners to continue education. This sudden shift has a profound and far-reaching impact on how teaching and learning occurs in all DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688-11

118  Dalsie Gangmei education stages. Indeed, the role of technology in education is currently a critical social and political concern. It has led governments worldwide to introduce initiatives aimed at supporting e-learning. However, growing literature has highlighted the need to assess critically and question the insistence on e-learning education in India (Pitroda, 2020; Mishra, and Banchariya, 2020; Sharma and Singh, 2020; Singh and Maurya, 2017; Jajodia, 2019; Deeksha, 2020). Marginalised learners are less likely to have the equipment needed to access e-learning which affects them academically and economically (Roese, 2021). Despite the launch of Digital India in 2015 to connect rural areas with highspeed Internet networks and improve digital literacy (Krishnaprabu, 2019; DQIndia Online, 2020; Deka and Anand, 2021), Internet infrastructure is far from supporting e-learning (QS I Gauge, 2020). Fifty-five thousand villages in India have no mobile network coverage as per NITI Aayog 2018 (Deka and Anand, 2021). Key Indicators of Household Social Consumption on Education in India reported that 58% of urban households and 85.1% of rural households in India have no access to the Internet; 76.6% of urban households and 95.6% of rural households in India do not own a computer (Press Information Bureau, 2019).2 The North-eastern region in particular worse still (Mordani, 2021; Karmakar, 2020; Ajit, 2020; Barman and Das, 2020). The region is characterised by heavy militarisation, political volatility and asymmetrical federalism. It inhabits numerous indigenous populations, demarcated by the fragmented politicised ethnicities and self-determination movement against the Indian State that gives rise to conflict. The “conflict management” through the imposition of AFSPA (Arm Force Special Power Act), 1958 by the government of India gave the Indian Army, State, and central police forces to conduct arrests searches, shoot, kill, and destroy property in areas declared as “disturbed” by the home ministry creates an environment for persisting conflict in the region that is detrimental to any development (Kikon, 2009). Manipur has the highest (46.7%) Below Poverty Line (BPL) population, Assam with 40.9% and Arunachal Pradesh with 37.4% in 2011–2012 (Konwar, 2015). The attendant human rights violation compounded with a lopsided developmental plan of resource extraction in the region has not been conducive to peace or stability. Disrupted by conflict, the region lacks adequate technological and infrastructural facilities (Karmakar, 2020; Deka and Anand, 2021; Ajit, 2020), making development highly constrained (De, 2020). What is unsettling is that one of the most cited reports in current literature, i.e., the Key Indicators of Household Social Consumption on Education in India, National Sample Survey (NSS) 75th Round (June 2017–July 2018), does not cover the North-eastern States. As per the Press Information Bureau 2019, Internet and IT penetration coverage in these states would be the lowest (Ajit, 2020). Although the government has expressed concern that every citizen will have equal access to networks through Digital India, the private sector is taking charge of the development and implementation of Digital India (Pitroda, 2020). Such an initiative becomes a mere tool for promoting and creating the market condition for private providers to flourish. A Member of the Legislative Assembly, Arunachal Pradesh, Mr Ninong Ering, stated that telecom service providers are reluctant to invest in the North-eastern region as it is a low prospective customer

Education Crisis for Indian Marginalised Learners  119 base (Karmakar, 2020). This reveals that many learners in remote rural areas are deprived of access to the digital world and thereby excluded from the system during the pandemic. The most marginalised and poorest learners are adversely affected by such an impact (OECD, 2020). Furthermore, the current digital divide discourse that merely looks at the divide between digital haves and have-nots obfuscates and reinforces existing inequalities. The digital divide is not simply about digital haves and have-nots but also between groups with access and the hierarchy of access. It encompasses variation in skills, literacy and experience, which results in another form of divide (boyd, 2014, 193). Experience variations correlate to differential skill levels (boyd, 2014, 194). A learner who shares a digital device with a sibling or parents has a very different experience and skill set than one who owns a smartphone with unrestricted connectivity. Such variations lie in access quality, which links to socioeconomic status (boyd, 2014, 195). The insistence on e-learning in India has grossly overlooked the lack of e-literacy apart from the devices and connectivity. It conceals the structural (in)visible social inequalities (Ajit, 2020). By turning the matter of education into a problem of the mere digital divide between digital haves and have-nots, learning becomes a matter of getting the right tools and skills (Greene, 2021). Focusing on individual capacities to own digital tools and equip them with skills retreats government responsibility and conceals how underlying structural formations shape learners’ access to education and opportunities. In other words, when access to education is framed as a problem of digital haves and have-nots, the burden of responsibility shifts on individuals and families. It deviates our attention regarding certain socioeconomic statuses, social identities, and geographical and cultural experiences. The adoption of e-learning during the pandemic unveils who access to education is for. It shows the relationship between those at the centre and those at the margins of the education system and society. Moreover, when education flows through digital platforms, it reveals who matters and who does not. Thus, this calls for reframing and rethinking education regarding access to education to promote equitable opportunities in a digital community during the post-pandemic.

Site and Methodology Tamenglong District, with many remote parts of the North-eastern region, still lacks reliable, affordable Internet access and is outside the universal human right of Internet access (Debbarma and Durai, 2021; Das, 2020; Goswami and Narah, 2021). The district is severely impeded by infrastructural development and hampered by poor roads and transportation facilities (Sirur, 2021). Based on a benchmark of one dollar expenditure per week, Tamenglong (and Chandel District) has the highest number of households living in extreme poverty (Shilshi, 2007). According to the 2011 census, Tamenglong District has the highest population (87.7%) of marginal workers in the State.3 Moreover, Manipur is a homeland of tribal and non-tribal populations, and Tamenglong District has the second-highest tribal people with 95.4% (2011 Census) in the State. The social disabilities of the tribal people in the hill districts of Manipur stem from neglect and denial of rights (Shimray, 2000;

120  Dalsie Gangmei Shimray, 2004; Shinglai, 2015). Access to education among various tribal groups in rural areas even in normal times, let alone in the pandemic, continues to be overlooked in mainstream literature (Gangmei, 2021). Hence, this district emerges as an important research site, considering the deprivation and effects of disadvantages within the State, region, and country. This chapter is an extension of my M.Phil. thesis, which was written in 2015, and focused on the access and equity in primary education of the Scheduled Tribes in Manipur. The data on the digital divide, however, was collected from June to October 2021. This chapter adopts an exploratory research design, and the sample is selected through snowball sampling where twelve primary school goers, ten parents, ten teachers, three administrators from Autonomous District Council, two principals, two officials from Electric Department, two workers from Vodafone and Airtel office were interviewed. All respondents belong to the scheduled tribes. It was carried out through qualitative analysis. The transcripts are clustered into three themes – Digital deprivation, Digital refugees, and Dabbling with the digital world.

Digital Deprivation Access to education for all learners has been a central tenet of the official promotion of the various initiatives and programs. In Manipur, digitised textbooks, mobile apps, YouTube channels, Facebook pages, Radio, and local cable TV channels, and comic textbooks are available (Leivon, 2020; India Report-Digital Education, 20204). With the right tools and skills, such initiatives promise that the e-learning platform will become a space of unlimited potential and opportunities where any learner can learn. In other words, it presents a relatively simple recipe for education security in uncertain times. Ironically, such a recipe offers as though these options were available to all learners. Many learners across the country are grappling with this solution in different, more complicated ways. In Tamenglong District, it is common to see people “catching network” in odd places such as trees and hilltops and resorting to dual SIM to avail of either network. The district headquarters average download speed ranges from 0–1 Mbps (8 AM to 9 PM). The power supply in the community is cut-off on an average of 7–8 days in a month, and at times it stretches for more than ten days. A power cut is more frequent in the rainy season. Being the rainiest hill district in Manipur (Pamei, 2020), heavy rain often causes landslides. Landslides, strong winds, and dense treetops, especially bamboo trees, are prominent factors contributing to power cut in the region. Generators frequently manage cell towers in the absence of electric power. Neighbourhood complaints about the noise generated by generators have become a regular affair with the frequent power cut in the district. Compounded by bad roads and transportation, a cell tower or electric wire malfunction is challenging to fix. As an Airtel worker explained, “roads connected to remote villages such as New Magulong, L Pabram remain unmotorable (except for four-wheel drive vehicles), and fixing malfunction in the cell tower in such areas in the rainy season is extremely difficult.”

Education Crisis for Indian Marginalised Learners  121 Disrupted by frequent conflicts based on ethnic violence, identity politics and border politics, the North-eastern region is viewed as a zone of violence and social unrest that challenges the Indian nation-state in the form of an armed struggle. As Sharma (2019) argues, nation-building in the region did not occur, unlike the state building. The region’s integration into India is segregated administratively by separate regional governance and administrative structures with a separate ministry (Ministry for Development of North-East Region) from the rest of the country. The policy and its neo-capitalist “development” of the region are dictated by the central government, giving a free pass to the resources extraction, including mining, hydroelectric power plants, and militarised infrastructure, which brews another complex dimension of the conflict and struggle in terms of identities and sovereignty in the region (Kakati, 2021), further perpetuating and reinforcing militarisation. As such, bandh/economic blockade has become a regular regional phenomenon. Manipur alone has witnessed 581 incidents in 917 days of bandhs/ strikes and 77 in 933 days of blockades (Singh and Chiru, 2020; Hanghal, 2020) from 2004 to 2019. With the advent of Digital India, the suspension of mobile Internet services is becoming the new normal with frequent curfews and economic blockades. This insidious form of control is already on the rise while the State is still grappling with the emergence of a digital world. The North-eastern region witnessed 19 Internet shutdowns between 2015 and 2019 (Hoque, 2019) when law and order situations arose. Manipur experienced five Internet shutdowns, ranging from a day to almost a week-long period between 2015 and 2019 (Chinmayi, 2020, 9). During the pandemic, states such as Manipur, Meghalaya, and Uttar Pradesh, apart from Jammu and Kashmir, have witnessed the suspension of Internet access (The Quint, 2020). In Manipur, the shutdown of mobile Internet services lasted three days from 16th March 2020. As Gurumayum (2018) posited, Digital India and Internet shutdowns cannot co-exist during the pandemic. Initiatives and programmes to ensure access to e-learning are rendered futile in the absence of digital access (Barman and Das, 2020). Missionary schools in the North-eastern region were surveyed in May 2020 and found that merely 10% in Arunachal Pradesh, 20% in Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, and 40% in Nagaland get some form of e-learning (Karmakar, 2020). Private school teachers and learners often complain that data service is sometimes defunct despite showing a network signal. With poor connectivity, teachers and learners typically spend hours to days uploading and or downloading class lecture videos. One private teacher admitted, “I have not been able to access the link (DIKSHA)5 that our school has provided for e-teaching training because of the abysmal Internet connectivity in the district.” Moreover, those few lucky teachers who managed to access the (DIKSHA) app were constantly disrupted by buffering and poor-quality video. The poor video quality again poses a severe problem for subjects such as mathematics as calculations and figures in the video tend to be unreadable for both teachers and learners. An infrequent e-interaction compounds this because of a power cut and lousy network connectivity. Interestingly, people flock to those neighbours who use generators to charge their phones during a power cut.

122  Dalsie Gangmei

Digital Refugees Under the Right to Education Act (2009), marginalised learners’ access to education has dramatically increased. However, marginalised children seem very different from the marginalised children of the pre-pandemic period, as the weight of e-learning exacerbates the obstacles to accessing education. The pandemic has exposed that where one goes to school matters as much as, if not more than, whether one goes to school. Quite a few learners in Tamenglong District headquarter attend private schools; however, many learners from remote villages primarily attend government schools. Few of these government school learners stay with their relatives; many remain with unknown families as helpers in exchange for their education, food, and lodging, while some stay in a rented house with their siblings. With the advent of the nationwide lockdown, these learners had to make transportation arrangements. Many of them, particularly from the remote villages, had to travel a day or two by foot to reach their villages. Hitch-hiking is the only mode of transportation in some areas, using trucks carrying sand/stone/bamboo, or private vehicles. In the face of the ongoing crisis, when the world is moving on to e-learning, most government primary schools in Tamenglong District have been non-functional ever since the first nationwide lockdown in March 2020. Government primary schools in the district were reopened from January to March 2021. Learners who came for new admission for the academic year 2021–2022 at the primary level were given promotions, and those at the upper primary level were given a test for the new admission intake for promotion to the higher class. With the coming of the second lockdown in the state, these schools were shut down yet again in April 2021. Midday meals were discontinued as schools were closed down. However, rice, pulses, potato, oil, and masks during the pandemic were distributed to learners close to their teachers or staff members. One government primary school has distributed these three times in July for 2021–2022. Those learners who returned to their villages during the lockdown were left out of such provision. With increasing dropouts in government schools even before the pandemic, e-learning became a double threat to these marginalised learners. The possibility of shifting to e-learning for them, as lamented by principals, teachers, and administrators, was far from ready in the absence of access to tools and digital literacy that would allow them to continue learning during the pandemic. Despite these drawbacks, none of the interviewed learners received any study materials in hard copy. As per the official report,6 the total enrolment at government primary schools in the district reduced from 7,365 in 2020–2021 to 6,943 in 2021–2022, and at the upper primary level, it has decreased from 1,354 in 2020–2021 to 1,191 in 2021–2022. In one government school (primary and upper primary level) in the district headquarter, the total number of students admitted in 2021–2022 fell by 90% compared to 2020–2021. The current crisis marked the government’s retreat from the responsibilities for many learners, commodifying education for those who can pay for it and privatising it for those who cannot be concealed by the digital haves and have-nots discourse. Access discourse fails on its terms because institutions that target to benefit the marginalised could not set up for the task. It illustrates an equitable future for all learners, yet it practices that future by building a literal division that guards them

Education Crisis for Indian Marginalised Learners  123 against access to education. It is a new mode of social reproduction, wherein these learners are not on the outside of the system but also not inside. They occupy a contradictory space – learners but not students admitted to school yet virtually not in the school. Those learners whom the policy sought to empower through education were deprived of the space they needed because they did not fit the “mission” of keeping the show going. This scenario indicated that the same groups marginalised from educational opportunities are now facing general exclusion in the post-pandemic. Furthermore, this shift to e-learning appears to be a filter for assessing future opportunities as militant groups have recruited unemployed youth from the pandemic (The Sentinel, 2020; Sharma 2020).

Dabbling with the Digital World While learners attending government schools are being pushed out of the e-learning platform, private school learners are afforded certain privileges such as e-classes, study materials, and other learning opportunities. Learners in most private elite schools in urban India are already in smart classrooms from pre-pandemic times. Therefore, the transition to e-learning during the pandemic is smooth sailing for them (Mishra and Banchariya, 2020). Learners attending private schools in this region get a version of e-learning via mobile phone to uphold the system. Most private schools in the district’s headquarter conduct e-learning through WhatsApp for lower classes. Even though cheap smartphones from China provide a base for resilience, most learners do not possess or have no access to smartphones, let alone computers. Buying smartphones via credit systems such as Equated Monthly Instalment (EMI) is expected to rise in the district. As one parent narrated, “my cousin who lives in Delhi helped me buy my phone from her credit card for EMI as I cannot pay the full amount in one go.” Her daughter is taking e-classes on the pandemic from that phone. Individuals take on the burden of debt, paying for technological devices and phone bills, access to which is differentiated. Very few private schools in the district take care of teachers’ phone bills during this pandemic. Access to e-learning goes beyond digital haves and have-nots. It is also between groups with access and the hierarchy of access among those who do. Learners with smartphones or the tools may not necessarily be citizens of the digital world (boyd, 2009). Furthermore, beyond the issue of digital devices comes the more complex levels of connectivity. Access to a smartphone does not guarantee a connection to the Internet any more than access to the Internet is not a guarantee of effective Internet services. Effective Internet service does not imply regular electricity or other infrastructural facilities. In addition, variation in skills and experience results in another form of the digital divide – this variation in skills lies in differences in access to digital devices. On the one side lies those individuals with their own devices such as smartphones, computers, laptops, and tablets with access to the Internet for homework and tutorial videos. On the other side lies those individuals with limited access to devices and the Internet, such as sharing phones with siblings/parents/relatives/neighbours. One private school teacher explained that when she attempted to create a WhatsApp group during the initial lockdown for her class to engage with the

124  Dalsie Gangmei students for information, she found that out of 70 students, merely 25% students had phones that had the app. She posited that only about 30% of the students in her class could benefit from e-learning. In comparison, the remaining 70% of the learners either had no access to a smartphone or had to share with siblings/neighbours/relatives, leading to their irregular attendance. Some of those ‘phone sharers’ sometimes requested their teachers to reschedule if the scheduled class timing collided with their sibling’s phone time or parents’/relatives’ work, depending on with whom they shared. Most private schools in the district provided hard copy study materials to those learners with no smartphone. Very few schools conducted tests via a Google form. Assignments and examinations were conducted through WhatsApp. The process entails learners writing in an exercise book – taking pictures – sending in WhatsApp to their teachers within an allotted time. However, those learners without smartphones went to school during the lockdown. Few learners residing in far-flung villages attending private schools in the district headquarters often sent their assignments in a vehicle, any vehicle they could find that goes to the headquarters. Once the vehicle got into town, the concerned teacher of those learners collected the assignment, usually from the drivers. The outlook of the teachers remains the same regarding access to digital devices and connectivity. In one private school, out of 55 teachers, only 8 had access to laptops, and the remaining 42 took classes from their phones. Schoolwork during the pandemic for most private school teachers was done from the phone – correcting assignments, formulating examination questions and lessons, conducting an examination, and evaluating papers. Some teachers with no computer access sought help from school computer operators to type assignment sheets, tests, and examination question papers when their phones cannot serve the purpose. Schools in the private sector began to apply for loans during the pandemic to provide digital devices to the teachers. One private school teacher explained, “our school has applied for a loan to purchase laptops for us teachers. We will be paying the school via EMI.” Most of these teachers were hard-pressed by this shift to e-learning, especially among those senior teachers who were not technologically savvy. One younger private school teacher complained, “Young teachers get more work in this pandemic because the senior teachers are not savvy with smartphones or computers. Some even say they are too old to learn.” In addition to the overload of work, private school teachers were underpaid during the pandemic (Nanda, 2020). In the district private schools, the salary cut ranged from 25% to 50%. E-learning is difficult and uncomfortable for most learners, teachers, and parents, as they are unaccustomed to the medium. Thus, private tutoring jumps into the breach and assists parents and learners. Private tutoring fees range from six hundred to three thousand rupees per month depending on the number of students in a class and whether the tutor comes to the student’s house, or the student goes to the tutor. Social and familial situations also make e-learning unsupportable, especially for female learners/parents/teachers. Female learners/parents/teachers usually have a whole set of household chores and responsibilities burdened. Studies show that women are likely disadvantaged due to gendered access to time (Ajit, 2020;

Education Crisis for Indian Marginalised Learners  125 Goswami and Narah, 2021). Gender roles and expectations often determine the number of access learners/parents/teachers have to smartphones within a household. During the pandemic, women in the Northeast region spent more time on household chores and management, especially cooking, serving, and cleaning (Goswami and Narah, 2021). One private school female teacher lamented about balancing her work and family, I now have to take care of my three kids and my in-laws at home. It is hard because I have to finish all the chores and feed the family before taking the class. I sometimes do not have time to prepare for the class. One parent expressed, [W]ith all the daily chores, it is difficult to find time to help my two boys with their e‑learning. I have my mother-in-law to take care of. And my boys are easily distracted. They will try to wrestle once I get up from the study table. One female student in class V expressed, “I have to take care of my younger brother who is studying in class 2 […] I do the dishes, wash my clothes, change my brother’s clothes and give him snacks because my parents are busy.” It implies that female learners/parents/teachers are socially mandated and restricted in using digital tools and acquiring skills. In addition, the inviolable privacy to attend or conduct e-teaching/learning is complex. Many learners and teachers live in houses with few small rooms compartmentalised either by mud, plywood, or wood. One private school teacher lamented, I record my class video before anybody gets up in the family or late at night when everyone is asleep […] because, in the daytime, my three children create much noise in the house, either watching their lesson video on WhatsApp at a loud volume or playing. I need a quiet time to record my lesson for my students, but we do not have enough space in our house to do our own thing during the day. In utter helplessness, a few schools in remote villages defied a government order and discretely reopened during the nationwide lockdown, and a large number of students and teachers tested positive for COVID-19 in July 2021 in one private school (Khumukcham, 2021). Many parents expressed anxiety and frustration. One parent complained, “people get COVID-19 and get better. School should reopen because my children are losing years”. During parent–teacher meetings in one private school, very few parents insisted on e-learning while the rest demanded the school reopen. They were willing to take the risk of COVID-19 infection and send their children to school. As technologies emerge to enable learners to access education, new challenges call for rethinking access to education. It is unimaginable for learners to attend e-classes daily in such a context. It is discriminatory and, at worst, a denial of fundamental human rights. Digital access is spread unevenly and inequitably across

126  Dalsie Gangmei various groups and regions. It goes beyond digital haves and have-nots, encompassing access’s quality and circumstantial nature.

Conclusion Access to education supports a claim to public spaces and public resources that in theory belong to everyone, and claiming these spaces and resources, as the learners’ experiences in the present study reveal, are not for everyone. During the pandemic, e-learning has enabled the education system to continue, but not everyone is sitting in the digital classroom. The learning space is reoriented to a smart house where space and technological devices for e-learning are available. A student is redefined as someone who is equipped with skills, lacks responsibility to care for others and has their care needs managed, provided by a tutor or digital tools. Education becomes a matter of getting the right tools and skills, thereby obscuring the structural problems of social, economic, political, gender, and regional dislocation as individual deficiencies of tools and skills. The digital divide during the pandemic mirrors the social divisions and makes them more visible in the already massive inequities in the country. Unfortunately, such inequities bring next-generation divides, creating a ‘second class citizenship’ (boyd, 2009). Having a substantial number of learners outside the digital environment in the country would only exacerbate cynicism, discontent, economic deprivation, and political division in the country’s social landscape leading to social conflict, especially in a volatile region like the Northeast. It may result in a tipping point beyond an irrecoverable gap. However, such a problem is addressed in hopeful terms as a mere digital divide – a gap between digital haves with access to personal technological resources and those without such access. The gap is assumed to be bridged by sending help to the digital haves-not. Despite all these caveats, the current policies and initiatives will undoubtedly significantly affect education patterns in the country. If nothing else, the shift to e-learning will provide an invaluable foundation for rethinking access to education, assessing limits, and seeking alternatives to formulate an inclusive plan and specify the course of action for establishing inclusion in education. Digital access to education would now be a fundamental right in the same manner as access to universal elementary education. Nevertheless, to view e-learning as some panacea to existing educational shortcomings is, at best, short-sighted. It is easiest to recommend and provide prescriptions; however, it is even more important to recognise the specific political condition imposing specific structural restraints on schools that makes certain policies and practices more or less desirable (Greene, 2021). This chapter has argued for caution to rethink access to education while not losing sight of fundamental issues of inequality and disempowerment that technology may not be capable of addressing.

Notes 1 I am using the term “learners” in this chapter rather than “students” primarily because it encapsulates inclusiveness, implicating equal relations of those inside and outside of virtual school in the educational discourse. As traditional education shifts and

Education Crisis for Indian Marginalised Learners  127



technology have dominated education during the pandemic, e-learning has become the mode of education. Students who are not part of that shift are rendered undefined. The term “student” does not capture who they (those children outside the virtual school) are and how they learn. Instead, it conveys the hierarchical relations between children inside and outside the ambit of virtual education during the pandemic. Thus, the term “learner” during the pandemic appears to be a better fit to view every child and person as a learner because learning can take place without teachers, but students only become students when they have teachers. 2 https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1593251. 3 A marginal worker is one who engaged in only economically productive work for less than 183 days in a year. 4 https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/India_Report_Digital_ Education_0.pdf. 5 Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing is a national teacher platform that provides school education through distance mode used by both students and teachers. 6 The accuracy of the figures may be disputable as the implied figure gathered from interviews with various stakeholders is starkly different.

References Ajit, A. (2020, May 13). Teaching in the Times of Corona: Structural Inequalities and the Limitations of Online Pedagogy in Northeast India. Retrieved from Medizinethnologie Körper, Gesundheit und Heilung in einer globalisierten Welt: https://www.medizineth nologie.net/teaching-in-north-east-india-witnessing-corona/ Barman, A., & Das, K. (2020, May 14). Re-casting E-learning and E-education during COVID19 pandemic -A study on the e-learning initiatives with special reference to North-East India. Retrieved from Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341384419_PrePrint_Re-casting_E-Learning_and_E-education_during_COVID-19_Pandemic_-A_ study_on_the_e-learning_initiatives_with_special_reference_to_North-East_India boyd, D. (2009, June 30). The not-so-hidden politics of class online. Retrieved from Personal Democracy Forum. boyd, D. (2014). It’s Complicated the Social Lives of Networked Teens. New Haven, London: Yale University Press. Chinmayi, S. K. (2020, June 18). Those unspoken thoughts: A study of censorship and mediafreedom in Manipur, India. Retrieved from OONI: https://ooni.org/post/2020-thoseunspoken-thoughts-otf-fellow-report/ Das, A. (2020, August 18). The adverse impact of the pandemic on the education sector in Rural Northeast India. Retrieved from The New Leam: https://www.thenewleam.com/2020/08/ the-adverse-impact-of-the-pandemic-on-the-education-sector-in-rural-northeast-india/ De, P. (2020, December 23). Role of infrastructure in promoting SDG 9 in India’s Northeast. Retrieved from ORF Observer Research Foundation: https://www.orfonline.org/ expert-speak/role-infrastructure-promoting-sdg9-india-northeast/ Debbarma, I., & Durai, T. (2021). Educational Disruption: Impact of COVID-19 on Students from the Northeast States of India. Children and Youth Services Review, 120, 105769. Deeksha, J. (2020, April 23). UoH conducts survey, finds students don’t have access to net, electricity. Drops idea of online classes to students’ relief. Retrieved from Edexlive: https://www. edexlive.com/news/2020/apr/23/uoh-conducts-survey-finds-students-dont-have-accessto-net-electricity-drops-idea-of-online-clas-11524.html/ Deka, K., & Anand, S. (2021, January 11). COVID-19 fallout: The impact on education in India. Retrieved from India Today: https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/news-makers/ story/20210111-school-of-hard-knocks-1755078-2021-01-03

128  Dalsie Gangmei DQ India Online. (2020, July 3). 5 years of Digital India – How far have we come? Retrieved from DATAQUEST: 5 years of Digital India – How far have we come? Gangmei, D. (2021). Primary Education and Scheduled Tribes in Remote Areas: How Equitable is Access to Primary Education?. In M. Leena (Eds.), Education of Vulnerable Section in India: Emerging trends and Issues (pp. 83–100). Delhi: Akhand Publishing House. Goswami, K., & Narah, Y. (2021). The Effect of COVID-19 on Women in North-East India: An Intersectionalism Perspective. The International Journal of Indian Psychology, 9(1), 760–768. Greene, D. (2021). The Promise of Access Technology, Inequality, and the PoliticalEconomy of Hope. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Gurumayum, M. (2018, July 23). Digital India and internet shutdowns. Retrieved from Imphal Times: https://www.imphaltimes.com/editorial/item/12009-digital-india-and-internetshutdowns Hanghal, N. (2020, November 30). All Quiet on the Northeastern Front: In Manipur, any Incident, Big or Small, Leads to a Shutdown of Mobile Internet Telephony.Retrieved from thehindu.com: https://www.thehindu.com/society/all-quiet-on-the-northeastern-front-inmanipur-any-incident-big-or-small-leads-to-a-shutdown-of-mobile-internet-telephony/ article33193779.ece Hoque, M. (2019, February 13). Surprised at Net shutdown in Manipur? No, it wasn’t the first time. Retrieved from EastMojo: https://www.eastmojo.com/news/2019/02/13/ surprised-at-net-shutdown-in-manipur-no-it-wasnt-the-first-time/ Jajodia, B. (2019, April 5). “Digital India” ─ A comprehensive analysis. Retrieved from Indianfolk: https://www.indianfolk.com/digital-india-comprehensive-analysis-edited-nivedha/ Kakati, B. (2021, May 16). Conflict and development in Northeast India Stories from Assam. Retrieved from The Transnational Institute: https://www.tni.org/en/article/conflict-anddevelopment-in-northeast-india Karmakar, R. (2020, June 13). In the time of online classes, Northeast waits for a faint signal from a distant tower. Retrieved from The Hindu: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ other-states/ground-zero-in-the-time-of-online-classes-northeast-waits-for-a-faint-signalfrom-a-distant-tower/article31815979.ece Kasi, E., & Saha, A. (2021). Pushed to the Margins: The Crisis among Tribal Youth in India During COVID-19. Critical Sociology, 47(4–5), 641–655. Khumukcham, R. (2021, July 18). Students & teachers tested COVID-19 positive after opening their school by defying Govt. orders in Tousem. Retrieved from Imphal Times: https://www. imphaltimes.com/news/item/20924-students-teachers-tested-covid-19-positive-afteropening-their-school-by-defying-govt-orders-in-tousem Kikon, D. (2009). The Predicament of Justice: Fifty Years of Armed Forces Special Powers Act in India. Contemporary South Asia, 17(3), 271–282. Konwar, P. (2015, July 1). Socio-economic conditions, inequality and deprivation in Northeast India. Retrieved from MPRA Munich Personal RePEc Archive: https://mpra.ub.unimuenchen.de/65407/1/MPRA_paper_65407.pdf Krishnaprabu, S. (2019). Digital India-Major Initiatives and their Impact: A Critical Analysis. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, 8(1C2), 953–957; Sharma, D., & Singh, A. (2020). E-Learning In India During COVID-19: Challenges And Opportunities. European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine, 7(7), 6199–6206. Leivon, J. (2020, May 14). Manipur education department launches e-learning website for Classes 1 to 12, mobile app soon. Retrieved from The Indian Express: https://indianexpress.com/ article/education/manipur-education-department-launches-e-learning-website-forclasses-1-to-12-mobile-app-soon-6408517/

Education Crisis for Indian Marginalised Learners  129 Mishra, S., & Banchariya, S. (2020, April 13). Why online learning is not for everyone. Retrieved from Times of India: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/whyonline-learning-is-not-for-everyone/articleshow/75121377.cms Mordani, S. (2021, July 5). COVID-19 is gripping Northeast India, districts of concern rising in ­number. Retrieved from India Today: https://www.indiatoday.in/coronavirus-outbreak/ story/covid-19-is-gripping-northeast-india-districts-of-concern-rising-in-number1824177-2021-07-05 Nanda, P. K. (2020, April 12). Faculty at private schools, colleges stare at salary cut, late payment. Retrieved from Mint: https://www.livemint.com/education/news/faculty-at-privateschools-colleges-stare-at-salary-cut-late-payment-11586719545399.html OECD. (2020). Economic outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India 2020 – Update: Meeting the challenges of COVID-19. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1787/e8c90b68-en. Pamei, J. (2020, December 31). Tamenglong, the rainiest hill district in Manipur is in deep water crisis. Retrieved from Imphal Free Press: https://ifp.co.in/4678/tamenglong-the-rainiesthill-district-in-manipur-is-in-deep-water-crisis Pitroda, S. (2020, September 3). Digital India’ is not prepared for digital education. Retrieved fromTheIndianExpress:https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/digital-education‑online-classes-learning-coronavirus-national-education-policy-6580744/ Press Information Bureau. (2019). Key indicators of household social consumption on education in India NSS 75th round (July 2017–June 2018). New Delhi: Government of India. Retrieved from https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1593251 QS I Gauge. (2020, April). COVID-19: A wake-up call for Indian Internet Service Providers. Retrieved from I Gauge: https://www.igauge.in/admin/uploaded/report/files/ QSIGAUGECOVIDISPReportApril2020_1606732097.pdf Roese, J. (2021, January 27). COVID-19 exposed the digital divide. Here’s how we can close it. Retrieved from World Economic Forum: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/01/ covid-digital-divide-learning-education/ Sharma, D., & Singh, A. (2020). E-Learning in India Duringcovid-19: Challenges and Opportunities. European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine, 7(7), 6199–6206. Sharma, I. (2020, October 26). COVID-19 and Political Unrest in Northeast India. Retrieved from ACLED: https://acleddata.com/2020/10/26/covid-19-and-political-unrest-innortheast-india/ Sharma, S. (2019, April). Territories of Belonging: Citizenship and everyday practices of the. Retrieved from www.repository.cam.ac.uk › bitstream › handle: file:///Users/dalsiegangmei/Downloads/Online%20version%20Sharma%20PhD%20(3).pdf Shilshi, J. S. (2007, January). Poverty, Development and Conflict among the Manipur Tribals. Dialogue A quarterly journal of Astha Bharati, 8(3). Retrieved from http://www. asthabharati.org/Dia_Jan%2007/John.htm Shimray, U. A. (2000). Linguistic Matrix in Manipur. Economic and Political Weekly, 35(34), 3007–3008. Shimray, U. A. (2004). Socio-Political Unrest in the Region Called North-East India. Economic and Political Weekly, 39(42), 4637–4643. Shinglai, T. (2015). Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009: Its Relevance in Manipur. In A. Yaruingam, & A. C. Kharingpam (Eds.), Rethinking Education in the Hills of Northeast India (pp. 140–154). Delhi: Shipra Publications. Singh, A. K., & Maurya, S. (2017, August 8). A Review of Digital India Programme and Comparative Study of E-Governance Initiatives around World. Asian Journal of Research in Business Economics and Management, 7(8), 1–15. Singh, K. T., & Chiru, P. R. (2020). Are Bandhs and Blockades Economic Adversity for the Consumers? A Study of Manipur Consumers.

130  Dalsie Gangmei Sirur, S. (2021, August 27). In Manipur’s worst-connected district, these villagers have given up their rights to get a road. Retrieved from The Print: https://theprint.in/india/in-manipurs-worstconnected-district-these-villagers-have-given-up-their-rights-to-get-a-road/721813/ The Quint. (2020, March 31). Advertisement India must end internet curbs amid COVID-19: Human rights watch. Retrieved from THE QUINT: https://www.thequint.com/news/india/ covid-19-coronavirus-internet-shutdown-can-cost-lives-human-rights-watch#read-more The Sentinel. (2020, September 21). Joblessness pushing youths to extremist groups in Northeast. Retrieved from The Sentinel: https://www.sentinelassam.com/amp/topheadlines/ joblessness-pushing-youths-to-extremist-groups-in-northeast-502512

9 Dismal Lives of Women Teachers Working in Low-Cost Private Schools in India Politics of Precarity Nilesh G. and Nikhil Walde Introduction The early 1990s structural reforms that heralded India’s liberalisation had an impact on the education sector, resulting in a decreased state funding, the formation of more private educational institutions, and more private sector investment started in education (Kamat, 2011; Nambissan, 2020). These changes have resulted in the emergence of low-cost private (LCP)1 schools, which became popular with low-income families (Gurney, 2018; Nambissan and Lall, 2011; Sarangapani, 2009). The LCP schools in the neo-liberal market also opened up some educational spaces which promise opportunities to the socially and economically marginalised teachers and students in terms of both livelihood and quality education. Many women teachers were able to make use of newly available opportunities in LCP schools, which were not necessarily available in public schools. To maintain relatively low tuition fees, the LCP schools often rely on poorly paid and untrained teachers, mostly women who are without any job security. Despite the centrality of women teachers in providing education to low-income families, very little scholarly work has been done on the issue of women teachers in LCPs (Manjrekar, 2013, 2021). Recent studies demonstrate that accountability processes in private schools create power dynamics which negatively impact productivity (Shields et al., 2021). Manish Jain and Sadhana Saxena (2010) argue against the neo-liberal costeffectiveness claim and point to the exploitative nature of the discourse. Further, Nambissan and Ball (2010) assert that the proponents of LCP are transnational groups and organisations, who are driven by the motivation to create a market for investment in education. These groups have links with local advocacy groups. Moreover, neoliberalism tends to engender informalisation of teaching and weaken teacher unions (Whitty, 1995), and as a consequence, result in the deployment of untrained teachers in private unaided schools. Widely respected official statistical data confirm this picture. DISE (District Information System for Education) data for 2019–2020 shows that more than 50 percent of the teachers in private unaided schools are untrained at all levels from primary to higher secondary schooling (Nihalani and Radhakrishanan, 2021). Similarly, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA). District Information System for Education DISE data for 2018–2019, as well as a 2021 UNESCO Report, suggest that DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688-12

132  Nilesh G. and Nikhil Walde women predominate in low-paid and contractual jobs in LCP schools (DISE 2018-19; Sarangapani et al., 2021). Against this backdrop, this chapter focuses on the experiences and challenges of women teachers in LCP schools, and in particular, on how COVID-19 impacted their lives. The chapter challenges free market ideologues’ cost-effectiveness and efficiency arguments, arguing that the burden of poorly paid, precarious, and insecure teaching jobs in LCP schools falls disproportionately on women. Moreover, many women teachers, who were already poorly paid, lost their jobs during the pandemic which deteriorated their condition. This chapter contributes to the argument on the need of institutional support for the welfare and development of teachers, which educational research recognises as a prerequisite for improving the quality of school education (Mockler, 2013; Ramachandran, 2016).

Teacher Identity in Neoliberalism: Concepts and Processes Privatisation, commercialisation, deregulation, and profit-making tendencies are all expanding as a result of neo-liberal policies in education. This has also resulted in a market-driven approach to the teaching profession and the exploitation of teaching staff (Harvey, 2007; Lipman, 2011). Harvey (2007, p. 3) claims that the process of neo-liberalisation entails a great deal of “creative destruction”, not only of previous institutional frameworks and powers (even challenging traditional forms of state sovereignty), but also of labour divisions, social relations, ways of life, and thought, as it emphasises the importance of contractual relations in the marketplace. Apple (1988) argued long back that the teacher workforce is being proletarianised and feminised. This seems to be taking shape in the Global South if we consider Kumar (2011) who states that the problem of teaching in a neo-liberal state is further compounded by the fact that the teachers constitute increasingly diverse groups. The new teacher needs both time-sustained training, and institutional space to negotiate and adjust her own gender, class and caste identity to perform her professional role in the classroom, which often contrasts with her role in the family. These neo-liberal developments in education have resulted in the emergence of low-cost private (LCP) schools. Previous research on LCP schools has shown that they have emerged as a distinct schooling provision for underprivileged communities, particularly in urban and peri-urban settings (Srivastava, 2008). Advocates of LCP schools propose LCP schooling as a solution to failed state schools (Tooley and Dixon, 2005), while opponents argue that it would reduce education from a noble service to a commodity (Sarangapani and Winch, 2010; Winch, 1998). From a neo-liberal perspective, market-based education alternatives delivered through LCP schools have the ability to replace the public sector and produce better outcomes in the most efficient and cost-effective manner (Muralidharan and Sundararaman, 2011; Tooley and Dixon, 2005). In this view, because teachers’ salaries account for a larger share of the state school education spending, one way to reduce costs and improve efficiency is to use contract teachers in the formal system and private school teachers of LCP schools who can be found in the ‘labour market’ for one-fifth of a regular teacher’s salary (Muralidharan and Kremer 2007).

Women Teachers Working in Indian Private Schools  133 Manjrekar (2013) has brought to attention the shifting educational landscape and a paucity of research on the lives and work of teachers, particularly women teachers, who are the majority in private schools. According to Manjrekar, the number of women teachers in India has gradually increased since the 1950s. Similarly, Manjrekar asserts that the number of women teachers is higher in unaided private schools and contract teaching, both of which are low-paying and insecure jobs. Besides, the state’s neo-liberal policies have resulted in the deployment of unskilled teachers in private schools and contractual appointments in public schools. Nihalani and Radhakrishanan (2021) have examined 2019–2020 UDISE2 data wherein they reveal that more than half of the teachers in the private sector are untrained at all levels, from primary school to secondary school. Building on these previous studies, this chapter analyses the experiences of women teachers in LCP schools and the ways in which the pandemic impacted women teachers’ lives.

Methods and Field Site The study was conducted at Sainagar3 in Hyderabad. The establishment of a number of union and state government agencies and institutions has made important changes in the area. It has not only created numerous job opportunities, but also increased the number of residential colonies. Rising land prices and a real estate boom have emerged from the construction of the Hyderabad airport and the proposed Information Technology (IT) Park. As a result of this real estate development and job prospects, many people migrated to this area in pursuit of work, raising the demand for education (Kamat, 2011). Fieldwork for this study was conducted from June 2019 to March 2020 followed up by phone interviews with 15 teachers between July 2020 and September 2020 when the nationwide lockdown was eased. Overall, in-depth interviews with 25 teachers (20 women, 5 men) and three school owners were used to gather data for the study. This paper also depends on unstructured conversations and classroom observations over the course of an academic year at three co-educational LCP schools in Hyderabad (which we call Schools A, B and C). There are 1,445 students in School A with 39 teachers, 476 students in School B with 18 teachers, and 480 students in School C with 17 teachers.4 School A and School B opened their doors in the early 1990s, while School C was established in 2003. We were able to form relationships with numerous teachers during our time in the field before the pandemic. Interviews were performed at participants’ homes, shops, businesses, tuition classes, and schools. All of the interviews took place in Hindi, English, and Telugu. They were thematically translated, transcribed, and analysed.

Unequal Pay and Teacher Mortification: Burden Falls on Women Teachers In India, teachers at LCP schools are paid relatively low salaries and do not receive official teacher training or social security benefits (Endow, 2018). There are no set standards for determining salary or increments in LCP schools; instead, they are

134  Nilesh G. and Nikhil Walde determined by a variety of considerations such as professional qualifications, teaching experience, tasks allocated, relationships with the owners,5 and years of association with the school. Gender and the subject taught are also important factors in teacher pay. Men teachers’ salaries on average are double that of their female counterparts in the same profession.6 For example, in School A, a male teacher who teaches the Telugu language to secondary pupils gets more salary than all the women teachers who teach Telugu. This male teacher’s salary is more than the women teacher who teaches sciences and mathematics, whose salaries are often higher than languages and social sciences teachers. Men teachers in the sciences and mathematics also get more remuneration compared to women teachers. Women teachers assigned to secondary sections (Classes 8 to 10) get higher salaries than those assigned to elementary grades. On the other hand, proponents of LCP schooling defend the low compensation paid to private school teachers by claiming that market-determined salaries are fair (Muralidharan and Sundararaman, 2013). Critics argue that using market principles to allocate teaching labour might be unfair at times; at times, it can even be exploitative (Jain and Saxena, 2010; Stiglitzs, 2019 p. 49). Teachers’ compulsion may be exploited by market power, forcing them to labour for less pay than they are entitled to in order to live a respectable and dignified life. Working in LCP schools, for example, does not financially enable single women teachers to meet their family’s demands on their own. They have to rely on their families for financial help. After a divorce from her husband, a woman teacher teaching at School C lives with her two children at her maternal home. The following is what the teacher had to say about her experience: My family members keep on asking me how I am doing on my job? How much money I am getting? Is that money enough to survive? How do I manage myself and children to live on such a low salary? People also stigmatise me as a single woman and rumour about how I manage without my husband. God only helps me in leading my life. (Katherine, Interview, School C) This is the situation of women teachers where they undergo societal and family pressure. Low salary in LCP schools also adds to their precarious condition. On the other hand, neo-liberal voices argue that, in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and provide universal education as mandated by the Right to Education (RTE) Act of 2009, the state should not solely rely on public schooling. Rather, private players should provide quality education to the poor in a cost-effective manner while paying low salaries to teachers, as teacher salaries absorb the majority of state funding (Muralidharan and Sundararaman, 2013). When we questioned a women teacher from school C how they compared themselves to government schoolteachers, the teachers voiced their dissatisfaction as follows: There are no comparisons. They earn more salary, while we make a pittance. They have a B.Ed., hence their incomes are greater. I’ve completed only up to inter. Now I’m thinking why didn’t my parents send me to further my

Women Teachers Working in Indian Private Schools  135 education? They arranged for my early marriage. We had no one to support us, so we ended up in a low-paying job in LCP schools which doesn’t give us self-respect as women and recognition in the society. (Anjali, Interview, School C) Women teachers’ main source of dissatisfaction arises from the treatment they receive as a teacher at LCP schools, as well as the low remuneration they receive in comparison to their government school counterparts, who are paid significantly higher for performing the same job with professional credentials. Women’s preponderance in these schools can be attributed to a variety of factors. Changes in the modern lifestyle such as clothing, rented housing, private schooling for children and private health demands double income in the family. So families now permit women to work as a teacher, as teaching is construed as a suitable occupation for women. Despite the fact that the women teachers have qualifications in other professions such as engineering, commerce, or health, the family discourages them from working in these fields, despite the fact that they may get better pay. It is the perceived ‘suitable working hours’ at school that permit women teachers to straddle household and school responsibilities (Jandhyala and Ramchandran, 2015). Here’s an example of a conversation with a young unmarried teacher: Few people think positively, and few negatively. They say why do you teach in a private school? The salary is very low. I never ever thought that I would become a teacher. As I have a B.Com. degree in Computer Science. Most of my friends are working in software companies with good salaries. I also wanted to be in the same profession but due to family pressure and problems, I am here. (Mayuri, Interview, School C) In the schools where the study was conducted, there were a number of qualified female teachers. A growing number of women teachers with high education levels were willing to work for relatively low pay as long as it supplemented the home income. At the same time, growing aspirations and changes in lifestyles require an alternative income, and as a result, families want women to work as long as it is done within a patriarchal framework that prioritises family responsibilities (Jandhyala and Ramchandran, 2015). For married women, working as a teacher in a school helps meet new material demands in their households. Many female teachers come from low-income, poorly educated patriarchal families where their job is secondary and they are expected to fulfil the conventional role of a woman in Indian society as a cook, caregiver, and do household duties (Manjrekar, 2013). Since teaching in LCP schools fits this framework, we see many women taking up this job. Further, consider a female teacher’s reaction: I was married at a young age and came here to my father-in-law. He is very strict, I learnt typing as I wanted to pursue higher studies, but they did not allow it. I had to be in the house and do household chores. Somehow, I

136  Nilesh G. and Nikhil Walde manage to do a teaching job in this school with minimum pay to support the family, but the school space is also not favourable for women, I had to listen and face the dominant and humiliating behaviour of the school owner. (Anjali, Interview, School C) The LCP schools are increasingly becoming women-dominated workplaces, while males in leadership positions turn them into patriarchal sites. Male owners hurl derogatory, sexual comments at women teachers, such as ‘Do you dance in the class?’, and make fun of their household role as a cook and caregiver if it coincides with their role as a teacher. Further, women teachers reported receiving comments such as ‘Have you studied your degree or purchased it?’, ‘Learn to apply your mind’, and so on. In the current neo-liberal period, a large number of women are entering the teaching profession (Manjrekar, 2013), and their subjugated identity in society is reflected in the classroom. Here, women teachers are dominated, oppressed, and controlled by male masters. They appear to be more vulnerable than male teachers. When the owners insult, chastise or denigrate them, there are instances of women teachers crying in front of their students. Take the following example from a casual conversation with a teacher: The owner scolded two of us one day, Janaki and me. He scolds Janaki more. One day the owner scolded her and said, were you cooking at home? Don’t you know that you should come early? Buddhi ledu! (why don’t you apply your mind!). Does anyone remark like this to a teacher? The owner said, Don’t you have shame! behave like mature. This happened in front of everyone. How does one feel! She cried a lot, Bichari (being vulnerable). (Sanjana, Interaction, School B) Humiliating situations are gendered, as many female teachers face them on a daily basis, while male teachers face them very rarely. As a male teacher who has spent the last 12 years at School C, shared: I have been working with the school for the last 12 years. Never had any dispute or conflict with the management. They always respected me as a teacher. That is why I have been working with this school for all these years. (Ravi, Interaction, School C) According to Zembylas (2003), power, control, and emotional rules all play a role in self-formation, and the vulnerable self is visible in the LCP school context for women teachers. Gender discrimination and control are not free even from the educational institutional spaces in the so-called neo-liberal time for women teachers. Kumar (2011) asserts that we must be cautious in recognising the transformation in society’s attitude towards women and their work in LCP schools. The new neo-liberal teacher requires both time-intensive training and institutional space to negotiate and change her own gender, class, and caste identities in order to perform her professional function in the classroom, which frequently conflicts with her position at home.

Women Teachers Working in Indian Private Schools  137

Dual Labour: The Family and the School Women schoolteachers are framed by the gendered roles of their lives in both the family and the school, while neo-liberal reforms reframe and reconfigure the gendered dimensions of their lives at both places (Manjrekar, 2013). Women teachers, for example, expressed the stress and strain of balancing family and school responsibilities. Many women teachers revealed that they get up as early as 5 AM to 6 AM to prepare meals for their families. They would frequently skip breakfast in order to get to school on time at 9 AM. Carrying unfinished work home and attending tuition classes to supplement their earnings keeps them busy round the clock, causing health problems and exhaustion. Take a look at the following excerpt from an interview with a young teacher at School A: Not only do we have schoolwork, but we also have other things to do. That is also our responsibility. We have to work at home when there is an extra load of work and also have personal responsibilities to meet. I’m unable to meet other obligations because we end up doing schoolwork even at home. I also suffer from headaches and other health issues. We get physical health problems as a result of not having enough time to rest. Really, I am sharing this because we have both school and household tasks to perform. (Swati, Interview, School A) Research conducted in Hyderabad by Sarangapani (2018, p.185) revealed that women teachers in LCP schools negotiated a flexible leave policy. Nevertheless, in this study women teachers stated that they are barred from taking successive leaves. During menstruation, this causes health problems for female teachers. They would need two to three days off if they had complications. Consider a teacher’s answer in this case: The owner scolds us even if we go for two days’ leave (Chillata hai). He has no understanding of women’s issues. (Sanjana, Interactions, School B) During menstruation, it becomes difficult for us to concentrate on work. Because of the workload at home and school, we face health issues. We have our personal matters and difficulties to deal with. (Swati, Interview, School A) Swati and Sanjana’s references to personal matters and women’s concerns may imply to menstruation rest, as well as their attempts and challenges to balance the responsibilities of being women in the home and as a teacher in the school handling both the pressures. Furthermore, apart from the poor working circumstances, the nature of teachers’ work in LCP schools is precarious, overloaded, and controlled. Teaching in LCP schools is not the first choice for teachers. The aim of teachers is to get stable and secured employment, but they are subjected to two types of control: one from the state-mandated routine, and the other from school

138  Nilesh G. and Nikhil Walde authorities and digital surveillance (Connell, 2013). Further, teachers’ time and energy are consumed by the outcome-oriented institutional culture in testing learning; as a result, work is intensified and overburdened (Apple 1988; Kumar 2011). The time saved can be devoted to teaching-learning, which is vitally needed for children in schools who lack parental support and a suitable academic environment at home and in the community.

Diminished Value as a Teacher Many of the teachers in the LCP schools are untrained. One of the main reasons for their vulnerability is their limited voice in negotiating compensation and benefits – terms of employment, as well as their diminished standing and identity as teachers. Many teachers have stated that the ‘community’ in which they teach and belong does not recognise or respect them as educators. A local teacher with 20 years of experience in teaching at LCP schools said: Locals in this area do not have the proper mindset. They constantly say what will she teach, we are the ones paying fees. Teachers are disliked by them. Teachers, on the other hand, should be treated with respect. A teacher is like a second mother to a student. Unfortunately, this is not the case in this area. Students will not be able to succeed until they respect their teachers. (Anjali, Interview, School C) Advocates of LCP schooling argue about the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of locally hired contractual teachers (Jain and Dholakia, 2009; Muralidharan and Sundararaman 2013; Tooley et al., 2007). However, research on the experiences of LCP school teachers from the above narratives reveals a loss of identity, status, and value of teachers who are untrained, low-paid, and mostly women. During informal exchanges and interviews, teachers described a variety of examples of limited pedagogical autonomy, devalued as a teacher, and obstructed teacher agency. This has a negative impact on their identity as a teacher, and pedagogues, and they feel as if they are just an “academic worker”. A young upper-primary school teacher from School A conveyed the following: Why are you talking to me like this, teacher? I’m going to tell my parents about it. Teachers are continually confronted by students. Even if you say nice things to them, they will reply in this manner, especially boys. Who are you to tell me this is what they say. (Swati, Interaction, School A) This diminished regard for teachers is evident not only among students, but also among parents. If teachers punish or scold children for misbehaving, students complain to their parents. Parents do not regard local teachers as more informed or trustworthy, nor do they respect or trust them. The greater challenges that teachers encounter in these institutions are distrust and disrespect. The following was offered by a woman teacher at School C:

Women Teachers Working in Indian Private Schools  139 If parents want their child to be a topper (a student who excels in school), they must either put in some effort (supervise studies at home and cooperate with teachers) or allow teachers the authority to correct and motivate their children. If they do that, the teacher will gain courage and no longer be afraid. You can’t criticise or say anything to a child. We have a lot to be afraid of these days. If anything unusual occurs, children are prone to exaggerating and informing their parents. The next day, parents arrive at school. In the assembly itself, the teacher may be disrespected (prayer main hi teacher ka apmaan). (Amita, Interview, School C) Because of the profit-driven ethos of LCP schooling, owners frequently place a higher priority on parents and their satisfaction as stakeholders than on teachers. Owners, as the leader and head of the school, are responsible for resolving issues and maintaining a healthy relationship between parents and teachers. However, if there is a disagreement or conflict between teachers and parents, the owners will favour the parents. The following is said by a teacher: If anything bad happens to children or if one of them gets low grades, it usually leads to a disagreement or a conflict between the parent and the teacher. Management does not intervene. They will instead question the teacher later. It’s work more like an IT company. (Sara, Interaction, School B) In LCP schools, teachers are viewed as service providers. Teachers are mocked and scolded by the owner in front of parents and children. Many teachers have similar stories to tell. This has a negative impact on one’s self-esteem. Consider the following teacher’s response: Parents come to school if we chastise or punish students. Teachers should not be punished in front of their students. Teachers lose respect, as a result of this (children do not consider teachers as an authoritative figure). When parents communicate with teachers, they should do so in a respectful manner. Otherwise we would also ignore even if the child does not complete homework or write tests. Why should we be concerned? (hame kya?) As far as we get our salary. (Amita, Interview, School C) Because of this kind of treatment where some parents engage in dispute and confrontation, it demotivates the teachers. It has a negative impact on their integrity since they fail to fulfil their pedagogical responsibilities. Amita continued to share as she became more open: We can’t do anything on our own. We are unable to scold or speak to students. If we do, parents will arrive. They should be handled by management. But if anything happens, management summons us in front of the parents, and we are forced to listen to their rant. As a result, we don’t want to take any

140  Nilesh G. and Nikhil Walde chances. We complete whatever work is assigned to us and then leave. We can attempt to enhance every student if management supports us. The management should deal with parents, but they don’t. Parents punish us at times, and in some cases, they even ‘beat us up.’ But management does not involve or intervene. This is the issue. (Amita, Interview, School C) The preceding excerpts reflect the controlled nature of teachers’ work and diminished autonomy, respect and professionalism, as many scholars suggested with the neo-liberal restructuring of teachers’ work (See: Connell, 2013; Gur, 2014; Kumar, 2011). Teachers lack a strong sense of professional identity that allows them to take pride in their work. Instead, many of them consider their jobs to be unworthy, insignificant, and negligible. The majority of them are from low-income families, oppressed castes, and religious minorities, which has proven to be a barrier to higher education. Moreover, the issues they experience are not confined to income; the pressure, treatment, and working atmosphere they encounter in LCP schools are also not conducive. As Zembylas (2005) claims, the teacher identity is always immersed in a context of power relations, ideology, and culture that govern the work environment. In this direction, these everyday experiences of women teachers in the LCP school uncover and compel us to rethink the purpose of education in the so-called neo-liberal era.

Heightened Precarity during the Pandemic The critical situation of the LCP schools and their teachers was aggravated when the pandemic suddenly erupted in March 2020. All the schools in India were shut down. Schools continued to be closed for the next 15–16 months throughout the country. As LCP schools are self-financed institutions, low-income parents who were hard-hit by the pandemic could not pay the fees, resulting in the self-finance model of the LCP schools collapse. Consequently, LCP school teachers – particularly women teachers – were unexpectedly laid off, and many of them were not paid. During this period schools conducted online teaching. This newly emerged situation necessitated digital skills on the part of teachers. However, minimally educated and poorly trained teachers in LCP schools lacked technical skills and knowledge as well as the pedagogic skill of digital teaching. As a result, many teachers found online teaching to be challenging, especially women teachers, the majority of whom came from low-income, poverty-ridden families who were married off young, therefore they could not attain higher or professional degrees. Hence, many women teachers had to lose their jobs, especially women teaching at Early Childhood Education (ECE) and primary grades. Having lost their jobs some women teachers had to go back to their native places. The economic crisis emanating from the pandemic deteriorated the conditions of the teachers, jeopardising their job and income. Women teachers were particularly affected by this situation as the salaries they get are less as compared to their male counterparts.

Women Teachers Working in Indian Private Schools  141 Niazi and Doorly (2020) calculated the loss of income of teachers and staff of LCP schools during the pandemic across different countries – including India. They found that over many months there was a widespread loss of income for millions of teachers and staff in LCP schools, with little access to financial support. Women teachers shared that they did not receive salaries from March 2019 until the schools reopened, roughly in August 2021. This worsened their family situation as they found it difficult to adequately feed their families and meet daily expenses. This resulted, as many studies conducted elsewhere in the world show, in the adverse impact of the pandemic on women school teachers’ psychological health (Kotowski, et al., 2022; Nabe-Nielsen et al., 2022; Jakubowski and SitkoDominik, 2021). Women teachers experienced mental stress and physical health issues because of the care work, household duties and educating the young. In this scenario, it is apparent that the women teachers in LCP schools have disproportionately borne the brunt of the misery the pandemic brought. Considering the suffering of the teachers in the private sector, the Telangana All Private Teachers Association – a union of private school teachers demanded compensation for the teachers.7 The teachers’ union staged protests in various districts across the state. Paying heed to the gatherings, the state government of Telangana decided to pay Rupees 2000 (about 20 pounds) and 20 kg of rice to the teacher working in private schools.8 A plethora of educational literature on teacher education supports an idea of a strong professional identity for teachers in order to improve practice and thereby quality of school education. Teachers in LCP schools experienced de-professionalisation as COVID-19 further made their professional conditions bleak. During the post-COVID interactions, women teachers narrated instances of male parents scolding, and talking rudely in front of students. One of the teachers shared that a male parent arrogantly commented that “How are you teaching? […] you don’t know how to teach!”. The teacher expressed that she felt traumatised by this incident and doubted her own teaching skills. To summarise, after the liberalisation of the Indian economy during the 1990s, the state shrunk its role in financing and opening new government schools. As a result, LCP schools rapidly mushroomed throughout the country. LCP schools opened up a precarious labour market in which women bear the brunt of these insecure and poorly paid jobs. Women occupy teaching positions in the LCP schools because the increased modern lifestyle such as clothing, rented housing, private schooling for children and private health demands double the income in the family. Secondly, teaching in a local school enables women to straddle household and school responsibilities. This fits within the patriarchal structure therefore families allow women to become teachers. However, women’s narratives reveal that their subordinate position in the family and society gets reflected in the classroom. Being women and local jeopardise their identity and status as a pedagogue and more knowledgeable to teach the young. This has serious repercussions on their identity as a teacher and results in a new neo-liberal identity as ‘service providers’. These findings critique the neo-liberal logic of cost-effectiveness and efficiency of LCP school teachers.

142  Nilesh G. and Nikhil Walde

Conclusion Many scholars claimed that teachers’ standing and identity in the formal government system had diminished, and that structural improvement in teacher education is needed to increase teacher quality (Batra, 2009; Jandhyala and Ramchandran, 2015; Sriprakash, 2011). On the other hand, neo-liberal discourse promotes LCP schools as cost-effective and efficient alternatives to government schools. This argument is mostly directed at teachers because of the fact that LCP teachers are poorly paid, their jobs are precarious, and hence they are cost-effective. Although it is true that women are entering the labour market through the LCP sector, however, this labour market is not without biases against women. On the one hand, LCP schools have opened up a flexible labour market for teaching. However, on the other hand, women bear the brunt of the new precarious, low-paying, and unstable labour market that the LCP sector opens. Furthermore, because of their secondary status in the family and society, they are barred from access to a good education and well-paying jobs. Since the teaching profession is seen to fit societal expectations where women are expected to straddle household and school responsibilities, we have more women teachers in LCP schools. Their subordinated status in the family and society manifests in the school, having a negative impact on the teacher’s identity as a pedagogue and a more informed personality to educate and socialise the young. As Harvey (2007) and Lipman (2011) imply, the school, which is a place of social transformation, has been replaced into a “market” in neo-liberal time, resulting in the reproduction of exploitative work structures and practises. As a result, teacher identity as an educator has been diluted and replaced by new neo-liberal identities of an “academic worker” and a “service provider” for teachers. Moreover, the intersection of caste, class, and gender identities have an impact on oppression, exploitation, and humiliation in LCP school. In the midst of this, the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic deteriorated the condition of teachers in LCP schools. The pandemic had an adverse impact on the income of lower-income families as the nationwide lockdown hit them hard. As a result, a majority of the parents could not pay the fees. Therefore, teachers in LCP schools faced a grave financial situation. We also need to question the role of the state in this trying time. The state did not do much for the teachers in LCP schools. The teachers were merely provided with monthly Rupees 2000 and 25 kg of rice. In a nutshell, women in LCP schools locate themselves at crossroads where on one hand, they took on the roles of teachers in order to fulfil the new demands of the family and on the other hand, they found themselves in subordinated positions owing to being confined in a gendered profession of teaching. This further deepened and created newer ruptures in the current global pandemic where the women were seen to bear the costs of teaching in LCP schools in ways that were never experienced before. The pandemic has created novel challenges that have deepened inequalities in the manner in which LCP schools thrive in India.

Women Teachers Working in Indian Private Schools  143

Notes 1 There are many nomenclatures used for LCP schools such as budget schools, low-fee private schools, affordable schools, small schools etc. We call them LCP mainly because the fees in the studied schools are low (ranging from Rs. 600 to Rs. 1400 per month). 2 District Information System for Education (DISE) is a database of information about schools in India. This data is collated nationally by official agency NUEPA, New Delhi. 3 The name of the area and teachers is fictitious. 4 Out of the total 74 teachers in all the three schools, only six are male. 5 The terms owner and management have been used interchangeably. Because male owner takes major decision regarding the school. 6 Male teachers receive salaries between Rs. 25–30 thousand while the female counterparts get between Rs. 10–16 thousands. 7 Please see the details here: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/pvtschool-teachers-stage-protests/articleshow/76803947.cms. 8 Please see the details here: https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/telangana/2021/ apr/09/over-145-lakh-teachers-in-telangana-to-get-rs-2000aid25-kg-rice-beforeapril-25-2288081.html.

References Apple, M. (1988). Teachers and texts: A political economy of class and gender in education. New York: Routledge. Batra, P. (2009). Teacher empowerment: The education entitlement - social transformation traverse. Contemporary Education Dialogue, 6(2), 121–156. Connell, R. (2013). The neoliberal cascade and education: An essay on the market agenda and its consequences. Critical Studies in Education, 54(2), 99–112. Endow, T. (2018). Inferior outcomes: Learning in low-cost English-medium private schools – a survey in Delhi and National Capital Region. Indian Journal of Human Development, 12(1), 1–19. Gur, B. (2014). Deskilling of teachers: The case of Turkey. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 14(3), 887–904. Gurney, E. (2018). School quality: Parent perspectives and schooling choices. In Jain, M., Mehendale, A., Mukhopadhyay, R., Sarangapani, M., & Winch, C. (Eds.), School education win India: Market, state and quality. Oxon: Routledge, pp. 260–280. Harvey, D. (2007). A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jain, M., & Saxena, S. (2010). Politics of Low-Cost Schooling and Low Teacher Salary. Economic and Political Weekly, 45(18), 79–80. Jain, P., & Dholakia, R. (2009). Feasibility of implementation of Right to Education Act. Economic and Political Weekly, 44(25), 38–43. Jakubowski, T. D., & Sitko-Dominik, M. M. (2021). Teachers’ mental health during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. PloS One, 16(9), e0257252. Jandhyala, K., & Ramchandran, V. (2015). Why women teachers matter in secondary education. Economic and Political Weekly, 50(32), 48–54. Kamat, S. (2011). Neoliberalism, urbanism and the education economy: producing Hyderabad as a ‘global city’. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 32(2), 187–202. Kotowski, S. E., Davis, K. G., & Barratt, C. L. (2022). Teachers feeling the burden of COVID-19: Impact on well-being, stress, and burnout. Work, (Preprint), 1–9. Kumar, K. (2011). Teaching and the neoliberal state. Economic And Political Weekly, 46(21), 37–40.

144  Nilesh G. and Nikhil Walde Lipman, P. (2011). The new political economy of urban education: Neoliberalism, race, and the right to the city. New York: Routledge Publishing. Manjrekar, N. (2013). Women schoolteachers in New Times: Some preliminary reflections, Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 20(2), 335–356. Manjrekar, N. (2021). Researching women teachers in new times. In John, M. E., & Gopal, M. (Eds.), Women in the worlds of labour: Interdisciplinary and intersectional perspectives. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, pp. 309–328. Mockler, N. (2013). Teacher Professional Learning in a Neoliberal Age: Audit, Professionalism and Identity. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 38(10). http://doi. org/10.14221/ajte.2013v38n10.8 Muralidharan, K., & Kremer, M. (2007). Public and private schools in Rural India. https:// scholar.harvard.edu/files/kremer/files/public_and_private_schools_in_rural_india_ final_pre-publication.pdf Muralidharan, K., & Sundararaman, V. (2011). Teacher performance pay: Experimental evidence from India, Journal of Political Economy, 119(1), 39–77. Muralidharan, K., & Sundararaman, V. (2013). Contract teachers: Experimental evidence from India, Working Paper Series. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Nabe-Nielsen, K., Christensen, K. B., Fuglsang, N. V., Larsen, I., & Nilsson, C. J. (2022). The effect of COVID-19 on schoolteachers’ emotional reactions and mental health: Longitudinal results from the CLASS study. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 95(4), 855–865. Nambissan, G. (2020). Low-cost education for the poor India: Contemporary Concerns. The JMC Review, IV, 109–128. https://www.jmc.ac.in/uploads/staticfiles/jmcreview/ vol4/Geetha%20Nambissan%20The%20JMC%20Review%202020%20(1).pdf Nambissan, G., & Ball, S. (2010). Advocacy networks, choice and private schooling of the poor in India, Global Networks, 10(3), 324–343. Nambissan, G., & Lall, M. (2011). Introduction: Education globalisation and social justice. In (Lal, M. & Nambissan, G) Education and social justice in the era of globalisation: Perspectives of India and UK (Eds). New Delhi: Routledge. National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA). (n.d.) District Information System for Education (DISE) (2018–2019). Retrieved from https:// dashboard.udiseplus.gov.in/reportDashboard/sReport Niazi, M., & Doorly, A. (2020a). Estimating the impact of COVID-19 on the non-state education sector in low- and middle-income countries. Global Schools Forum. Retrieved from https:// cdn.ymaws.com/www.globalschoolsforum.org/resource/resmgr/resources/v2report_ estimating_the_impa.pdf Niazi, M., & Doorly, A. (2020b). Estimating the impact of COVID-19 on the non-state education sector in low- and middle-income countries. Global Schools Forum. Retrieved from https:// cdn.ymaws.com/www.globalschoolsforum.org/resource/resmgr/resources/v2report_ estimating_the_impa.pdf Nihalani, J., & Radhakrishanan, V. (2021). How qualified are teachers in India? July 09, 2021, The Hindu. https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedstatesofindia/comments/ohbt51/ how_qualified_are_teachers_in_india_the_hindu_09/ Ramachandran, V. (2016). The position of teachers in our education system. Learning Curve, 25, 50–52. Sarangapani, P. (2009a). Quality, feasibility and desirability of low-cost private schooling. Economic and Political Weekly, 44(43), 67–79. Sarangapani, P. (2009b). Quality, feasibility and desirability of low-cost private schooling. Economic and Political Weekly, 44(43), 67–79.

Women Teachers Working in Indian Private Schools  145 Sarangapani, P., Mukhopadhyay, R., & Jain, M. (2018). Recovering the practice and profession of teaching. In Jain, M., Mehendale, A., Mukhopadhyay, R. Sarangapani, M., & Winch, C. (Eds.), School education in India: Market, state and quality. Oxon: Routledge, pp. 123–138. Sarangapani, P., Thirumalai, B., Ramanathan, A., Kumar, R., & Ramchand, M. (2021). No teacher, no class: State of the education report for India 2021. New Delhi: UNESCO. Sarangapani, P., & Winch, C. (2010) Tooley, Dixon and Gomathi on private education in Hyderabad: A reply, Oxford Review of Education, 36(4), 499–515. http://doi.org/10.1080 /03054985.2010.495465 Shields, A., Banerjee, S., Shajahan, P. K., Singh, B. G., Bista, B.M., Krishna, G., Paudel, M., Singh, A., Hernandez, A. S., Carney, S., Kameshwara, K. K., & Dhanda, K. R. (2021). The double pendulum: Accountability relationships and learning in urban South Asia. International Journal of Educational Development, 84, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. ijedudev.2021.102438 Sriprakash, A. (2011). Being a teacher in contexts of change: Education and the repositioning of teachers ‘work in India. Contemporary Education Dialogue, 8(1), 5–31. Srivastava, P. (2008). The shadow institutional framework: towards a new institutional understanding of an emerging private school sector in India. Research Papers in Education, 23(4), 451–475. http://doi.org/10.1080/02671520701809783 Stiglitz, J. E. (2019): People, power, and profits: Progressive capitalism for an age of discontent, Norton, New York. Tooley, J., & Dixon, P. (2005). Private education is good for the poor: A study of private schools serving the poor in low-income countries. Washington, DC: Cato Institute. Tooley, J., Dixon, P., & Gomathi, S.V. (2007) Private schools and the millennium development goal of universal primary education: a census and comparative survey in Hyderabad, India, Oxford Review of Education, 33(5), 539–560. Whitty, G. (1995). Marketisation, the state and the reformation of the teaching profession. In Halsey, A., Lauder, H., Broun, P., & Wells, A. (Eds.), Education: Culture, economy and society. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 299–310. Winch, C. (1998). Market, educational opportunities and education: Reply to Tooley. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 32(4), 429–436. Zembylas, M. (2003). Interrogating “teacher identity”: Emotion, resistance, and self-formation. Educational Theory, 53(1), 107–127. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-5446.2003.00107 Zembylas, M. (2005). Discursive practices, genealogies, and emotional rules: A poststructuralist view on emotion and identity in teaching. Teaching And Teacher Education, 21(8), 935–948. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2005

10 The Wellbeing of Private School Teachers in Nepal during and beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic Prem Phyak, Peshal Khanal and Sushan Acharya

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic created an uncertain situation affecting job security and the overall wellbeing of human beings (Pfefferbaum and North, 2020; Torales et al., 2020), including teachers. Research has reported that they faced not only pandemic-borne stress, but also added responsibilities of preparation in order to adapt to new ways of teaching (e.g., use of technology and online teaching) (Cutri et al., 2020; Flores and Swennen 2020). Teaching has often been described as a stressful job even in situations of normalcy (Borg et al., 1991; Clipa, 2017; Bhatia and Mohsin, 2020), but this was reinforced during the pandemic as teachers had to learn new technologies and spend more time to communicate with their students and parents. With a specific focus on job security, this chapter discusses how the pandemic has affected private school teachers’ wellbeing in Nepal. We focus on private schools for two reasons. First, at the systemic level, private schools do not have comprehensive and transparent hiring and professional development policies for their teachers. Second, our conversations with the teachers before the pandemic show that private schools generally pay not only low salaries, but also less attention to their professional job security. Because private schools’ hiring policies are not regulated by the government, teachers’ voices and their sense of insecurity are not discussed in the public sphere. In public schools, teachers are recruited through national exams, and their job is permanent. The contract of temporary teachers is also renewed by public schools. These factors combined make private school teachers more vulnerable in the context of a crisis compared to their public counterparts. We discuss teacher wellbeing in relation to the broader political-economic conditions that shape educational policies in Nepal. Rather than seeing wellbeing merely as a psychological phenomenon, we take it as a political-economic process that affects teachers’ personal, social and mental life. We focus on how the neo-liberalisation of education and related privatisation is a major structural issue that has affected the wellbeing and career crisis of teachers during the pandemic. In what follows, we discuss teacher wellbeing in relation to the neoliberal political economy. DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688-13

Private School Teachers’ Wellbeing in Nepal  147

Teacher Wellbeing, Pandemic and Neo-Liberalism in Education Wellbeing has been understood as “how people feel and how they function, both on a personal and a social level, and how they evaluate their lives as a whole” (New Economics Foundation, 2012). Ryan and Deci (2011) consider wellbeing as an “open, engaged, and healthy functioning” (p.47). Similarly, Dodge et al. (2012) take it as “the balance point between an individual’s resource pool and the challenges faced” (p. 230). For them, wellbeing is a dynamic phenomenon that emerges from the interaction between the resources available and challenges that individuals face in their professional life. Resources and challenges include physical, economic, and psychological aspects. If there is a lack of balance between the availability of resources and the nature of challenges, the state of wellbeing will be negative. Diener and Suh (1997) identify three components of wellbeing: satisfaction, pleasant affect, and unpleasant affect. For them, “affect refers to pleasant and unpleasant moods and emotions, whereas life satisfaction refers to a cognitive sense of satisfaction with life” (p. 200). However, this perspective of wellbeing ignores the sociopolitical dimensions that are critical for an understanding of teachers’ wellbeing. This chapter fills this gap by analysing how private school teachers’ wellbeing is linked with structural conditions in the context of the pandemic. The existing literature shows that workload, organisational pressures, and the lack of effective interactions with students are major factors affecting teacher wellbeing (Collie et al., 2015). In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sudden move from physical to online teaching created a considerable amount of stress for teachers (Allen et al., 2020). As virtual teaching required them to learn and use new technological tools, the pandemic not only increased their workload but also affected their sense of efficacy in teaching. These pandemic-induced challenges led to teachers without sufficient skills for online teaching to have the feeling of lower efficacy that eventually affects their wellbeing. This issue is more serious in a context such as Nepal where teachers hardly receive additional institutional support. Demerouti et al. (2001) show that teachers needed additional support and counselling to purchase digital devices and enhance their skills to use them efficiently. Collie and Martin (2020) have discussed that teachers who receive institutional support by listening to their voices and addressing their needs have a strong state of wellbeing and adaptability in their profession. The lack of such support negatively affects teacher wellbeing (Demerouti et al., 2001). While the previous studies have helped us understand factors affecting teachers’ wellbeing, they have not paid much attention to how the pandemic has exacerbated the already existing job insecurities and difficulties of teachers working in private schools. We critically examine this gap by focusing our analysis on private school teachers’ experiences of teaching during the pandemic in relation to the state’s neoliberal ideology. Neo-liberalism as a political-economic ideology focuses on state deregulation, a free-market economy and the privatisation of services (Harvey, 2005). Educational policies that embrace neo-liberalism promote education as a profit-making business through a competitive free-market economy. Since the 1990s, Nepal embraced neo-liberalism in education by allowing companies and individuals to open private schools for profit. Because the state does not

148  Prem Phyak et al. provide any funding, private schools have inconsistent and divergent teaching hiring and management policies. The analysis of private school teachers’ wellbeing during the pandemic provides new perspectives about understanding teacher wellbeing and rethinking education in the post-pandemic context. We argue that teacher wellbeing should be understood as a sociopolitical phenomenon and not just an individual and psychological state of affect. This perspective offers critical insights into understanding how structural reforms are necessary to ensure teacher wellbeing not only in the pandemic but also in the post-pandemic context.

Methodology The data for this paper is drawn from our larger study on teacher wellbeing during the pandemic in Nepal. First, we conducted a general online survey when the schools were completely closed in the first wave of the pandemic (from March to August 2020). We used Microsoft Forms to design the survey and circulated it via emails, Facebook, Twitter, and telephone. Our purpose of the survey was to understand how the pandemic had affected the wellbeing of teachers from private and public schools. We received responses from 1,372 teachers (75% from public and 25% from private schools). Our survey included questions related to workload, home-profession balance, learning technologies, job security, social and economic pressure, and teacher motivation during the pandemic. Based on our analysis of survey responses, we found that private teachers are more affected by the pandemic than the teachers from public school. As discussed in the finding section below, a significant number of private school teachers were not paid during the pandemic. Therefore, we decided to further explore private school teachers’ experiences of teaching during the pandemic. We conducted five focus group discussions with teachers representing different provinces. We recorded the discussions and transcribed and analysed them by using a thematic approach (Braun and Clarke, 2006). The names we have used in the paper are all pseudonyms. We have focused on in-depth qualitative data and embedded quantitative data to support our arguments. We discuss the interview data only from the private school teachers. Following the ecological approach to wellbeing (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), we, in the following sections, focus on three distinct aspects of teacher wellbeing – economic effects, psychological dimensions, and institutional support.

Private School Teachers’ Woe – Economic Effects of the Pandemic Research has shown that in a neo-liberalised education system, teachers’ job security is not guaranteed (Robertson, 2008). Since profit is their goal, private schools do not pay a salary as per their teachers’ academic qualifications nor do they support their teachers in their professional growth (Bhatta and Pherali, 2017). Our data shows that more than 70% of private school teachers did not receive a regular salary during the pandemic. Around 50% of teachers also said that their extra income (e.g., from grading answer sheets and private tutoring) was disrupted by the pandemic. In addition, around 30% of teachers had to invest their own money

Private School Teachers’ Wellbeing in Nepal  149 to buy electronic devices, such as laptops and mobile phones, and around 50% of them invested in internet facilities at home (Wi-Fi and data pack) to teach online classes. Consequently, most teachers (71%) were worried about maintaining the balance between their income and expenditure. The failure of private schools to pay teachers during the pandemic is primarily a structural issue. Because of state deregulation, the neo-liberalised school systems hardly recognise teachers’ professional development and needs (Bhatta and Pherali, 2017) and do seldom address their job security and wellbeing-related issues (Neupane, 2022). The teachers we interviewed told us that they had not received a salary when schools were closed. A young male teacher (Kamal), for example, said “after working so many years in a private school I now feel I should have joined a government school.” He shared “I began feeling how unsecured job I was doing. SMC [school management committee] doesn’t respond [to our problems]. This gives mental stress.” The pandemic has revealed the issue of job insecurity that existed in private schools before the pandemic (see Bhatta and Pherali, 2017). The teachers who were working in Kathmandu could not pay their rent, and their families served as a safety net during the pandemic. For example, a young female teacher said: It was my first year of teaching job. After my M.Ed., I started teaching in a private school, not a good school but I could survive. My salary was at least sufficient for my living in Kathmandu. But after the lockdown, the school did not pay any salary. They did not pay for two months [before the pandemic]. They collected fees from parents. But they did not pay teachers. I had to pay the rent and buy food. I survived for one month without any salary. After that, my parents sent money for my living. I had to survive, right? I asked the principal to pay my salaries. He promised but never paid me. Later, he asked me to teach online classes. But I could not contact many students. I really worked hard – I learned technology myself. I taught online for a month. But I was not paid any salary. […] After a month, he did not even ask me to teach online. I stopped teaching. I left Kathmandu and went [to] my home after the government allowed long-route transportations for some days. (Rita, a private school teacher in Kathmandu) Due to the absence of strong unions, teachers have fewer formal channels through which to voice their interests in neoliberal education systems (Lipman, 2011a, 2011b). In Nepal, Institutional School Teachers’ Union (ISTU) has been formed as a union of private school teachers, but the organisation is not very active and successful in ensuring teachers’ job security by reforming the existing policies and practices. The organisation was also not capable of safeguarding the job of teachers like Rita during the pandemic. Rita could not come back to Kathmandu because there was no guarantee that the school would pay her salary, but she also did not want to give up the job either. She eventually returned to the city, but the school management decided to assign online classes to very few teachers only. Like Rita, other private school teachers expressed their contention about job insecurity. Another teacher, Rajan, told us that his school paid a limited regular salary for the

150  Prem Phyak et al. teachers who had an urgent financial crisis. However, he asserted that “no matter how much I am paid I feel that my future is not secured. Private schools can crash anytime.” He thinks that he would be “mentally ill” in the future due to the financial crisis. His family also suggested that he should “rather open a small shop than work in a private school.” He expressed his contention as follows: Private school owners have not shown even a minimum level of humanity. We are facing a severe financial crisis. We are living in rented rooms. I am the sole breadwinner of the family. I am quite frustrated. The school did not talk about paying a salary – not even 50 percent. It isn’t sure whether I will be paid. If I depend on my school, I will probably be mentally ill in the future. My family has suggested that I should rather open a small shop than work in a private school. One of my friends has now started selling vegetables for the livelihood of his family. After working and enjoying so many years in a private school, I now feel I should have joined a government school. I began feeling how unsecured my job is. SMC [school management committee] doesn’t respond [to our problems]. This gives mental stress. Rajan’s regret to choose the teaching profession indicates how neo-liberalised privatisation of education has affected teacher wellbeing during the pandemic. Rajan’s frustration points out that private schools could crash at any time affecting teachers’ wellbeing. More strikingly, Rajan’s experiences tell us that private schools have always been unsafe spaces for teachers’ job security. Therefore, as Rajan has revealed, private school teachers not only looked for alternative ways of income generation, but also thought about joining public schools for job security.

Psychological Effects of the Pandemic: Anxious Private School Teachers Teacher emotion is a major dimension of teacher wellbeing. However, as mentioned above research has shown that neoliberal education policies pay less attention to teacher emotion and wellbeing (Acton and Glasgow, 2015). As working conditions become demanding in a competitive educational market, teachers in private institutions struggle to balance their professional and emotional life. The COVID-19 pandemic opened up how neoliberal private schools have neglected teachers’ emotions. The survey result in this study shows that nearly two-thirds of teachers working in private schools were anxious about their living and their ability to cover family expenses due to the halt of their regular salary. As Rajan mentioned above, nearly half of the teachers in private schools were stressed because of the uncertainty of the continuation of their job. They felt ‘uncertain’ about the renewal of their appointment even after the pandemic was over. For example, Kamal whose spouse was also teaching in a private school in Kathmandu stated that private schools did not support them during the pandemic: Both of us (husband and wife) teach in a private school. We rent an apartment. We teach in the same school. Our school paid us only for the first

Private School Teachers’ Wellbeing in Nepal  151 month of the lockdown. […] Since then, both of us were not paid. So, we were not sure about our living in Kathmandu. We had a meeting with the parents. They were not ready to pay fees. It was very stressful. But our school paid half of our salary. We could survive. I love teaching, but private schools cannot support teachers in a crisis. They are not worried about teachers’ wellbeing. They can close [the] school, but never think about our life and wellbeing. The effects of the pandemic on private school teachers’ wellbeing primarily emanated from financial insecurity. Due to the lack of regular salary, the teachers living in the city of Kathmandu were stressed about their living during the pandemic. Similar to what Rajan has said above, My República, a national English daily, reported that private school teachers ‘warn of taking self-destructive action if not paid soon’ (Rauniyar, 2020). The news report revealed that private school teachers’ struggled to live in the city of Kathmandu during the pandemic and criticised how the government was not able to address the issue by making private schools accountable. Another news reported that more than 300 teachers lost their jobs after the lockdown (Onlinekhabar, 2020). School closure has been a critical issue in neo-liberalised education systems around the globe (Lipman, 2011a, 2011b). Since the profit comes before teachers and students, the owners can shut down their institutions if they do not see any long-term profit. As Kamal said above, there were cases of private schools being shut down during the pandemic in Nepal. For example, Shuvatara School, a renowned private school, was shut down in the middle of the pandemic (Himalayan News Service, 2021). Around one hundred teachers lost their job without any prior notification, jeopardising their wellbeing. The founders cited the pandemic to justify their decision to close the school, but they did not pay attention to the wellbeing of teachers. This example supports what Kamal has said above: “they [private schools] are not worried about teachers’ wellbeing. They can close school, but they never think about the wellbeing of teachers.”

Low Institutional Support and Quitting the Teaching Job Institutional support is a major factor shaping teacher wellbeing. But in a neoliberalised education system, teachers hardly receive comprehensive support compared to their workload and competitive institutional expectations (Acton and Glasgow, 2015; Lipman, 2011a, 2011b). In a low-income country such as Nepal, institutional support has been a critical issue for teacher wellbeing. Our survey shows that only 15% of private school teachers received some institutional support for online teaching. Similarly, only 20% of the teachers were asked about their wellbeing and only 13% of them received prompt responses from their institution when they asked for support. Kamal, for example, claimed that private school founders or owners were not much worried about paying their teachers during the pandemic. Kamal contended that private schools ran online classes just to collect fees from parents. Similarly, Rajan was critical of how private schools were not transparent about teachers’ salaries during the pandemic. He expressed that private

152  Prem Phyak et al. schools were not paying all teachers during the pandemic. He reported that very few teachers with ICT and computer skills were being paid while other teachers did not receive even 50 percent of their regular salary. The lack of institutional support during the COVID-19 crisis influenced the work and wellbeing of private school teachers. For example, Rita (a female teacher) did not find the private school management and leadership friendly. In her experience, they were putting pressure on teachers to perform certain tasks without discussion. Her school did not provide any support to conduct online classes. The online classes were “totally self-initiative [of teachers] […] there is no routine/ schedule, no technical support for online classes from the school.” Private school leadership should immediately refrain from “whether-you-exist-or-not-we-don’tcare kind of mentality towards their teachers,” she contended. She also shared that in the beginning of the pandemic it was not easy to take class from home because of her little daughter. She had to shut the door of her room to teach online classes. She also shared that “students were over smart. They recorded and uploaded our classes on YouTube.” Since the teachers “were not confident about teaching online, the publication of their videos on YouTube gave them stress,” Rita said. The misuse of technical knowledge by students to interfere or manipulate the recording of the online class posed teacher anxiety in Rita’s school. Rita said, “I ask myself what if I made a mistake and became a matter of fun.” The heavy workload of private school teachers is one of the major factors affecting their wellbeing. One female teacher, Asha, shared her story as follows: My school didn’t pay a good salary for my heavy workload. I have to teach from 8.30am to 5.30pm. I was asked to teach 6–7 classes per day. Sometimes, I had to teach extra classes. I had no time to rest. We were at the end of the academic session when the pandemic began. We conducted the final exams in rush in Chaitra [March]. We weren’t paid a salary. After the lockdown, the school started running online classes. But it wasn’t easy for me. I didn’t have ICT devices. I had a cell phone, and my husband had a laptop. But our kids had to use them [for their] classes. We were asked to contact students. I didn’t know how to use Zoom and Google Classroom. There was no training on online teaching. I asked whether the school could provide a laptop for teachers. But the school told [me] I had to manage myself. Asha’s salary was just 15,000 NPR per month. She had to spend 6–7 months’ worth of her salary to buy one simple laptop for online teaching. She still took some classes using her cell phone. She had to spend many hours contacting her students over the phone. She narrated her experience as follows: I was stressed. I didn’t have confidence in online teaching. I had to pay the rent. My husband’s earning was not enough. I asked my school to pay the salary of the previous months. But they did not pay. They could not collect fees from parents. How can parents pay the fees? Many parents have lost their jobs. The school did not tell us about the plan. They started working with few teachers. I asked for my salary, but they did not pay. Thus, I quitted my job.

Private School Teachers’ Wellbeing in Nepal  153 Four other teachers also left the school. Many teachers who are still teaching in that school have received a half salary. Many teachers do not like to work in that school. But there is no option for them. Private school teachers are in a crisis. In private schools of Nepal, teachers are not paid a good salary (Bhatta and Pherali, 2017). The pandemic situation added a financial burden on them due to lack of institutional support. Asha left the job because she did not receive any institutional support and salary to run online classes. Many teachers did not like to work in the school, but they did not have any alternative sources of earning a living. This situation indicates the issue of teacher wellbeing in private schools is not new, it is just exacerbated by the pandemic. The teachers’ experiences discussed above indicate that private schools do not take teacher wellbeing as an important part of their institutional development even in the pandemic situation. Both qualitative and quantitative data discussed in this article show that the pandemic has multidimensional impacts on private school teachers’ wellbeing. The major concerns that teachers have raised is lack of job security during the pandemic. As they are not paid during the pandemic (Rastriya Samachar Samiti, 2020), they have to struggle to survive in the cities like Kathmandu. Many private schools have not provided any financial support to buy digital devices for online teaching. However, private school teachers’ stories and experiences clearly indicate that it is not only during the pandemic they face the issue of job security and timely/good payment, but they are questioning how privatised education in general is not paying attention to addressing teacher wellbeing. Previous studies have consistently shown that private schools still lack comprehensive and transparent teacher hiring, professional development and payment policies (Joshi, 2019; Poudyal, 2013). Mondal et al. (2011) and Bhatta and Pherali (2017), among others, have discussed how private school teachers are not satisfied about their work conditions and salaries. These studies have pointed out inconsistencies in teachers’ salaries; exclusionary decision-making processes; and lack of clear teacher firing policies. In his recent study, Khadka (2021) has analysed private school teachers’ motivation and found that low salary is the major factor shaping their low motivation in teaching. More importantly, his participants’ stories have highlighted how insecure they feel in school. Since there is a lack of meaningful state regulation and strong unions, private school teachers’ do not raise their voices for the right to be protected and get a salary according to their experiences and qualifications. This condition implies that private school teachers’ wellbeing is a structural issue which is further exacerbated by the pandemic. We argue that teacher wellbeing is a critical component of both teacher professional and institutional development. However, this topic has been largely overlooked in Nepal’s neoliberal educational reform agenda. Nepal’s ongoing educational reform plan, School Sector Development Plan (SSDP), for example, has included teacher development as one of its focus areas with a goal to “maintain high morale and motivation for teaching and learning among teachers and students” (Ministry of Education, 2015, p.55). Although the SSDP and 2019 Education Policy have proposed social-psychological support for students, they remain silent

154  Prem Phyak et al. about teacher wellbeing (Ministry of Education, 2019). Both documents have identified teachers’ low motivation and accountability as issues to address. However, these policy documents do not include how private schools could be made accountable to ensure teachers’ wellbeing. These policies and plans ignore how privatisation in education has posed serious challenges in maintaining teacher wellbeing.

Conclusion There are two major theoretical insights we can draw from this study. First, the issue of teacher wellbeing during the pandemic is linked closely with the broader political-economic conditions that shape educational policies. As Nepal’s national education policies are shaped by neoliberal ideologies (Regmi, 2017), teachers’ wellbeing and job security receive very little attention in national policy discourses. The findings of this study imply that the state deregulation, one of the major principles of neo-liberalism (Harvey, 2005), of private schools contributes to poor institutional support for teachers and affects their financial wellbeing and job insecurity. Private school teachers are worried about the uncertainty of their job due to schools’ weak financial resources during the pandemic. The anxiety of private school teachers in the pandemic provides critical insights into educational reforms in Nepal. Their state of wellbeing, particularly financial, shows that the existing neo-liberalisation of the school system may not necessarily address the issues concerning teacher wellbeing in both pandemic and post-COVID context. Since private schools rely fully on students’ fees, they cannot pay their teachers in crises such as COVID-19. The major implication of this situation is that the government should develop a policy to establish a crisis fund in private schools, preferably by using a fraction of their regular incomes, to ensure teachers’ salaries and support them during the pandemic or any other future crises. The government should also make it mandatory for private schools to develop and implement transparent teacher hiring and firing policies. Second, gender should be taken into consideration while developing teacher wellbeing policies. In the pandemic situation, women teachers’ struggles were more challenging than those of male teachers. As discussed above, teaching-from-home is not a favourable condition for female teachers due to their household obligations including childcare responsibilities. In normal circumstances, their household and school times are separated. Therefore, it is less challenging for women to accomplish job-related responsibilities. But setting up an office in the home is very challenging as Nepal’s sociocultural context puts males in a better position to work from home than females.

References Acton, R., & Glasgow, P. (2015). Teacher wellbeing in neoliberal contexts: A review of the literature. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 40(8), 99–114. http://doi.org/10.14221/ ajte.2015v40n8.6 Allen, J., Rowan, L., & Singh, P. (2020). Teaching and teacher education in the time of COVID-19. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 48(3), 233–236. https://doi.org/10. 1080/1359866X.2020.1752051

Private School Teachers’ Wellbeing in Nepal  155 Bhatia, A., & Mohsin, F. (2020). Measuring happiness of university teachers during challenging times. International Journal of Advance Science and Technology, 29(10S), 7805–7817. Bhatta, P., & Pherali, T. (2017). Nepal: Patterns of privatisation in education. A case study of lowfee private schools and private chain schools. https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10139037/ Borg, M.G., Riding, R.J., & Falzon, J.M. (1991). Stress in teaching: A study of occupational stress and its determinants, job satisfaction and career commitment among primary schoolteachers. Educational Psychology, 11(1), 59–75. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Collie, R., & Martin, A. (2020). Teacher wellbeing during COVID-19. Retrieved from https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/articles/teacher-wellbeing-during-covid-19 Collie, R.J., Shapka, J.D., Perry, N.E., & Martin, A.J. (2015). Teacher wellbeing: Exploring its components and a practice-oriented scale. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 33, 744–756. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282915587990 Cutri, R.M., Mena, J., & Whiting, E.F. (2020). Faculty readiness for online crisis teaching: transitioning to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. European Journal of Teacher Education, 43(4), 523–541. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2020.1815702 Demerouti, E., Bakker, A.B., Nachreiner, F., & Schaufeli, W.B. (2001). The job demands resources model of burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 499–512. https://doi. org/10.1037/0021-9010.86.3.499 Diener, E., & Suh, E. (1997). Measuring quality of life: Economic, social, and subjective indicators. Social Indicators Research, 40 (1–2), 189–216. http://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006859511756 Dodge, R., Daly, A., Huyton, J., & Sanders, L. (2012). The challenge of defining wellbeing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 2(3), 222–235. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v2i3.4 Flores, M.A. & Swennen, A. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on teacher education. European Journal of Teacher Education, 43(4), 453–456. https://doi.org/10.108 0/02619768.2020.1824253 Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Himalayan News Service (2021, May 29). Shuvatara school shut down. The Himalayan Times. Retrieved from https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/shuvatara-school-shutdown, accessed 31st Oct 2022. Joshi, P. (2019). The growth, roles and needs of the private education system: Private stakeholder perspectives from Nepal. International Journal of Educational Development, 65, 57–67. Khadka, J. (2021). Rewards: motivation or demotivation for Nepali private school teachers?. European Journal of Education Studies, 8(2), 449–460. http://www.oapub.org/edu Lipman, P. (2011a). The new political economy of urban education: Neoliberalism, race, and the right to the city. New York: Routledge. Lipman, P. (2011b). Neoliberal education restructuring dangers and opportunities of the present crisis. Monthly Review, 63(3), 114–127. Ministry of Education (2015). School sector development plan (2016–2023). Kathmandu: Author. Ministry of Education. (2019). National educational policy – 2019. Kathmandu: Author. Mondal, J., Shrestha, S., & Bhaila, A. (2011). School teachers: Job stress and job satisfaction, Kaski, Nepal. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Health, 1(1), 27–33. New Economics Foundation. (2012) Measuring Wellbeing: A guide for practitioners. London: New Economics Foundation. Retrieved from https://neweconomics.org/2012/07/ measuring-wellbeing

156  Prem Phyak et al. Neupane, T. (2022). Teacher job satisfaction: A study of private schools in Kanakai Municipality. Kanakai Journal, 2(1), 54–68. https://doi.org/10.3126/kj.v2i1.47111 Clipa, O., (2017). Teacher stress and coping strategies. In Clipa, O. (Ed.), Studies and current trends in science of education (pp. 120–128). Suceava, Romania: LUMEN Proceedings. Onlinekhabar (2020). Three hundred teachers lost their jobs since lockdown (in Nepali). Retrieved from https://www.onlinekhabar.com/2020/07/883900 Pfefferbaum, B. & North, C.S. (2020). Mental health and the Covid-19 pandemic, The New England Journal of Medicine, 383, 510–512. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2008017 Poudyal, C. (2013). Private schooling and Fayol’s principles of management: A case from Nepal. Journal of Education and Research, 3(1), 6–23. Rastriya Samachar Samiti [National News Agency] (2020). Private school teachers hit streets demanding salary of lockdown period. Retrieved from https://thehimalayantimes.com/ nepal/private-school-teachers-hit-streets-demanding-salary-of-lockdown-period/ Rauniyar, R. (2020). Private school teachers warn of taking self-destructive action if not paid soon. Republica (online). Retrieved from https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/ private-school-teachers-warn-of-taking-self-destructive-moves-if-not-paid-soon/ Regmi, K.D. (2017). World Bank in Nepal’s education: Three decades of neoliberal reform. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 15(2), 188–201. Robertson, S. (2008). Remaking the world: neo-liberalism and the transformation of education and teachers’ labor. In Compton, M., and Weiner, L. (Eds.), The global assault on teaching, teachers and their after unions (pp. 11–27). New York: Palgrave. Ryan, R.M., & Deci, E.L. (2011). A self-determination theory perspective on social, institutional, cultural, and economic supports for autonomy and their importance for wellbeing. In Chirkov, V.I. (Ed.), Human autonomy in cross-cultural context (pp. 45–64). Netherlands: Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9667-8_3 Torales, J., O’Higgins, M., Castaldelli-Maia, J.M., & Ventriglio, A. (2020). The outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus and its impact on global mental health. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 66(4), 317–320. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764020915212

Part III

Rethinking Technologies of Education

11 A Phenomenological Inquiry into Learners’ Experience of Consonance and Dissonance during the Pandemic in India Learning in the Time of Crisis Dishari Chattaraj and Arya Parakkate Vijayaraghavan Introduction Educational institutions across the globe closed down due to state-enforced lockdowns to contain community transmission of COVID-19. Consequently, the teaching-learning scenario altered significantly with various institutions shifting to Emergency Remote Learning (ERL). One of the primary goals of education, during this crisis time, was to ensure continuity in teaching-learning (“COVID-19 and higher education”, UNESCO 2020). Emergency e-learning programs have been a significant part of crisis response-measure to continue education during influenzas and natural disasters (Murphy 2020). With the shift to ERL during COVID-19, a similar pattern in response-measure to the crisis by educational systems across the world became evident. The shift to ERL was marred with challenges that forced the practitioners to mitigate them on a contingency basis (Green et al. 2020; Hobbs and Hawkins 2020), resulting in a larger discussion on how education can be understood and imagined during a time of crisis. The emerging new studies propelled vibrant discussions around the digital divide and inaccessibility to learning and resources (Neuwirth et al. 2020), the inadequacy of existing pedagogical practices, modes, and methods (Huang et al. 2020), limitations of existing assessment practices (Murphy 2020), and implications of sudden exposure to novel complex learning spaces (Chattaraj and Vijayaraghavan 2021b). While engaging in the discussions on education in crisis, it is also important to note the voices of the learners whose experiences can significantly inform and shape the contours of teaching-learning practices during the time. In this context, one of the common experiences reported is a sense of dissonance in learning among the learners caught within this shift. While the shift in learning spaces becomes one of the trajectories through which the sense of dissonance is understood (Chattaraj and Vijayaraghavan 2021a), the need to make sense of the experience of dissonance and consonance in learning through its intersections with multiple socio-political, cultural, and familial factors is imperative to understand the impact and functioning of the educational system during this time. The present study, therefore, attempts to understand the phenomenon of learning during a time of crisis by critically engaging with the various socio-political, cultural, and familial factors that inform the sense of DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688-15

160  Dishari Chattaraj and Arya Parakkate Vijayaraghavan dissonance and consonance among the learners in the ERL scenario. For this purpose, the study adopts the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach to document learners’ responses and negotiations with various educational practices adopted during the time of the pandemic.

Consonance, Dissonance, and Emergency Remote Learning Consonance and dissonance have been used in the field of education to discuss learners’ experiences of learning. The experience of consonance is realized when the learners’ learning experiences match their intention and conception of learning. In contrast, dissonance in learning is experienced when there is a conflict between the intention and conception and the actual learning experience. The phenomena of consonance and dissonance in the field of higher education have been explored to understand how they impact teaching practices (Postareff et al. 2008; Prosser et al. 2010) and learning approaches and strategies (Boulton-Lewis et al. 2003; Cano 2005). It is observed that dissonant experiences in teaching-learning emerged from poorer teaching, higher workload, and unclear learning goals and vice versa (Prosser et al. 2003). Dissonance in learning is also experienced when deep approaches to learning are positively related to surface approaches as deep and surface learning approaches cannot be utilized simultaneously (Prosser et al. 2003). The overemphasis on the cognitive domain is evident in most of these quantitative studies conducted to understand consonance and dissonance (Prosser et al. 2003; Vermunt and Minnaert 2003). This can be traced back to the dominance of the rationalistic approach to education that conventionally separated cognitive knowledge from embodied knowledge (Kerka 2002). Though the theory of embodied cognition recognizes the interdependence of mind, body, and environment in the process of learning (Wang and Zheng 2018) thereby acknowledging the spatially situated and interactive nature of learning (Carvalho and Yeoman 2018), the engagement with the contextual factors of learning including the socio-political, cultural, and familial remain limited. A handful of studies, however, noted that dissonant learning experiences are influenced by learners’ perception of the learning context informed by their previous experiences of teaching-learning and the design of the context (Prosser et al. 2003). Further, studies observe that transient dissonance occurs with a change in the learning environment, introduction to novel learning environments, or a conceptually difficult, incomplete, or inappropriate transient readjustment of habitual learning practices caused by a rapid and unregulated change in the contextual factors of learning (Meyer 2000; Vermunt and Verloop 1999). The work by Brindley, Quinn, and Morton (2009) provides an insight into how the familiar spatial practices and factors informed the experiences of consonance and novel and distinct practices and factors triggered a sense of dissonance among the teachertrainees in a study-abroad programme. While practices similar to the home country like the usage of technological support and infrastructure provided an experience of consonance, distinct practices like meeting on the floor, carrying a classroom rug and register, and overt expression of praise and criticism informed the experience of dissonance. This hermeneutic study is relevant to the present

Inquiry into Learners’ Experience of Consonance and Dissonance  161 study in understanding the correlation between the change in the familiar environment and contextual factors, and their impact on the experience of consonance and dissonance. In the context of ERL, such attention to consonance and dissonance can prove beneficial as it opens up possibilities to engage with and locate the reasons for the challenges encountered by the teaching-learning community and devise mechanisms to address the same. ERL in South Asia was marked by challenges resulting from sudden changes in familiar learning contexts. Though a heterogeneous space, some of the common challenges reported by the teaching-learning community in South Asia involved discourses on contextual factors including the lack of access to resources, infrastructure, and rigidity in policies in teaching-learning practices. In the context of Bangladesh, psychological distress was experienced by learners due to rigidity in assessment and evaluation policies during crises along with inaccessibility to resources and infrastructure (Saha et al. 2021). In India and Pakistan besides inaccessibility, spatial constraints and prolonged isolation also impacted the learners, making the experience of online learning disengaging and distressful (Joshi 2021; Yasmin 2022). In Nepal, however, the learners reported that ERL helped them cope with the crisis time as it facilitated peer interactions (Gautam and Gautam 2021). These narratives of common challenges reported across different parts of South Asia draw attention to the loopholes in the current education system. More importantly, it also reflects the lack of preparedness of the region to recognize and understand pandemics as a distinct time – a time of crisis – that therefore needs teaching-learning practices that are different. Thus, it is imperative to consider, document, and address the common challenges encountered in the region to devise pedagogical strategies and policies that are congruent with the educational context and teaching-learning community of the region. Furthermore, it also paves the way for the much necessary discussion on the meaning and purpose of education in general and during times of crisis. Across time, pandemics and epidemics have brought about multiple educational reforms at the policy and pedagogical levels. The bubonic plague in the 14th century paved the way for emphasis on students’ rights, and triggered the renaissance movement (Cohn and Cohn 2002). Similarly, the tuberculosis outbreak led to considerable changes in medical epistemology (Adam 2020) and the opening of ‘fresh air schools’ (Korr 2016). Other notable reforms include the adoption of mail-in education correspondence courses during Spanish Flu (Spielman and Sunavala-Dossabhoy 2021) and the launch of the ‘Classroom on the Air’ through television in certain parts of Asia during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in the first half of the 21st century (Yasmin 2022). A careful analysis of the trajectory of changes brought about by pandemics in the context of education implies a significant emphasis on the continuity of education, corresponding with UNESCO’s declaration on the primary goal of education during the time of crisis. While, undoubtedly, continuity in education is of paramount importance, it is also essential to deliberate on the meaning of this continuity in education and the meaning and purpose of education during a time of crisis. Here, the German notion of education as Bildung i.e. the cultivation of oneself, as a framework to begin thinking about education during the time of crisis as put forth

162  Dishari Chattaraj and Arya Parakkate Vijayaraghavan in the work “The Curriculum of Plague” (2021), by Murillo is particularly insightful. He notes, [L]earning consists of a process of self-cultivation mediated by academic study, a self-actualizing practice directed at elevating the sense of humanity in oneself, and the concretization of the vocation to be more as a singular person. This, of course, includes the development of a series of skills for life and care of oneself. Such an understanding of education is necessary as the conventional teaching-learning practices and educational policies seem inadequate to address the needs of the time, even when the goal of continuity in education is achieved in certain cases. This notion of education coupled with careful and consistent engagement with the challenges reported and documented by the teaching-learning community, then, can be transformative in nature for the current education system. As is observed in Bollnow’s work, Crisis and new beginning: Contributions to a pedagogical anthropology (1987), the crises must be understood beyond the purview of it being just catastrophic and destructive. According to Bollnow, crisis, when thoughtfully engaged and analyzed, have a formative power, and each crisis situation may reveal unique possibilities with systematic involvement and investment in the experience. Thus, through a phenomenological investment into the experience of consonance and dissonance among the learning community, the study highlights the distinctiveness of crisis time. It specifically explores the instances of dissonance, transient dissonance, and subsequent consonance emerging from certain teaching-learning practices, and in the process attempts to locate and identify new pathways that shape the contours of education during crises.

Methodology The study employs Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as an approach of inquiry to make sense of the phenomenon of consonance and dissonance experienced by the learners registered for the courses offered by the Department of English and Cultural Studies at a Southern Indian university. Grounded within the philosophical works of Husserl and Heidegger, IPA follows a double hermeneutic process (Smith and Shinebourne 2012) wherein the learners interpret and make sense of online and hybrid learning experiences followed by an interpretation of the learners’ accounts by the facilitator-researchers. The accounts document the learners’ experiences of synchronous and asynchronous modes adopted by the university to continue education in ERL during the fall and spring semesters of 2020 and 2021. While the synchronous classes mostly required the learners to join in person at the allotted time, the asynchronous class hours were dedicated to peer activities and group discussions as deemed necessary by the course facilitators. Various Learning Management Software (LMS) and video conferencing platforms like Microsoft Teams, Google Suite, and Cisco WebEx were used. After the ethical clearance, four postgraduate and six undergraduate learners across their first and final years volunteered for this study. The sample size for this

Inquiry into Learners’ Experience of Consonance and Dissonance  163 study was kept at 10 as it is considered to be optimum for IPA (Chattaraj and Vijayaraghavan 2021a; Mastel-Smith and Stanley-Hermanns 2012). The experience of ERL and the diversity in demographics makes the account of these learners relevant as it showcases how the nuances of socio-political, culture-specific, familial, and other contextual factors inform the phenomenon of consonance and dissonance and thereby contribute to the understanding of education in crises. The study included 7 female and 3 male students; with different religious affiliations – Islam (2), Hinduism (6), Catholic Christian (1), and Buddhism (1). Their names were replaced with pseudonyms during the transcription by the first author to maintain the clause of anonymity. Semi-structured interviews consisting of open-ended, non-directive questions (Moustakas 2011) were designed to obtain the learners’ responses, given the realization that they would be highly heterogeneous. The questionnaire was subjected to exhaustive review, revision, and modification across the course of the study. Pre-interview questionnaires were circulated, informed consent was obtained, and interviews were conducted and recorded through Google Meet in October 2020 and April 2021. Both the research investigators were present during the interviews to avoid individual biases. The average length of interviews was 29 minutes, and their verbatim transcriptions were made before being explicated for the study. Colaizzi’s model (Tuffour 2017) was used for data explication whereby (1) the transcripts were read, re-read, annotated, and discussed; (2) the main themes, the cluster of themes, and sub-themes were derived; (3) interrelationships between the main themes were established; and (4) the fundamental experience of consonance and dissonance was evaluated.

Systemic Apathy and Institutional Disengagement in Recognizing the Pandemic as a Time of Crisis The accounts of the learners reveal that though they encountered changes in teaching-learning practices and in their personal lives owing to sickness and affliction caused by the pandemic, the institutional policies followed the norms of the pre-pandemic time. As a result, a strong sense of dissonance is reported by the learners emerging from their difficulty in conceptualizing and perceiving learning in the ERL scenario. This difficulty is a result of the conflict between the expectations from the institution for support mechanisms that are congruent to the crisis time and the lived experience of meeting the learning requirements imposed from the unchanged norms of the pre-pandemic times. Farida, while sharing her learning experience, observes how the lack of support mechanisms and afflictions in her family distracted her from focusing on learning. So we moved there (Kargil, Kashmir), but due to the Corona, no one could come in and meet us because people thought that we have travelled from Kashmir (brother and father tested positive). So, people assumed that mom and I will also have Corona. But we opened the house after so many years. So it had to be cleaned […] that was a very tough time and we had to send food to dad, my sister, and brother. And the kitchen was not in a state where we can really

164  Dishari Chattaraj and Arya Parakkate Vijayaraghavan cook there. We had to clean it up. But there was no one to help us […] and again, there was no WiFi. And the mobile network was kind of weak. So I used to get kicked out of the class all the time. And then my mom would shout at me, like, what are you doing? You need to do this; you need to do that. But you know, I can’t skip the classes also, because I would lose attendance (Farida; 20 years; final year undergraduate; Srinagar, Kashmir) Here, the experience of learning is primarily associated with gaining and loss of class attendance due to restrictive institutional policies that associate effective learning with regular attendance in synchronous classes emerging from the pre-pandemic practices of mandatory classroom attendance. This overemphasis on attendance once thought to instil regularity and discipline among learners, becomes the cause of distress and demotivation during the time. This thereby also calls for a deliberation on the meaning of an ‘effective learning process’ as the conventional understanding of ‘effective learning’ is dissonant with the learners’ intention of it. This disjunct between the institutional perception of learning and the lived reality of crisis time is also voiced in Pooja’s account who multitasks between the role of a learner and familial member. I’m sharing my (study) room with my father. Because a couple of weeks back he tested positive, so he was living in that room. So right now he is the one who occupies my room and I live in their (parent’s) bedroom […] So in the beginning, I did not have many responsibilities. Because usually my mother and father would handle whatever has to be done around the house. But when my father was sick, I had to do a lot of the housework, I had to cook and clean and do stuff like that. So during that period of time, I had a lot of responsibilities, because of which I could not focus on what was done in class or the assignments and stuff. (Pooja; 20 years; final year undergraduate; Bhubaneshwar, Odisha) Here, along with highlighting the challenges of continuing learning with household responsibilities, it also brings to light the complexities of sharing the home space during a time of affliction. The sharing and exchanging of rooms during the time of contingent make it difficult for the learner to access a space that is conducive to learning. The constant necessity to attend classes and complete assignments, as defined by the system, further exacerbates the situation for the learners. The account of Shad reflects the distress and anger caused by the existing practices adopted by the education system. [T]he University actually treats us like, we only are the people who need to learn at this time. So then, you know, they give us so much work and reading. And the class hours are assigned in a way that they always keep us busy, which I find personally really hard. Because we also have a life, especially when we are at home, we have family responsibilities […] to be fulfilled in our households, and also, to keep us well, to keep our mental health well. (Shad; 23 years; final year postgraduate; Alappuzha, Kerala)

Inquiry into Learners’ Experience of Consonance and Dissonance  165 The institutional apathy that Shad vocalizes in his account also points toward the meaninglessness he associated with the entire process of intense learning exercises that keeps the learners ‘busy’ even during crisis time. The meaninglessness and anguish associated with the teaching-learning practices in the ERL clearly highlight the flaws in the perception and conceptualization of education. This observation then highlights the necessity to engage with the frames of education as Buildung i.e. cultivation of oneself, especially during the time of crisis (Murillo 2021). The institutional apathy and the lack of care voiced by the learners bring into question the purpose and priority of education during this crisis time as is reflected in the account of Salaj. She notes, [I]t was quite insensitive; I would say because it was not only about education but about life and death. And it’s not only about marks. Right, but ultimately it boiled down to the fact that you have to finish your work, and I have to mark you and I have to submit, I mean our instructor has to submit that. So, nobody cared about the ways, both the teachers and students panicked, and in that entire scenario […] When I was in my online class, I was not able to concentrate for like two hours straight, looking at the camera. So async was really causing a lot of trouble because we had reading material and at the same time, we were being given async. So, they wanted us to reduce our screen time, but it was not being reduced even while doing async. (Salaj; 24 years, first-year postgraduate; Bangalore, Karnataka) The experience of dissonance here emerges from the lack of preparedness by educational systems to devise mechanisms to effectively deal with the changes in the teaching-learning situation. Even though synchronous and asynchronous hours were introduced to reduce screen fatigue, the pedagogical practices were inadept to address the complexities related to screen time and technostress for the completion of asynchronous tasks. Thus, the lived reality of learning in ERL during a time of crisis is completely dissonant with the institutional practices. The intersection of learning space with familial or other informal spaces also shapes the phenomenon of dissonance and consonance as detailed in the following pattern.

Complexities Related to the Intersection of Learning Space with Familial Space The intersection of the learning space with the familial/informal spaces resulted in a drastic change in contextual factors resulting in a sense of dissonance in learning. The study by Vermunt and Verloop (1999) noted that transient dissonance can be experienced by the learners owing to a change in a learning environment or the introduction of a novel learning environment. In the context of ERL, the dissonance experienced by the learners cannot be specifically identified as transient dissonance as the learning environment cannot be conventionally considered to be a formal learning environment. Therefore, based on the various contextual factors and the consequent readjustments of habitual learning practices (Meyer 2000), the dissonance experienced may fall well within the continuum of complete dissonance to transient dissonance.

166  Dishari Chattaraj and Arya Parakkate Vijayaraghavan The lack of infrastructural facilities to support the learning requirements of the ERL situation was noted to be a consistent challenge among learners across diverse geographies resulting in hindrances to adjust their habitual learning practices to suit the requirements of the novel learning scenario. The accounts may not fit within the dominant discourses on the digital divide discussed in the context of ERL in South Asia (Gautam and Gautam 2021; Joshi 2021; Neuwirth et al. 2020; Saha et al. 2021; Yasmin 2022) as the goal of continuity in education was achieved by all the learners in this study. The narrative accounts from diverse geographical regions though may have distinct infrastructural challenges, the absence of formal learning spaces like hostels, and the intersection with the familial learning spaces remain a constant challenge. Sneha notes, Sikkim, it’s a very small town, like, the facilities are not good. The teachers are not good. The infrastructure is really bad. Everything is bad. So what our parents do is, like, send us outside to study, for experience and the facility […] So, it was very different for me (coming back home) because I have lived in a hostel my entire life since I was five. So coming back home, like, I don’t even have a proper room for myself. I don’t know where my room is. (Sneha; 20 years; final year undergraduate; Mangan, North Sikkim) In the case of Sneha, the dissonance in learning is informed by the complete absence of familiar learning spaces like the hostel and institutional spaces that played a significant part in shaping her habitual learning practices (Meyer 2000). Along with the readjustments of habitual learning practices, the learners also had to negotiate with the presence of family members who were an integral part of the novel learning environment. Pranjali notes, Yeah, after one or two classes, there are people attending the class, and our parents would come and start talking or something, after explaining to them that if we have earphones on, or if we’re in front of a laptop, then don’t just come and start talking. So our parents have kind of understood that. And it’s an unspoken understanding between the three of us because all of us attend classes. I think, now we have a very good understanding where nobody disturbs anybody, and it’s quite peaceful and appreciable. (Pranjali; 22 years; final year postgraduate; Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh) For Pranjali, the readjustment of habitual learning practices was possible through an ‘unspoken understanding’ among the family members thereby leading to an experience of transient dissonance. However, such instances are highly subjective and vary from family to family, which therefore might lead to an experience of either complete dissonance or transient dissonance depending on the contextual factors of learning. Few instances from the accounts of the learners that highlight this differential experience based on the contextual factors are noted below. The classes end at 1 or 2 pm. Then I am usually free for, let’s say, two to three hours, and then I prepare snacks and tea for my family, then I have my own personal time to study, and by 8:30 or 9, I cook dinner […] This is a stressful

Inquiry into Learners’ Experience of Consonance and Dissonance  167 situation, and then if I have something left to read, then I wake up in the morning early, and then I read it before attending the class. (Sharanya; 20 years; final year undergraduate; Bilaspur, Chattishgarh) My grandma was in the hospital. One of my relatives asked me to take her to the hospital, but it was really hard for me to say like, I had classes now. So I had to prioritize classes, because the relationships are like that. Sometimes things happen. And when I tell my mom that, okay, I have classes today, after a couple of days, I can take you there. It all obviously created a clash. So, I will be sitting for the classes with the burden of all these things. (Shad; 23 years; final year postgraduate; Alappuzha, Kerala) Thus, while discussing the continuity in learning, the discourse on education in crisis shouldn’t be limited to the discourses on accessibility and inaccessibility of education but should extend to incorporate the means through which continuity of education is achieved. Furthermore, an exploration into the intersection of multiple contextual factors with the learning space also brings to attention the prominent hindrances in experiencing consonance in learning within the ERL context. These hindrances primarily emerge from the diverse and multiple contextual factors like sociopolitical, cultural, economic, and infrastructural, that change across regions and different informal learning spaces. However, to engage with this crisis time only within the purview of it being destructive to the education system, in general, would be limiting (Bollnow 1987). These complex learning experiences in the ERL context have also paved way for newer practices of negotiations among the learners that very well fall within the continuum of transient dissonance to consonance.

Building of Learning Communities through the Shared Experiences of Learning during the Crisis Time Despite the complexities associated with the ERL, the learner-initiated endeavours of coming together to build learning communities based on a general sense of loss and anguish – both personal and academic – are noted. These learning communities are built on the ethos of empathy and support emerging from the shared experience of learning in crisis time. The possibility of sociality, communication, and academic support that the communities offer here becomes a means for the learners to experience a certain degree of consonance. The appreciation that the learners report for these communities provides insights into learners’ expectations and intentions of learning. These experiences can be recorded as instances of consonance in learning in the ERL scenario as the expectations of empathy and support seems to have been met to a certain extent by the building of these communities. Veejay’s account reflects the role and process of building these communities. He notes, Well, we had formed a group (WhatsApp-based informal group) after the first orientation and the group was kind of active for the entire week even when we didn’t have classes. And from there we kind of started talking with people. (Veejay; 22 years; first-year undergraduate; Bangalore, Karnataka)

168  Dishari Chattaraj and Arya Parakkate Vijayaraghavan Even without administrative and institutional intervention, social media platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Snapchat were utilized by learners to develop a sense of community. This is relevant, especially in the context of the first-year undergraduate learners as any prior experience of physically meeting and developing a bond with the peer learners was largely absent. While the challenges related to the lack of communication and interaction remain persistent, such negotiations open up newer avenues to understand the need and possibility to continue peer support and learning during the time of crisis as is observed in Ashima’s account. Our classmates keep a time, and then we keep a GMeet, and then we interact, and we discuss everything. We also have, like, WhatsApp groups, so there also discussions are going on regarding the studies and assignments. So that’s the only way to maintain that social factor but again I just feel like it’s not enough. I actually want to meet them and talk in person rather than, you know, online. (Ashima; 20 years; final year undergraduate; Jaipur, Rajasthan) The inability to meet the peer learners in person though is vocalized in the account, learner-initiated virtual meetings here become a sustainable practice that contributes to understanding how the continuity in learning during the time of crisis needs to be shaped. While the accounts reflect a transient sense of dissonance emerging from the physical absence of the peer learner, the possibility of learning together and belonging to a community when other support mechanisms are necessarily absent paves way for the experience of consonance. The account of Nelson documented below details the mode of coming together and functioning of these learning communities. When I asked my friends, “How did you do this particular assignment?” as I was unable to do it properly, they give me a sort of confidence by saying that it’s okay! It happens! I will help you next time and they do help me by providing materials and even giving entire classes for me […] If there are more than six or seven people, we switch to a Google Meet mode, where one of us will initiate a Google meeting, and everyone will join. We actually discuss things, and the best teacher amongst us actually gives us a brief idea, then we all put in our ideas. If we’re one or two people, we actually use WhatsApp. We share a lot of materials through chat boxes and personal inbox messages as well. That’s how, at least, me and my peers, take up our online group sessions. (Nelson; 25 years; first-year postgraduate; Kannur, Kerala) Built on a shared sense of trauma and the ethos of a support system, these learning communities seem to have a significant impact on individual learning practices. Further, it also seems to have initiated transient readjustment of habitual learning practices (Meyer 2000) which in the future may become a habitual learning practice of the learner both in ERL and otherwise. The following account documented highlights the changes in habitual learning practices, that result in the experience of consonance in the learning process.

Inquiry into Learners’ Experience of Consonance and Dissonance  169 Back in my UG (pre-pandemic time), I was a solo player, but after experiencing a group, in this online scenario. I feel more at home with teamwork […] Studying together with my friends is a lot more relaxing. It takes a lot of stress away; the jokes make me happy. The happy hours, and then back to study things. Yeah, we have to come back to studying though we love talking too much. You know, this engagement gives a lot of stress-free education. (Nelson; 25 years; first-year postgraduate; Kannur, Kerala) The building of such learner-initiated communities, emphasizing the notions of ‘empathy’, ‘support’, and ‘stress-free education’, if allows the possibility of continuing a meaningful learning engagement, it also allows the possibility to make sense of the meaning of continuity in education during the time of crises. The continuity in education then does not remain limited to the access to education, but it extends to learners’ access to sustainable teaching-learning practices that enable consonant learning experience.

Contours to Rethink Education Any deliberation on education during the time of crisis needs to emerge from a point of common understanding that the time of crisis is distinct and therefore mandates practices that are different from the existing ones. The meaning of education and its continuity requires careful consideration of the dissonant and consonant learning experiences of the learners. Further, it should also be able to take into account and address the diverse lived experiences of various actors – learners, facilitators, administrators, and other stakeholders – during the time. In this context, the purpose of education as a means to meet outcomes reflected in the curricular document as well as the institution and educational policies are limited and would only result in dissonant learning experiences as reported in this study. Therefore, there is a need to rethink the meaning of education, within the frames of Bildung as noted by Murillo (2021). Attendance, assessment, and evaluation policies and practices are important but not at the expense of it limiting the learners’ journey towards the acquisition of ‘skills for life’, and more importantly, jeopardizing ‘care for oneself ’. Thus, the anguish and the utter distress reported by learners need to be assessed as signs of failure to address the needs and requirements of the time by the education system. This study reveals experiences of dissonance among the learners due to the conflict in intention and perception of learning and the actual experience of learning owing to sudden changes in the familiar learning environment and contextual factors that inform the process of learning. While the perception and intention of learning in the context of the learners were informed by their previous experiences of learning and the design of the context (Brindley, Quinn, and Morton 2009; Prosser et al. 2003), with the sudden shift to ERL, most of these familiar factors like the physical classrooms along with the physical presence of peer learners and course instructors were absent. This was replaced by LMS and distinct learning environments that included home spaces, or other similar spaces. Also, important to note is that in the case of these learners, any previous encounters with such scenarios that would shape the conception and perception of learning in this novel scenario were largely absent.

170  Dishari Chattaraj and Arya Parakkate Vijayaraghavan Furthermore, the inadequacy of the current education system to acknowledge and address the changes pertaining to the time of crisis amplified the conflict between the perception of learning and the actual learning experience among the learners, thereby, intensifying their experience of dissonance. On one hand, the learners were simultaneously making sense of the changes in teaching-learning practices and the design of the context, on the other hand, they were forced to comply with the institutional policies that remain unchanged in the face of the crisis. The present time of crisis has also been transformative in the sense that there is a gradual transition towards online learning across the world. Though this transition was able to assist the goal of continuity in education, it also resulted in the experience of dissonance among the learners. Along with investment in infrastructural amenities and the development of pedagogies, the diversity in dissonant and consonant experiences informed by various contextual factors need to be taken into account and addressed. Further, the anguish and distress reported by the teaching-learning community should also be considered while deliberating on the meaning and purpose of education. Though the digital divide is a relevant point of inquiry and engagement in the South Asian context, the voices of those who continued education during the time of crisis are also relevant to (1) understand the complexities related to educational practices; (2) respond efficiently, with better preparedness, to a future crisis situation; and (3) evolve and devise post-pandemic educational practices and policies. Furthermore, the accounts related to learner-initiated learning communities that enabled an experience of consonance during this time also need to be engaged to understand the implications of such support systems to the present and future of education. While the present study observes the functioning of the communities among urban, private university learners, a more extensive exploration needs to be undertaken to identify and understand how learners dealt with the challenges of education while combating the emergency brought upon by the pandemic. Aligning with Bollnow’s (1987) understanding of crisis as a site of unique possibilities along with the distinct challenges it poses, the emergence of support mechanisms in the form of learnerinitiated learning communities offers new contours through which educational practices can be shaped for the present and the future. What needs to be foregrounded, therefore, while rethinking education during and post-crisis, is the ethos of empathy and support that would make the education sustainable and relevant to the crisis and the changing times.

References Adam, E. (29 April 2020). The tale of two pandemics. UAAU. Retrieved from https:// www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/the-tale-of-two-pandemics/ Bollnow, O. F. (1987). Crisis and new beginning: Contributions to pedagogical anthropology. Duquesne University Press. Boulton-Lewis, G. M., Wilss, L., & Lewis, D. (2003). Dissonance between conceptions of learning and ways of learning for indigenous Australian university students. Studies in Higher Education, 28(1), 79–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070309300

Inquiry into Learners’ Experience of Consonance and Dissonance  171 Brindley, R., Quinn, S., & Morton, M. L. (2009). Consonance and dissonance in a study abroad program as a catalyst for professional development of pre-service teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(3), 525–532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2008.09.012 Cano, F. (2005). Consonance and dissonance in students’ learning experience. Learning and Instruction, 15(3), 201–223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2005.04.003 Carvalho, L., & Yeoman, P. (2018). Framing learning entanglement in innovative learning spaces: Connecting theory, design and practice. British Educational Research Journal, 44(6), 1120–1137. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3483 Chattaraj, D., & Vijayaraghavan, A. P. (2021a). Why learning space matters: A script approach to the phenomena of learning in the emergency remote learning scenario. Journal of Computers in Education, 8(3), 343–364. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40692-021-00182-z Chattaraj, D., & Vijayaraghavan, A. P. (2021b). The mobility paradigm in higher education: A phenomenological study on the shift in learning space. Smart Learning Environments, 8(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-021-00162-x Cohn, S. K., & Cohn, S. K. (2002). The Black Death transformed: Disease and culture in early Renaissance Europe (p. 75). London: Arnold. Gautam, D. K., & Gautam, P. K. (2021). Transition to online higher education during COVID-19 pandemic: Turmoil and way forward to developing country of South AsiaNepal. Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning https://doi.org/10.1108/ jrit-10-2020-0051 Green, W., Anderson, V., Tait, K., & Tran, L. T. (2020). Precarity, fear and hope: Reflecting and imagining in higher education during a global pandemic. Higher Education Research and Development, 39(7), 1309–1312. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2020.1826029. Hobbs, T. D., & Hawkins, L. (June 5, 2020). The results are in for remote learning: It didn’t work. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/schools-coronavirusremote-learning-lockdown-tech-11591375078 Huang, R., Tlili, A., Chang, T. W., Zhang, X., Nascimbeni, F., & Burgos, D. (2020). Disrupted classes, undisrupted learning during COVID-19 outbreak in China: Application of open educational practices and resources. Smart Learning Environments, 7(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-020-00125-8 Joshi, S. (2021). Rising importance of remote learning in India in the wake of COVID-19: Issues, challenges and way forward. World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development. https://doi.org/10.1108/wjstsd-10-2020-0079 Kerka, S. (2002). Somatic/embodied learning and adult education. Trends and Issues Alert. Office of Educational Research and Improvement Washington DC. Korr, M. (2016). Fighting TB with fresh-air schools. Rhode Island Medical Journal, 99(9), 75. https://doi.org/10.23860/ricci-2016-07 Mastel-Smith, B., & Stanley-Hermanns, M. (2012). “It’s like we’re grasping at anything” caregivers’ education needs and preferred learning methods. Qualitative Health Research, 22(7), 1007–1015. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732312443739 Meyer, J. H. (2000). The modelling of ‘dissonant’ study orchestration in higher education. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 15(1), 5–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf03173163 Moustakas, C. (2011). Research design and methodology. In Heuristic research: Design, methodology, and applications (pp. 38–58). https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412995641.d21 Murillo, F. (2021). The curriculum of the plague. Prospects, 51(1), 63–74. https://doi. org/10.1007/s11125-020-09535-5 Murphy, M. P. (2020). COVID-19 and emergency eLearning: Consequences of the securitization of higher education for post-pandemic pedagogy. Contemporary Security Policy. https://doi.org/10.1080/13523260.2020.1761749

172  Dishari Chattaraj and Arya Parakkate Vijayaraghavan Neuwirth, L. S., Jović, S., & Mukherji, B. R. (2020). Reimagining higher education during and post-COVID-19: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Adult and Continuing Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477971420947738 Postareff, L., Katajavuori, N., Lindblom-Ylänne, S., & Trigwell, K. (2008). Consonance and dissonance in descriptions of teaching of university teachers. Studies in Higher Education, 33(1), 49–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070701794809 Prosser, M., Ramsden, P., Trigwell, K., & Martin, E. (2003). Dissonance in experience of teaching and its relation to the quality of student learning. Studies in Higher education, 28(1), 37–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070309299 Saha, A., Dutta, A., & Sifat, R. I. (2021). The mental impact of digital divide due to COVID-19 pandemic induced emergency online learning at undergraduate level: Evidence from undergraduate students from Dhaka City. Journal of Affective Disorders, 294, 170–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.07.045 Smith, J. A., & Shinebourne, P. (2012). Interpretative phenomenological analysis. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/13620-005 Spielman, A. I., & Sunavala-Dossabhoy, G. (2021). Pandemics and education: A historical review. Journal of Dental Education, 85(6), 741–746. https://doi.org/10.1002/jdd.12615 Tuffour, I. (2017). A critical overview of interpretive phenomenological analysis: A contemporary qualitative research approach. Journal of Healthcare Communications, 2(4), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.4172/2472-1654.100093 UNESCO-IESALC. (2020, April). COVID-19 and higher education: Today and tomorrow. UNESCO-IESALC. http://www.iesalc.unesco.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ COVID-19-EN-090420-2.pdf Vermunt, J., & Minnaert, A. (2003). Dissonance in student learning patterns: When to revise theory?. Studies in Higher Education, 28(1), 49–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070309301 Vermunt, J. D., & Verloop, N. (1999). Congruence and friction between learning and teaching. Learning and Instruction, 9(3), 257–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0959-4752(98)00028-0 Wang, M. Q., & Zheng, X. D. (2018). Embodied cognition and curriculum construction. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 50(3), 217–228. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2 017.1339342 Yasmin, M. (2022). Online chemical engineering education during COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons learned from Pakistan. Education for Chemical Engineers, 39, 19–30. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.ece.2022.02.002

12 Opportunities and Challenges of Tele Schooling Lessons from Pakistan Laraib Niaz, Camilla Hadi Chaudhary and Kusha Anand

Introduction Education systems around the world responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with unprecedented experiments in remote learning (World Bank 2021a). Adapting to remote teaching and learning was forced upon educational infrastructures globally and they responded varyingly based on their embedded capabilities. Schools catering to low-income communities were limited by access to technological resources such as laptops and adequate Internet access both for teachers and students. Thus, other innovative platforms were also engaged to create sustainable frameworks of remote learning during and after the pandemic (World Bank 2021a, 2021b). Schools offer structure, assistance, and a system of incentives and sanctions to scaffold learning. The value of face-to-face interactions with classmates is provided through traditional classroom education. It offers students, especially those in their formative years, a space for social interaction, assisting them in mastering abilities like setting boundaries, empathy, and cooperation (UNESCO 2021). Parents and caregivers play a crucial role in mediating educational disadvantage. However, the level of education, socio-economic status, and capacity to provide home learning support and resources for students are lower among parents of educationally disadvantaged students. Pre-pandemic data from international studies such as the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study – Year 4 (PIRLS, 2016) also show that educational vulnerability is exacerbated by reduced access to a range of resources at home, for instance, adequate food and shelter, information, and communication technologies, a quiet place to work, books, and learning support from parents. Resources and strategies need to be attentive to circumstances and contexts. For instance, “low-income households and those in remote areas have on average half as many desktop, laptop or tablet computers as middle-income households” (RRIF, 2020, p. 3). Linking access to such resources to the pandemic, Hattie (2020, para. 7) notes that the most likely implication of school closures relates to equity: students who come from well-resourced families fared much better than those from lesser-resourced families. As a result, the solutions required to keep students learning during the pandemic were different in societies in the Global South. One of these societies is Pakistan. In March 2020, school closures across Pakistan forced 50 million children out of school, of which almost 12 million children were in the province of Punjab1 DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688-16

174  Laraib Niaz et al. (Zacharia, 2020; Crawfurd et al., 2021). Most of these children belonged to low-income communities with limited or no access to sufficient technology. Internet access in Pakistan stands at 36%; smartphone ownership is around 32% while computer or laptop ownership is around 27% (Zubairi et al., 2021a). The timing of the closures also coincided with annual assessments that were then cancelled in both public and private schools (Tabassum et al., 2021; Zubairi et al., 2021b). This created a degree of panic amongst students and parents as the education system in Pakistan is geared to teaching to the exam and educational progression is dependent on assessments. The bifurcated nature of education in Pakistan created significantly unequal experiences of educational disruption across socio-economic groups. Most foreign curricula schools quickly responded to the lockdown with online classes. However, these generally cater to middle to high income communities while low-cost private schools and state schools serve the lowest socio-economic groups (World Bank 2021a). Most of these low-income communities had no or inadequate access to technology such as computers, uninterrupted WiFi connections or even smartphones. Thus, many of these students were left in a state removed from learning as teachers had limited or no interaction with their students (MoFEPT official in personal communication with authors). While pockets of innovation did occur, these were largely fuelled by personal or institutional motivation (Chaudhary and Niaz, 2020). Most of the time, learning completely stopped in low-income communities. Thus, supporting the continued learning of students, particularly those without any other access to education, became the main priority of the federal and provincial education ministries (Government stakeholders’ spokesperson). The Ministry of Education prepared the Pakistan National Education Response and Resilience Plan (K-12) for COVID-19 in May 2020 that outlined the government’s response measures to minimise the disruption in learning (Zacharia 2020). Three goals were identified: keeping students learning, creating a system of protecting the health and well-being of the educational fraternity, and building sustainable resilience within the education system to withstand future crises. These three goals formed the priorities of the policy response measures adopted by the government. In response to this plan, both the national and provincial governments of Pakistan (particularly Punjab) started exploring the use of technology in supporting student learning (MoFEPT 2020a). Television, a widely consumed medium in Pakistan, was highlighted as an important platform that could serve as an alternative to traditional schooling (MoFEPT 2020b) particularly for students with limited or no access to alternative resources. Televised learning can create positive learning outcomes cost-effectively and across diverse student contexts including cognitive learning achievements and more intangible psycho-social and value-based learning (Watson and McIntyre, 2020). Given the reach of television across Pakistan, 74% of the population have access to television – teleprogramming became an obvious means of creating educational continuity for a large majority of students (Zubairi et  al., 2021a). The Federal government of Pakistan subsequently launched the Teleschool, and the Punjab government launched Taleem Ghar as a response to the pandemic (Government of Punjab, 2020; MoFEPT, 2020a). Such initiatives align with global thinking on the use of television as an education platform.

Opportunities and Challenges of Tele Schooling  175 This chapter studies the Teleschool and Taleem Ghar programmes in Pakistan as case studies to understand the contextual and modal particularities that influenced the operationalisation of these initiatives in the country. Specifically, the chapter outlines the sequential engagement with tele learning during the pandemic and attempts to unpack underlying reasons through the utilisation of the three gaps framework. The next section outlines global literature on how tele schooling has proven to be an important alternative to in-person learning, particularly in the face of the pandemic. Following this the methodology of the chapter is outlined and the use of the three gaps framework is explained. Finally, the Teleschool and Taleem Ghar initiatives were analysed using the three gaps of access, usage, and pedagogical skills.

Telelearning as a Tool of Distance Learning Educational television broadcasting has a rich history in distance learning around the world, especially in countries with well-developed broadcast and satellite infrastructure: Australia, Brazil, China, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States (Burns, 2020). Television is still not as accessible across households in the Global South as radio, especially in areas without electricity, but its reach and viewership are expanding, and educational broadcasting can be accessed increasingly on computers and phones with Internet access or downloading and streaming capabilities. Television programming industries in Sub-Saharan Africa have also been expanding in countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, creating engaging programs that teach literacy and numeracy. One programme in Tanzania, Ubongo Kids, has gained wide viewership among Swahili speakers and teaches literacy, numeracy, STEM topics, life skills, and principles of utu (often translated as humanity) such as good character traits, and leadership skills (USAID, 2020). Botswana television also offers daily educational programming in maths and science that reaches 100% of the country through satellite and 90% through terrestrial transmitter (Burns, 2020). Nevertheless, there are also limitations to educational television programming. One of the most obvious limitations is user access: if a child does not have a television set or device for viewing, electricity, or has a disability where they need closed captioning or adaptive technology, they will be unable to participate in the educational experience. Even if these requirements are met, the programme must still appeal to children, making use of elements such as humour, visual action, and appealing characters (Fisch 2004 cited in USAID 2020). Unless there are instructor or print activities that accompany the video or television programming, the motivation to watch and learn from the program falls heavily on the learner’s desire to participate and/or their caregivers’ ability to reinforce learning for young learners (Niyigena et al. 2020). The application of learned knowledge and the transfer of skills when using television as a medium does not transfer in the same way as it might if a learner was able to participate in hands-on activities where they are able to interact with additional materials. To assist with this learning gap, television programming can be supplemented with interactive activities, or additional resources and information, which can also be customised to

176  Laraib Niaz et al. different contexts (Niyigena et al. 2020). With other video formats, learning outcomes might be adjusted to accommodate learners at different levels (see Hattie 2020), which is not possible when using television broadcasting to reach children. Mongolia provides a strong example of what television broadcasting of education programmes entails. In March 2020, more than 1,000 educational lessons had been broadcasted on Mongolian National Television (Munkhzul 2020). However, it is unclear whether this television broadcasting is paired with assignments for children to complete, with regular communication with teachers and classmates, or with other supplemental classroom instruction. There is a lack of evaluation of the outcome of the broadcasted content. Around the world, programmes and technology for education via mobile phones also became increasingly more popular following the pandemic. As mobile phone ownership increases so does the potential for this modality to improve teaching and learning and to provide learning in emergency and crisis situations like COVID-19 (Burns, 2020). Considering the increase in demand for online and televised educational content for children following the COVID-19 pandemic, evaluations of interventions based on their accessibility are increasingly important. The issues emerging out of COVID-19 induced distance learning are more than just access. As per the National Education Technology Plan (2016), understanding of the three digital divide gaps can help in identifying the efficacy of interventions (cited in Jain et al., 2021).

Research Aims, Methodology and Conceptual Framework This study explores the implementation of the Teleschool and Taleem Ghar initiatives, to understand students’ engagement with telelearning during the pandemic. We also explore the ways in which these initiatives evolved and the underlying reasons for this evolution. While there is a dearth of primary data that records access to and impact of the tele learning platforms, nevertheless certain contextualised lessons can be drawn from the way these initiatives were conceptualised and implemented. This chapter utilises secondary desk-based research evidencing the pandemic experience from the past two years; multiple sources were used, ranging from academic literature (journal articles, book chapters, etc.) to policy notes and reports published by the government and non-government agencies. The deskbased research was supplemented by qualitative semi-structured interviews with two programme stakeholders – one affiliated with the government, and one with a programme evaluation body – working on collecting data on the Teleschool and Taleem Ghar initiatives. Following the review of evidence, the analysis places the findings into the Digital Divide Gap Framework (Zubairi et al., 2021b). The three gaps framework has previously been highlighted in literature (see Jain et al 2021; Anand and Lall, 2021) to help evaluate the opportunities and challenges presented by distant learning initiatives during the pandemic. As per the National Education Technology Plan (2016) United States, understanding of the following three digital divide gaps can help in identifying the efficacy of interventions (cited in Jain et al., 2021) These include the access gap which focuses on the socio-economic status of the schools, as well as factors such as geography and household

Opportunities and Challenges of Tele Schooling  177 income that influence the ability of students to access online learning because of the closure of educational institutions (Kundu, 2020). The usage gap focuses on the possibilities to employ technologies by students and teachers and the actual utilisation of educational initiatives. Finally, pedagogical skills and preparedness involve analysing how preparedness can help in effective responses to emergencies and this gap helps identify how the skills and preparedness of the teachers impacts the distant learning. As such, it serves as useful indicators for how Teleschool and Taleem Ghar were conceptualised and implemented.

Analysing the Effectiveness of the Teleschool and Taleem Ghar Initiatives Both the Teleschool and Taleem Ghar initiatives, promulgated soon after school closures in March 2020, were quick and timely responses by the federal and provincial governments to the COVID-19 pandemic. The speed of the response, though efficient considering the widespread use of television in Pakistan, also affected the conceptualisation, delivery, and usage of both the initiatives. The following sections analyse the initiatives through the access, usage and pedagogical preparedness gaps to understand how effective the Teleschool and Taleem Ghar initiatives were.

The Access and Awareness Gap Teleschool became the foundation of the federal government strategy: its target audience was students belonging to disadvantaged and low-income communities, with the objective of keeping them learning (government stakeholder spokesperson). It is crucial to remember that providing access to educational resources for many children who are not in school was a secondary goal of the campaign to promote learning through television (or at least for those who had access to televisions). This is listed as a priority in the Response and Resilience Plan’s response conceptualisation (MoFEPT 2020a). The federal government promoted its telelearning programme through print and social media outlets to increase access and promote utilisation (WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook). Key government officials including the Prime Minister repeatedly mentioned the initiative on various platforms in the context of ongoing educational innovations and COVID-19 responses, both in interviews and through their own social media accounts (Wlison et al. 2020). The federal government also set up an SMS service to provide SMS based notifications about the scheduling of Teleschool and other related notifications and support. These efforts indicate the government’s commitment to making the programming accessible for all students, educators, and caregivers (Zubairi et al 2021a). The Government of Pakistan also enlisted the help of Gallup Pakistan for a rapid assessment of the Teleschool programme in May 2020 to evaluate the programme with respect to its awareness, viewership, loyalty, and perception of quality (Zacharia 2020). After two months of the programme’s launch, 1,200 Pakistani households with children aged 5–15 years old were telephone surveyed; nearly 400 of the respondents indicated that they had accessed Teleschool lessons (with the

178  Laraib Niaz et al. highest percentage coming from Punjab, where approximately 7–8 million children had done so), translating to an estimated 6 million weekly viewers for the programme. Of the respondents, 77% were either satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the Teleschool lessons, with rural respondents more satisfied than urban respondents, while 66% of parents who were surveyed stated how they would recommend the Teleschool to other parents (World Bank, 2021a). It was also found that nearly 32 million adults (roughly 2 out of every 5 Pakistanis) knew about Teleschool (67% of the respondents learnt about the Teleschool programme through television itself) (Zacharia, 2020; Wilson et al., 2022). Our interviews with government and independent evaluation stakeholders as well as those conducted by Mansoor and Afzal (2021) made clear how raising parental awareness of the value of telelearning would ensure higher use of the transmissions. Relatedly, the study showed that the frequency of watching Teleschool or using the Taleem Ghar app was greater in urban centres of Punjab that have higher levels of parental literacy and programme awareness as well as availability of resources – television, mobile phones, Internet. This contrasts with the findings of the Gallup survey where rural respondents were not only accessing the content as much as their urban counterparts, but also seemed to be more satisfied with the educational content, despite feeling that the limited timings of the transmissions were not feasible and practical. A World Bank study also contests these usage figures, highlighting that only 10% of the population in Punjab used these programmes while schools were closed (Geven and Hasan, 2020). Such contradictions in the data reflect the varied methodologies adopted in the data collection, which itself is highlighted by the phenomenological reality of conducting research during the pandemic. While Manzoor and Afzal (2021) investigate stakeholder perspectives from a qualitative lens, the World Bank study focuses on usage using quantitative methods. Additionally, Crawfurd et al (2021) found that children belonging to more financially affluent households, and those with educated parents, were more likely to be watching the Teleschool programme as compared to those belonging to the poorest households with less educated parents. Furthermore, UNICEF and UNESCO (2021a) in a review of the post COVID19 situation of the education sector showed how student learning remained low given that the Teleschool programme only provided one hour of schooling a day per age cohort. In terms of pedagogical readiness, teachers were not trained to manage remote learning or to foster the provision of the distance learning approach which meant that parents were struggling to manage the learning of children (sometimes multiple children accessing the same content at different times). When parents were asked about the impact of distance learning programmes on their children’s learning, a significant majority of them reiterated how their children were not able to study, with only 4% of rural parents stating that their children were learning through the online modalities, and only 1% of their urban counterparts (UNICEF, 2021a). This is similar to the situation in Bangladesh, where the government attempted employing TV, radio, mobile phone, and Internet platforms to reach as many pupils as possible, but only 33% of residents have access to the Internet, and only 43.9% of rural Bangladeshi families have a television (UNICEF, 2021b). Similarly,

Opportunities and Challenges of Tele Schooling  179 only 35% of rural Nepalis have access to television. In Ghana, the impracticalities of regional differences in access to reliable energy supplies are likely to even disrupt low-tech measures, including radio broadcasts. The South Korean government has tried to address equity issues by supporting low-income families with the costs of using the Internet so that their children can continue to learn while online (Bicker, 2020). In Pakistan, the only province to initiate their own televised learning was Taleem Ghar in Punjab. This ran concurrently with the federal programme and was part of a tiered programme of distance learning using radio/audio, video/television, mobile phone programming, and online learning. The relevance and effectiveness of each distance learning modality varied greatly by context and between and within provinces, as well as by availability of and access to technology (Silver and Johnson 2018; UNESCO 2021b). Like other technology platforms, lack of access to televised learning was acute for children belonging to poor households. ASER (2021) for instance, found differences in access to technology where 2.4% of the poorest owned a TV as compared to 96.7% of the richest, 8.5% of the poorest owned a smartphone as compared to 95.9% of the richest and 2.8% of the poorest had access to the Internet vs 44.6% of the richest. Following school closures due to the pandemic in March 2020, the Punjab government set up a taskforce, liaising with multiple government departments and stakeholders to conduct an analysis of the use of different technological mediums to identify which platform was the most widely used. The analysis showed how television was the most widely used medium followed by smartphones. Using this evidence, the Taleem Ghar programme was initiated which provided digital education content, through televised learning and an app, developed by the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board for grades K–12 (Zacharia 2020). The initiative also leveraged the expertise of their higher education institutions and educational stakeholders (Punjab’s School Education Department’s Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB)). To assist parents in fostering their children’s learning, Taleem Ghar lessons were posted on a YouTube channel, an app, and on websites. The learning app in Punjab additionally contained functionality for teachers and schools to send notifications to the students as a learning tool once schools commenced. This content generation was supported by dissemination channels such as print and social media as well as contextualised approaches such as using local mosques to publicise the telecasts to those without access to print and social media (Zubairi et al. 2021a). Additional support, for instance through a telephone helpline to field queries of beneficiaries, was also provided by the government. Despite such widespread awareness activities, a World Bank study conducted in Punjab found that only 30% of households were aware of the Taleem Ghar initiative (World Bank 2021b).

The Usage Gap Beyond access and level of engagement, the efficacy of telelearning hinges on the type of engagement that students had with the programmes. To encourage usage, the Teleschool and Taleem Ghar programmes were designed to recreate the content

180  Laraib Niaz et al. covered in classrooms across cohorts using the federal syllabus being taught in the Islamabad Capital Territory (MoFEPT 2020b). The sessions were ordered sequentially for the whole day with the youngest cohort in the morning and the eldest in the evening. At first, it was anticipated that provinces would modify the curriculum to fit their own contextual requirements and would also train their teachers to facilitate telelearning by having one-on-one interactions with students. It was planned that teachers would follow up with students and provide activities that required students to watch the learning content relevant to their learning cohort to support the televised curriculum. Mansoor and Afzal (2021) conducted focus group discussions with students of Grades 4 and 5 in Punjab and semi-structured interviews with their teachers and parents. This study showed how all participants believed that the content of the Teleschool programme was effective and interesting for the children but still was not used frequently. One finding was that the timing of the Teleschool programme was not conducive for the children’s learning. Mansoor and Afzal (2021), for instance, showed that programmes for children in kindergarten and class 1 used to start at 8 am. It was difficult for the youngest children to get up that early without the structured requirement of mandatory attendance that school creates. Additionally, this was also the time of the day that mothers used to be busy preparing breakfast in the kitchen and partaking in other household chores, which meant that children were often left to watch the educational content without adult supervision. This coincides with our interview with the spokesperson for the group of independent evaluators who explained that since young children need some form of support, feedback and interaction, the lack of it in the Teleschool programme served as a major impediment. The lack of scaffolding also resulted in the students taking the programme less seriously (independent evaluation spokesperson). Mansoor and Afzal (2021) also highlighted varied engagement: some students in higher grades would watch the Teleschool programme with more interest since they were more conscious about their studies while some would opt for alternative options like interactive videos on YouTube. In Pakistan, by May 2020, the provincial government of Punjab was also assessing the Taleem Ghar mobile app, usage of its website and identifying the number of cable TV networks that were broadcasting the programme in the province. According to Gallup, at the end of the first six months of the programming, the Taleem Ghar mobile app was downloaded more than 80,000 times, the website was accessed by users more than a million times, the YouTube videos garnered views of over 8.8 million and its television content was broadcasted by more than 95% of cable tv operators working in Punjab. However, despite these initial successes, by September 2020, both usage and access of the Taleem Ghar had decreased (IPSOS, 2022), highlighting issues of continued engagement and usage as in other South Asian countries (India and Bangladesh) and with the federal programme (World Bank 2021c). A further issue with the recorded data on both the Teleschool and Taleem Ghar programmes was that it was difficult to determine whether the viewers were parents or children (independent evaluation spokesperson). There was, therefore, a lack of learner-related data. This means that not much is known about the

Opportunities and Challenges of Tele Schooling  181 effectiveness of the interventions and the lack of data around effectiveness can hamper the process of scaling up the interventions (Bapna et al., 2021). It was also limited in terms of disaggregating who is accessing the data and whether the viewers were coming from a more disadvantaged background. Both initiatives were didactic in terms of engagement with learners (independent evaluation spokesperson).

The Pedagogical Digital Skills and Preparedness Gap The Teleschools programme was conceptualised as a multi-modal approach with two approaches to learning – self-learning and guided learning. Self-learning focused on providing curated learning material to students through printed matter and content for television and radio, as well as phone applications such as e-Taaleem (e-Education). Guided learning focused on the support network surrounding students through teachers and schools that were required to scaffold home learning through a variety of means such as teacher home visits, text transfer of assignments and video lessons (live and recorded). Parental support was a crucial component of guided learning because it enables access to the content by allowing access to televisions, radios, and smartphones, creating appropriate study spaces and times at home, and, whenever possible (based on parental education levels), supporting cognitive assimilation of content (MoFEPT 2020b). The process was thus multi-modal at varying degrees of technology appropriation with each part intended to symbiotically support each other. The performance and engagement of students with educational content also depends on teachers. While no primary data has investigated the extent to which teachers received training and support to engage students in Pakistan during the pandemic, there is consensus within the Ministry that there was no systematic engagement to support tele learning (MoFEPT official; independent evaluation spokesperson). This is reminiscent of the case of Bangladesh where there was a real expectation for teachers to be communicating with students through mobile phones and laptops but in terms of their own training, there was very little emphasis on blended learning strategies (Malik 2020). Increasingly as the world is adapting to blended learning strategies, teacher training needs to take that into account and EdTech programs need to be designed taking the voices of students and teachers into account (Malik 2020). Triangulating the multi-modal framework envisaged by the government with the three gaps framework it becomes clear that creating access to self-learning is insufficient to ensure the level of usage that ensures impactful learning achievements through the programme. For that, developing pedagogical literacy through a tiered teacher, school and parental engagement model is necessary; one that envisages holistic support and scaffolding for student remote learning. To create the Teleschool programme, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MoFEPT) tapped into the knowledge of its higher education institutions and educational stakeholders (such Allama Iqbal Open Learning University). These stakeholders revamped existing educational materials and worked with media regulatory authorities and cable TV broadcasters to transmit

182  Laraib Niaz et al. the educational content free of cost. Hence, the use of existing educational materials meant that teachers were familiar with the educational content and presumably able to create the required assessments based on the content at government mandated dates (Zacharia 2020). The Teleschool programme aimed to conduct student assessments through WhatsApp multiple choice questions to assess learning and engagement. There is no information, however, on whether these evaluations were conducted in relation to television content. Finally, in our interview with the independent evaluation spokesperson, certain culturally sensitive issues pertaining to the use of Teleschool by girls were foregrounded: interviews and focus group discussion with parents and children in Balochistan revealed how girls’ access to television is limited (due to gendered socio-cultural norms) and how this should have been factored in when conceptualising the Teleschool initiative. Furthermore, in many rural areas often only a few households within a community have a television, where children of school-going age convene to watch. In Balochistan, gender norms limit female mobility, thereby preventing girls from repeated visits to community homes to watch the programming. Designing the programme according to the contextual particularities of the country becomes increasingly important here. Going forward not only is it imperative that there is a strategy looking at blended learning but really being contextually appropriate.

Conclusion This chapter used two distance learning initiatives precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan – Teleschool and Taleem Ghar – to understand the contextual nature of the programme design and response, and the specific opportunities and challenges that the programme presented to learners in the country. Both the Teleschool and Taleem Ghar were swift and appropriate responses to the pandemic and conceptualised holistically to create effective means of delivery. However, they fell short in their delivery and impact by only succeeding in creating and delivering content (self-learning mode) and not effectively engaging school administrations at the school or district level, teachers, and parents (guided learning mode). Thus, even to the extent that access existed, usage fell due to the lack of motivation and clear understanding of the value of tele-education, both as a phenomenological response to the pandemic induced lockdown, and as one that could have long-term sustainability in a post-pandemic environment. Such lack of motivation and understanding can be linked to a tiered inadequacy of support to teachers and parents. Teachers and school leadership were not given any training in how to engage their learning outcomes with televised content while students and parents were not given any concrete assessment criteria that would motivate sustained and active engagement by the students. The rollout of both the Teleschool and Taleem Ghar programmes thus highlighted many challenges of coordination between different government departments and stakeholders. This was also due to lack of cohesion and coordination amongst the involved government departments, and overall lack of engagement with different EdTech providers in the country to contextualise and make appropriately varied programming (Independent evaluation spokesperson; Zacharia 2020).

Opportunities and Challenges of Tele Schooling  183 Additionally, both the secondary evidence and the primary interviews reflect that it was difficult to understand the engagement with these initiatives since they were didactic in nature. Disaggregated data on usage, engagement as well as the profile of learners was therefore scarce. While both initiatives attempted at engaging community actors, having widespread awareness campaigns, and using a range of online modalities (particularly in the case of Taleem Ghar) that helped in making education accessible to the most vulnerable groups during the pandemic. However, there is a need to collect comprehensive data on continued usage of the programmes to understand engagement patterns. As the modes of education delivery evolve in a post-pandemic world, lessons from how education happened during the pandemic become ever more critical and informative. Where possible, hybrid strategies – that combine in person and remote learning – are now being encouraged. Such strategies incorporate the pedagogical and humanistic benefits of physical classrooms along with the preparedness and inclusivity of remote learning (Saavedra et al., 2020). In middle to high income contexts (in the Global North) students have become accustomed to learning with online channels of learning. These students in general have access to the appropriate technology such as computers and WiFi that are the equivalents of paper and pencil in a post-pandemic world. However, the reality for the vast majority of the world’s children that live in low-income contexts in the Global South is that they do not have access to digital infrastructure (World Bank 2021b). As such, educational research in a post-pandemic world has a responsibility to take lessons from the pandemic towards imagining a more equitable educational design going forward.

Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge The Maple Advisory Group (https:// mapleadvisorygroup.com/) for facilitating this chapter.

Note 1 Punjab is Pakistan’s largest province population-wise and second-largest land-wise.

References Anand, K., & Lall, M. 2021. Teachers’ Digital Agency and Pedagogy during the COVID19 Crisis in Delhi. NORRAG Special Issue, 6, 64–66. ASER. (2021). Annual Status of Education Report: ASER-Pakistan 2021. http://aserpakistan. org/document/aser/2021/reports/national/ASER_report_National_2021.pdf Bapna, A., Nicolai, S., Myers, C., Pellini, A., Sharma, N., & Wilson, S. 2021. A Case for a Systems Approach to EdTech. EdTech Hub. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5651995 Bicker, L. 2020. Coronavirus: How South Korea is teaching empty classrooms. BBC News. 10th April. 2020.[Online]. Accessed at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia52230371 Burns, E. 2020. School librarians online: integrated learning beyond the school walls. Information and Learning Sciences, 121(7/8), 631–644. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-04-2020-0107

184  Laraib Niaz et al. Chaudhary, C. H., & Niaz, A. F. 2020, May 22. Stop. Pause. Reflect. Rethinking Teacher Engagement during Lockdown. The Education and Development Forum (UKFIET). https://www.ukfiet.org/2020/stop-pause-reflect-rethinking-teacher-engagementduring-lockdown/ Crawfurd, L., Hares, S., & Minardi, A. 2021. New Data on Learning Loss in Pakistan. Center for Global Development. https://www.cgdev.org/blog/new-data-learning-loss-pakistan Geven, K., & Hasan, A. 2020. Learning Losses in Pakistan Due to COVID-19 School Closures. Learning Losses in Pakistan Due to COVID-19 School Closures. https://doi. org/10.1596/34659 Government of the Punjab. 2020. Taleem Ghar: An Initiative by Government of the Punjab. https://taleemghar.punjab.gov.pk/ Hattie, J. 2020. What Can We Learn from COVID-Era Instruction?. Association for supervision and curriculum development (ASCD). Arlington. Virginia. Available at https:// www.ascd.org/el/articles/what-can-we-learn-from-covid-era-instruction IPSOS. 2022. Pakistan Floods 2022: Perceptions and Response [Nationwide Survey]. Institut de Publique Sondage d’opinion Secteur. https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/ news/documents/2022-09/Pakistan%20Floods%202022%20-%20Ipsos%20nation wide%20survey-22Sep22.pdf Jain, S., Lall, M. & Singh, A. (2021). Teachers’ voices on the impact of COVID-19 on school education: are ed-tech companies really the panacea? Contemporary Education Dialogue, 18(1), 58–89. Kundu, A. 2020. Toward a framework for strengthening participants’ self-efficacy in online education. Asian Association of Open Universities Journal. Malik, R. 2020. Challenges and Opportunities for Pakistan Education Systems in the COVID-19 Response. https://www.cambridge.org/partnership/research/challenges-and-opportunitiespakistan-education-systems-covid-19-response Mansoor, S. & Afzal, M.T. (2021). Role of TeleSchool in students’ engagement during COVID-19 lockdown: A phenomenological perspective. Journal of Education Research, 24(1), 79–94. MOFEPT. 2020a. Distance Learning in Pakistan Through Policy Intervention: National Distance Learning Framework. Ministry of Federal Education & Professional Training. Islamabad. Pakistan. MoFEPT. 2020b. Pakistan National Education Response and Resilience Plan (K-12) for COVID-19. Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training. http://mofept.gov.pk/ SiteImage/Misc/files/0_%20NERRP%20COVID-19%20MoFEPT%204%20May%20 2020%20Ver%2001.pdf Munkhzul, A. 2020. “Mongolia leads in organizing TV classes for children.” Montsame (March 12). https://montsame.mn/en/read/218635 Niyigena, J-P., Jiang, Q., Zio, D., Shaw, R-S, Hasan, A.S.M.T. 2020. Modelling the measurements of the determinants of ICT fluency and evolution of digital divide among students in developing countries-East Africa Case Study. Applied Sciences 10, 2613. PIRLS. 2016. Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS): National Report for England. Department for Education. Government of England. Available at https:// assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ file/664562/PIRLS_2016_National_Report_for_England-_BRANDED.pdf Rapid Research Information Forum (RRIF). 2020. Learning outcomes for online versus in-class education. Australian Academy of Science. https://www.science.org.au/ covid19/learning-outcomes-online-vs-inclass-education Saavedra, J. (2020). Educational challenges and opportunities of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. World Bank Blogs. https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/educational-challengesandopportunities-covid-19-pandemic

Opportunities and Challenges of Tele Schooling  185 Silver, L. and C. Johnson. 2018. “Internet Connectivity Seen as Having Positive Impact on Life in Sub-Saharan Africa.”Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2018/10/09/ internet-connectivity-seen-as-having-positive-impact-on-life-in-sub-saharan-africa/n Tabassum, R., Hadi, M., Qaisrani, A., & Shah, Q. 2021. Education technology in the COVID-19 response in Pakistan. EdTech Hub. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348002515_ Education_technology_in_the_COVID-19_response_in_Pakistan UNICEF. 2021a. Brief on Learning Continuity Amidst COVID-19 School Closures in Pakistan. UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia (ROSA). https://www.unicef.org/pakistan/ media/3761/file/Pakistan%20Brief%20on%20learning%20continuity%20amidst%20 COVID19.pdf UNICEF. 2021b. Education: Giving Every Child the Right to Education. https://www.unicef. org/pakistan/education USAID. 2020. ICT4E How-To Note. Final_Feb20.pdf. https://www.edu/links.org/sites/ default/files/media/file/USAID%20ICT4E% Watson, Joe, & McIntyre, Nora. 2020. Educational Television: Rapid Evidence Review. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.3956366 Wilson, S., Khalayleh, A., Baloch, I., & Kaye, T. 2022. Desk Review of Technology-Facilitated Learning in Pakistan: A Review to Guide Future Development of the Technology-Facilitated Learning Space in Pakistan. EdTech Hub. https://docs.google.com/document/d/ 1F2NuPzMLPDniaM-tQpCZsIKKWYoVpXuyz5-RCUxTR_w/edit World Bank. 2021a. Remote Learning During Covid-19: Lessons from Today, Principles for Tomorrow. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/factsheet/ 2021/04/30/notes-on-school-reopening-and-learningrecovery World Bank. 2021b. Policy Actions for School Reopening and Learning Recovery. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/factsheet/2021/04/30/notes-onschool-reopening-and-learningrecovery World Bank. 2021c. Thinking Inside the ‘Box’: Pakistan Turns to Education TV during Covid-19. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2021/05/19/pakistan-turns-to-education-tv Zacharia, S. 2020. Pakistan: TeleSchool and Taleem Ghar (Educational TV at Home). World Bank. Available at https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/84ee91c2-en. pdf?expires=1673879017&id=id&accname=oid007055&checksum=14BDB2FEED 524B9273C512AB20939700 Zubairi, A., Halim, W., Kaye, T., & Wilson, S. 2021a. Country-level Research Review: EdTech in Pakistan [Working Paper]. EdTech Hub. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4596486 Zubairi, A., Kreimeia, A., Jefferies, K., & Nicolai, Susan. 2021b. EdTech to Reach the Most Marginalised: A Call to Action. EdTech Hub. https://docs.edtechhub.org/lib/W8DB96IE/ download/XDMFQU9V/EdTech%20to%20Reach%20the%20Most%20Marginalised%20 A%20Call%20to%20Action.pdf

13 The Future of Online Teaching in the Faculties of Management in Sri Lanka A Means to an End or an End to a Means? Arosha S. Adikaram and Neelangie S. Nanayakkara

Introduction Following the catastrophic COVID-19 pandemic, Sri Lanka was gripped by an unprecedented economic crisis, which has brought about changes and disruptions to the country’s education system. From March 2020 to the time of writing this chapter (March–August 2022), state/public schools and higher education institutes (HEIs) in Sri Lanka have been closed for physical learning, first due to the pandemic, and afterwards due to the economic crisis, which has crippled the normal functioning of the country. While the schools were occasionally reopened during the pandemic, state-run HEIs largely continued their education online. In fact, Sri Lanka has seen several events in the recent past that have affected the education of the country. A 30-year-long civil war in the country that ended in 2009 and the Easter Sunday suicide bomb attacks in 2019 led to schools and HEIs being closed for shorter periods. However, online education was not implemented during these closures. Online education became the new norm for HEIs only with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. For many HEIs, online education was a new concept/practice needed to survive during the pandemic. It functioned as a kind of a “crisis distance education”, “emergency remote teaching”, or “transitional emergency model”, implemented haphazardly without sufficient planning. As such, the transition from onsite to online education at the initial stages of the pandemic was not smooth or easy for many institutes, lecturers, and students. Lack of digital literacy of staff and students, information technology infrastructure, and the discipline/ field of study had a noticeable influence on how successful the initial shift from onsite to online education was for the HEIs. While, with time, online education became the new norm, it is still primarily thought of as a temporal solution to a temporal crisis. Even though HEIs were in a position to transition back from online to the onsite mode or hybrid mode with the pandemic frittering away, the ensuing economic catastrophe the country went into forced the educators to rethink the education in the country yet again. At the time of writing this chapter, Sri Lanka was facing its worst economic crisis since its independence from British rule in 1949, which had created a contagion effect on the already vulnerable education system. The economic downturn and foreign currency shortage had led to the rising cost of living, shortage of DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688-17

Online Teaching in Sri Lanka  187 essentials and Island-wide protests. The fuel shortages had affected the electricity supply, resulting in power cuts being imposed for prolonged periods around the country. Daily seven-hour power cuts were seen throughout March 2022, which increased to 10 hours at the month’s end and 15 hours in early April. Hence, on the one hand, online education has been affected by the extended hours of power cuts and the rising cost of resources such as laptops and smartphones. On the other hand, onsite education has also become impossible with the transportation issues due to fuel shortage, rising cost of transportation and civil unrest. Therefore, at the time of this study, the Sri Lankan education system is at an impasse with difficulties in conducting either online or onsite education. Against this backdrop, this chapter aims to explore the challenges that were/are encountered in carrying out online education during the pandemic and in an economic crisis and the new opportunities that have arisen in management education in Sri Lanka with online education. We particularly focus on HEIs that offer management education as it is one of the most popular higher education streams in Sri Lanka – 13 out of 15 state universities offer management-related degrees, it also boasts second-highest admissions to state HEIs, and it is the second most popular subject selected by students for their university entrance examinations (Ministry of Education 2020). The findings of our study will make several contributions. We add to the existing literature on online/distance education by collaborating multiple perspectives of students and lecturers as well as exploring the different aspects of online education such as teaching, learning and evaluation. Further, while there exists ample research on online education during the pandemic (e.g. Khan 2021; Sengupta and Blessinger 2022; Sunasee 2020; Sia and Adamu 2020), there is much to be understood about online education post-pandemic and during an economic crisis since many countries are facing potential economic downturns. Hence, our findings will assist university policymakers, administrators, and lecturers understand how best to continue and support online education post-pandemic and similar crises. Specifically, this study provides a basis to rethink how management education should effectively continue outside temporal crises.

Online Education in Sri Lankan HEIs There are 15 state universities and about 40 other state and nonstate tertiary education institutions in Sri Lanka. Within the 15 state universities, 244 courses of study are offered (University Grants Commission 2020/2021), all of which are offered free of charge. Other than bachelor’s degrees offered by the Open University of Sri Lanka, other universities teach onsite courses. Open university and external degree programmes offered by some state HEIs mainly engaged in distance education through online classes and had done so for several years prior to COVID-19. These distance learning programs are intended to provide learning opportunities to students from geographically remote areas through printed as well as digital learning resources, audio and video conferencing, online learning management systems, and regional centres. Online education in itself, thus, was not radically new but had served a different purpose.

188  Arosha S. Adikaram and Neelangie S. Nanayakkara To improve the quality of traditional face-to-face education practised by state HEIs, blended learning was introduced in some HEIs in the country a few years before the pandemic. Some universities also had already developed learning management systems, even though they were not utilised much by lecturers and students. These learning management systems were mainly used to share study material or provide certain summative assessments and were hardly used for delivering lectures. As Hayashi et al. (2020) document, 12% of the faculties in the state-run HEIs had not used online education before the pandemic. In fact, online education was never experienced by a majority of the lecturers and students in HEIs before COVID-19. With the first lockdown imposed in the country due to COVID-19 in May 2020, HEIs were forced to shift to online education, and according to Hayashi et al. (2020), by June 2020, almost all faculties had started engaging in online teaching. Having an already established learning management system was immensely useful for this shift. Hence, universities could shift to online teaching swiftly by connecting the Lanka Education and Research Network (LEARN) to university web servers. Understandably, some universities were more equipped in terms of infrastructure and teacher education to meet the rapid change. Many students and lecturers, however, did not have the necessary technical skills and resources such as internet connectivity, laptops, or computers. They were also not mentally ready to make such a shift. As such, there was considerable resistance from a few lecturers and students, and the initial shift to online education was challenging. However, the high mobile device usage among the populace, including university students, supported the transition to a greater extent, as they could access online education even without a laptop or a desktop. At the same time, all internet service providers in Sri Lanka offered free access to state HEI web servers for their users until 17 August 2020 through the LEARN system (Hayashi et al. 2020). This was immensely helpful for the students of low-income families. Furthermore, student loans were provided to purchase laptops. However, most students were found to be using smartphones to engage in online learning and assessment. While the universities were given the green light to resume onsite education from 6 July 2020, only a few faculties opened for students on a limited scale, with various restrictions. Some faculties conducted certain activities onsite while classroom teaching primarily continued online. For example, Science and Technology faculties had onsite lab sessions or practical sessions, while some other faculties had onsite examinations. However, even these faculties that did open onsite, had to shift to onsite education again when further lockdowns were imposed. While the universities planned to open onsite with the pandemic easing out, the ensuing economic crises forced universities to remain closed mainly due to travelling issues and civil unrest. Hence, many universities and faculties remained closed and continued education online throughout the last two years.

Why HEI in Management Education? We have focused on online education in HEIs and management education in this chapter for several reasons. First, while overall, education has gained relatively little attention from the policymakers in the country (Dahanayake, May 7, 2022), higher

Online Teaching in Sri Lanka  189 education has gained even less attention, where the issues that HEIs face are seldomly discussed or researched. Second, the university closures experienced in Sri Lanka can be said to be one of the longest in the world, with the Sri Lankan HEIs being closed for the physical presence of students for over two years, continuing education on online mode. With the key responsibilities placed on the higher education system in a country, these prolonged closures of HEIs and drawbacks of online education can bring about drastic negative consequences to individuals as well as the country. Third, compared to primary and secondary education in the country, online education is remarkably high in HEIs (Hayashi et al. 2020). In fact, the rate of access to online education in Sri Lankan HEIs is said to be comparable to developed countries like Japan (Hayashi et al. 2020). At the same time, higher education in management is also critical to Sri Lanka, as the second-highest admissions to state HEIs in Sri Lanka are for the management stream (University Statistics 2020), and the commerce (management) stream is the second most popular subject (next to Arts) selected by students for their university entrance examinations (Ministry of Education 2020). Out of the 15 state universities in the country, 13 universities offer management and related degrees. Additionally, online education is said to be more effective in management education compared to disciplines such as medicine, engineering, and science, because these other disciplines face heightened obstacles due to a lack of opportunities for practical training (Varvara et al. 2021) and difficulties in conducting lab courses and activities online (Qiang et al. 2020). As such, while these disciplines/faculties face difficulties teaching their syllabus entirely online, management faculties can engage entirely and primarily in online education. At the time of writing this chapter, the management faculties of many universities were still engaged in fully online education. With the advent of the pandemic, management faculties shifted mainly to synchronous online teaching and learning conducted through Zoom or other social platforms. Certain management faculties had moved towards alternative assessments such as online class tests and online student presentations rather than semester-end written examinations, while others had both continuous assessments as well as the end-of-semester online written examinations.

Methodology Under the interpretive paradigm (Burrell and Morgan 1979), we employed qualitative research methodology to find answers to our research problem – the challenges that were/are encountered in carrying out online education during the pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis as well as the new opportunities that have arisen in management education in Sri Lanka with the online education. We used multiple data collection methods to ensure trustworthiness and the collection of detailed information. The data was collected from March 2022 to April 2022. First, in-depth interviews were held with 15 lecturers of management faculties of 5 universities. The five faculties were selected to represent different geographical areas (urban and rural), and the lecturers were identified using the purposive sampling technique. Accordingly, those who have been engaged in online education from the initial stages of the pandemic/university closures and willing to participate in the study were selected. Additionally, detailed written answers were obtained through an

190  Arosha S. Adikaram and Neelangie S. Nanayakkara open-ended structured questionnaire from 132 management undergraduates from 10 universities using convenient sampling technique. Of the respondents, 14.3% were first-year students, while 31.6%, 22.4% and 31.6% were second, third and final-year students, respectively. Most respondents were female students, accounting for 65% of the responses, 56% of the respondents were day scholars, while the rest were hostellers before the shift to online education. The most used devices by students for online studies were reported as smartphones and laptops, while desktop and tab usage was less than 10%. The respondents represented different geographic locations around Sri Lanka. In addition, we also used reflective notes of our own online education experiences in the two management faculties we work, as data. These numerous data collection methods provided us with a wealth of information, which we analysed following the thematic analysis of Braun and Clarke (2006). The students’ responses were first analysed using excel word, where we collated the answers and categorised similar answers together. Then, the lecturers’ interview transcriptions, our reflective notes, and the collated student answers were read and re-read to familiarise ourselves with the data. Next, the initial codes were identified through a careful process of sentence-by-sentence coding. These initial codes were then categorised into broader themes, which we will explain in detail in the following sections.

Online Education in Management in Sri Lanka: The Challenges and Drawbacks Interviews with the study participants (lecturers and students) and our reflections indicated mixed experiences and feelings about online education. While some perceived online education to be quite advantageous, many had now gotten tired of online education. The following statement of a student mirrored the perceptions of most of the student participants in our study. My experiences with online learning were very good at the beginning. When we were unable to attend the lectures physically amidst the fear of the spread of COVID, I thought online lectures would be an amazing option we had. But after a certain period of time, six months or one year, I started missing the lively experience of coming to university and meeting my friends. There was an array of challenges that both students and lecturers reported that influenced the effectiveness of online education. These challenges were largely similar among different universities as well as among genders, specialization areas, and the academic year of the study program of the students. We explain these many, often interlinked, challenges under three sub-themes below – structural, human-related and institutional.

Structural Challenges As our participants indicated, several structural challenges, such as poor connectivity and lack of resources, substantially impact online education. In that, poor connectivity was identified as the most serious issue the participants faced in

Online Teaching in Sri Lanka  191 online education. In fact, poor connectivity was found to be a global concern related to online education (Basuony et al. 2021; Sia and Adamu 2020). While the issue appears to be more severe in low-income countries (Basuony et al. 2021; Hayashi et al. 2020; Maqsood et al. 2021), the issue does not appear to be as severe in high-income or more technologically advanced countries (Shahrill et al. 2021). As our participants indicated, the dropped internet connection, poor audio and video quality and inability to access learning or exam material drastically impacted education’s effectiveness. Primarily, students in rural areas had weak network coverage or internet connectivity and thus suffered throughout the two years of their online learning. With increasing internet usage due to several family members working online or learning online, chances of network overload and poor connectivity were greater. In addition, with the prevailing economic crisis, power cuts were imposed around the country at different time schedules, up to 4–7 hours a day. As such, it was a challenge to engage in uninterrupted and effective online education. As one student asserted, ‘what I hate about online learning is that in recent times, we have been having power cuts, so I have been missing my lectures continuously because of the connectivity issues’. In most instances, lectures were rescheduled without prior notice due to power cuts imposed without proper planning by the electricity providers. Lecturers also find it challenging to reschedule lectures to a set time when all the students will be able to participate, as inevitably, some parts of the country (some groups of students) will have power outages. As such, many students missed participating in lectures and had to use the recorded lectures, which both the lecturers and students found ineffective. The second set of challenges is the lack of resources. How online learning can give rise to the digital divide and digital inequality is often discussed, especially related to low-income countries (Mathrani et al. 2021). In the same line of thought, our participants (students and lecturers) also mentioned numerous resource issues they faced. Breakdowns in computers/laptops specifically affected education. Hence, in such instances, students had to use other resources or depend on lecture recordings till the issue was sorted. Some stated how they had to use their smartphones for examinations when their laptops were broken, which was very difficult and affected their results. Participants also stated that when all the family members were working from home or learning online, resource sharing (laptops and connectivity) became an acute issue. With the financial crisis and import restrictions, the prices of laptops and other electronic devices had skyrocketed and purchasing laptops had become impossible for many.

Human-Related Challenges Lack of social interaction, anxiety, stress, and loss of interest was identified as critical human-related challenges of online education for the participants. According to many lecturers, they have lost their connection with students. Students generally keep their videos off due to data issues or other reasons, making it harder for lecturers to interact with students. As one lecturer stated:

192  Arosha S. Adikaram and Neelangie S. Nanayakkara I sometimes feel like I am talking to myself. When I do not see the faces of my students, I do not have that connection, I do not know whether they have understood what I have taught them, I do not see their facial expressions. Similar to previous findings (Basuony et al. 2021; Khan 2021), most of our student participants also stated how they miss in-class discussions and interactions with their peers and lecturers. This lack of interaction leads to passive learning, drastically influencing the effectiveness of education. In addition, this has also affected the interpersonal skills of students – a crucial skill required of management graduates. Anxiety and stress in online education is another challenge commonly discussed in the literature (Hayashi et al. 2020; Sia and Adamu 2020), which was also an issue found to be common among our participants. At the beginning of the transition, the anxiety and stress the students and lecturers faced were due to the unknown, as it was a novel experience for them. However, two years into online education, the anxiety and stress remained, but the reasons had changed to monotony of online education. As a student mentioned, ‘I absolutely hate it because it’s so boring and nothing goes to your head, and I really miss my friends’. Another student: ‘It is very difficult to concentrate continuously. Eyes are paining when looking at the screen continuously’. Yet another; ‘I feel tired being seated in my chair throughout the whole day with my laptop and mobile phone’. Several other students also complained of headaches from continuously looking at the screen or backaches from being seated for long hours. Some lecturers also mentioned how certain students were affected mentally due to domestic violence, having contracted COVID-19, poor economic conditions, and the country’s overall economic downfall. Similar to Khan (2021), we see how the stress and anxiety of students are exacerbated due to lack of access to suitable study areas, not knowing who or where to turn for mental health advice and support, lack of focus due to isolation, confinement, lack of direction and lower productivity. Furthermore, the economic downturn and the unrest in the country had intensified the stress and anxiety of the students and lecturers. Also, a few lecturers mentioned how students’ lack of attendance and interaction had led to their increased stress levels and their losing interest in teaching; ‘I feel so inept. Whatever I do, it does not seem to help. They [students] are increasingly becoming passive. I dread online classes. I am starting to question my ability as a lecturer. I feel like quitting’. This inevitably had made lecturers demotivated and disengaged, impacting the teaching and learning process.

Educational/Instructional Challenges The educational/instructional-related challenges the participants faced were found to be passive learning, difficulty in developing transferable skills, ineffectiveness of online examinations and difficulties in providing practical exposure. Passive learning was a central challenge for both students and lecturers. From the student’s point of view, the lack of real-life verbal and nonverbal communication as well as the lack of relationship with lecturers and other students, make them

Online Teaching in Sri Lanka  193 very passive. They mentioned how uncomfortable they were in speaking or interacting in the classroom. According to the lecturers, since the students generally keep the video off during lectures, the lecturers cannot see the students’ reactions and whether the student is actually participating, unless you call out the names of students and ask them questions. As one lecturer stated; Student participation in online lectures is dwindling, and the effectiveness of the lectures is very questionable. Even in lectures where we practice problem-solving learning, student interaction is at a minimum. One of the main causes of low participation can be associated with the availability of recorded lectures. In my view, lectures have become very monotonous and ineffective. On the one hand, it appears that the students do not participate physically in the online lectures because the lecture recordings were available, and on the other hand, even when they do, they were passive. The fact that many lecturers used a limited range of tools and exercises also made the lectures passive. Many of the lecturers we interviewed stated how they mainly used the features in the Zoom platform, such as breakout rooms, polls and whiteboard. Sometimes even that appeared to be ineffective. As one lecturer mentioned; In one of my classes, I allocated the students into breakout rooms for a group activity, and when I joined the breakout rooms to monitor and engage in discussion, I was shocked to see that until I joined the rooms, they had been absolutely quiet, without any initiation to start the group activity. And even when I attempted to get them to interact, they simply didn’t. I just gave up! Lecturers also stated how they had noticed students logging out when a question was raised, or an activity was given. The general excuse the students provided afterwards was bad connectivity or power outage. Further, while many innovative tools and methods of teaching and more frequent student interactions by asking questions and checking for clarifications can be easily done in small group online teaching, this could be difficult in a bigger classroom. Moreover, the participants also stated how difficult it was to develop students’ transferable skills (soft skills) through online education. The importance of developing transferable skills such as communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, leadership and analytical skills in management graduates is continuously highlighted by employers. While lecturers have used various methods such as case study analysis, in-class group activities and presentations to develop these skills onsite, the online mode has made it difficult for lecturers to develop these skills in students. For example, when students were requested to make verbal presentations online, they would just read from a note, looking at the screen. In such situations, the lecturers could only check verbal skills and not the other important aspects such as nonverbal body language, gestures, and stance. In fact, developing transferable skills among students was always tricky, and as Ng and Harrison (2021, 292) assert, ‘[t]he challenges of developing transferable skills can be made more

194  Arosha S. Adikaram and Neelangie S. Nanayakkara difficult with a shift to digital learning where students are isolated from both the teacher and fellow students’. Especially when the class size was bigger, developing transferable skills had become even more difficult. For example, with smaller class sizes, lecturers stated how they used breakout rooms in Zoom platforms to promote teamwork, interpersonal and leadership skills among students. However, when the class size was bigger, dividing students into breakout rooms and handling and monitoring breakout rooms were difficult. Further, students sometimes do not interact and engage in effective discussion and teamwork within breakout rooms, as mentioned earlier. As one student stated, ‘I hate breakout rooms. Because it is very hard to do activities in breakout rooms’. Moreover, while some students thought that the opportunity to chat with the lecturer through the chat option (e.g. Zoom chat) was a positive aspect of online teaching, this too appeared to affect their transferable skills. Lecturers believed that since the chat option was available, students generally preferred to use the chat and hardly spoke in class. The lecturers believed this would affect their personality, verbal communication skills, interpersonal skills, and self-confidence. The shift from onsite to online examinations also had given rise to numerous challenges. Due to connectivity issues and resource shortages, it was impossible to have real-time online examinations. Hence, the general practice of the management faculties in conducting examinations was to upload the examination papers to the learning management system, where the students would download the paper during the given time, write their answers, scan them and upload the scanned written answers to the learning management system within the given time. There were also instances where online Multiple-Choice Question examinations were held for students as summative or formative assessments. All the lecturers we interviewed thought that these particular manner of conducting online examinations were very ineffective, as it gave the opportunity for many students to engage in numerous examination misconducts. As one lecturer said, There are many instances where it was identified that students had copied in exams, even when many preventive measures have been implemented. And it is difficult to prove such malpractices. Thus, it is difficult to prevent them. There were reports of students getting together in one place to do their exams and thus discussing and copying their answers and getting outsiders to take the exam on their behalf. In fact, almost all the lecturers we interviewed had lost trust in the online assessments that were being used. Similar to prior findings (Gaur et al. 2020), the lecturers believed that the unproctored online assessments could actually encourage students toward academic misconduct or dishonesty, such as plagiarism and cheating. From the student’s point of view, the power cuts and other connectivity issues made online examinations ineffective. They also reported a few instances where the learning management system has been down during the online examination, creating mayhem. Furthermore, many students were also concerned about the

Online Teaching in Sri Lanka  195 malpractices of their colleagues, doubting the quality of the assessment and the results they got. This, in turn, affected their faith in university academic activities. Lectures also mentioned the difficulties they faced in developing examinations online. According to a lecturer: I remember I had to make 300 MCQs for Organizational Behavior for their CA [continuous assessment]. Meaning I had to think of 1,200 alternative answers. But finally, students cheated. I was emotionally drained. This happened in July 2020. Actually, I feel online assessments are a waste of time. Even when the examination was not an MCQ, lecturers found it particularly cumbersome to download so many answer sheets. Furthermore, marking scanned papers, especially when the scanned answer scripts were not clear, appeared to be very stressful for lecturers. Another drawback of online education that the lecturers mentioned was the inability to provide students with practical exposure such as field visits, factory visits, shadowing and internships. Further, a few lecturers stated that certain practical subjects would be more effective if taught onsite. As a lecturer stated: Subjects which require practical activities, such as computer-related subjects, should be offered physically at computer labs. I encountered difficulties in teaching Financial Modeling, where you instruct students to develop models, and most of the students were unable to do it real-time as most of them were using smartphones for lectures. In fact, the use of smartphones for online education by most students in state HEIs was identified as a main drawback in examinations and other online activities given during lectures. All in all, it is clear that the numerous educational/instructional as well as structural and human-related challenges discussed above force us to rethink online education in management faculties in HEIs in Sri Lanka.

Online Education in Management in Sri Lanka: The New Opportunities Amidst all these challenges, students and lecturers mentioned about a few opportunities that had arisen due to online education in management faculties. The main such opportunity was the chance that students got to gain exposure to some global management practices by listening to world-renowned speakers from different parts of the world, as well as engage in discussions with speakers from different countries. Lecturers mentioned how they could arrange online sessions with resource persons from other countries, making the learning more effective, which was possible only because of the shift to online education. Before online education, such opportunities for students to engage in synchronous teaching and learning with world-renowned speakers from other counties were scarce, as getting such speakers down for sessions would be extremely expensive, which the state HEIs that run through government funding would be unable to bear.

196  Arosha S. Adikaram and Neelangie S. Nanayakkara Online education also allowed for more industry engagement for students as it was easier to obtain the services of industry experts to share their experiences with students and mentor them. While such exposure was provided to students before online education, organising physical sessions were not always easy. Moreover, it was generally a limited set of experts that the universities could access or get the willing participation of because getting them to physically attend a session during work time was difficult. Yet, the online mode clearly addressed this issue, thus expanding the resource person base, and allowing the educators to provide more and wider industry exposure and mentorship to students. This was particularly more beneficial for rural universities that always struggled to gain the support of industry experts who were generally based in the commercial city of Colombo. According to a lecturer, online education has also provided the opportunity for management faculties to rethink how internships are carried out as part of the curriculum. With many universities situated outside the commercial city of Sri Lanka, students find it difficult to carry out their internships during the day while participating in lectures during the evenings. Hence, before the pandemic, many universities faced the challenge of students’ lack of participation in physical lectures conducted during the evenings (after general work hours). For example, as one lecturer stated, Our faculty schedules lectures from 8 am to 8 pm. Most of the evening lectures, 5 pm to 8 pm, are conducted for final-year students who come to the university after internship training. Being a university situated away from the central city, we have experienced students’ inability to attend lectures on time. There is also the issue of safety of travelling from universities to homes/boarding houses after evening lectures, especially for female students. All these issues can now be addressed as these evening lectures can be easily held online. In addition to these benefits that are more specific to management education, overall, the possibility to use the recorded lectures repeatedly was identified as a main benefit of online education, which assisted students in learning more effectively. As one student said, ‘if we miss part of a lecture or don’t understand, we can watch it again and again and understand that part and it is also helpful when making notes’. Moreover, online education was found to be advantageous, especially during the tiring economic crises where the cost of living had skyrocketed, as it allowed students to save money on travelling, food and lodging. This was particularly beneficial for students from low-income families, who feel the impact of the economic crisis more.

Conclusion: Rethinking the Management Education in State HEIs More than two years into the shift to online education, it appeared that the state HEIs were continuing the “crisis distance education”, “emergency remote teaching”, or “transitional emergency model” adopted during a pandemic into an economic crisis posing a different set of challenges. While online education was a definite answer to the pandemic for Sri Lankan HEIs, it was not the end itself, because the contexts and challenges changed in an economic crisis, requiring the

Online Teaching in Sri Lanka  197 educators to rethink online education yet again. The economic downturn has clearly brought about different trials to HEIs, creating an impasse, making both online education and onsite education challenging. The future of education needs to be more robust, well-planned, and carefully designed, whether hybrid or blended. The current economic and possible future crises need to be considered in rethinking education in the country. It is particularly discouraging to see that the management faculties of HEIs in Sri Lanka had continued to practice online education in a rather reactive emergency mode. The management faculties did not appear to have adopted many innovative practices as such, and did not seem to have moved beyond the transitional emergency model. This sentiment can be understood by the comment of one of the participants in the final-year of study, where he points out, ‘The entire teaching process needs to be compatible with online methodology. We use a conventional syllabus to teach via modern technologies, but it needs a radical change’. There clearly has been no policy or proper strategic planning on how online education can be taken forward into a hybrid mode or to a more successful mode of education by eliminating its drawbacks and making full use of the opportunities it has provided. Hence, first and foremost, it is paramount to design and implement a proper policy at the faculty level on a hybrid education mode and redesign courses and assessments with important questions being answered: What courses to do onsite, and what courses to do online (and in each case, also when)? What degree of blending between online and onsite education would be the most effective for achieving maximal student learning, including developing transferable skills? Which teaching component would be most appropriate for online, and which part would be onsite (Shahrill et al. 2021)? And how can global exposure to students be given through the exchange or sharing of online modules in collaborations with international partner universities (Shahrill et al. 2021)? The technical issues must be addressed by finding answers to the question, “What support needs to be given to students, and how?”. Ultimately, the threat of the economic crisis to education has to be immediately addressed by finding answers to the power outage and transportation issues that especially cripple online or onsite education. In that, moving beyond online education, HEIs will also need to explore alternative modes of education that would help navigate numerous crises and disruptions to education.

References Basuony, M. A., Eldeen, R.E., Farghaly, M., N. El-Bassiouny, and E. K. Mohamed. 2021. “The factors affecting student satisfaction with online education during the COVID-19 pandemic: An empirical study of an emerging Muslim country.” Journal of Islamic Marketing. https://doi.org/10.1108/jima-09-2020-0301 Braun, V., and V. Clarke. 2006, “Using thematic analysis in psychology.” Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 (2): 77–101. Burrell, G., and G. Morgan. 1979, Sociological Paradigms and Organizational Analysis. London: Heinemann.

198  Arosha S. Adikaram and Neelangie S. Nanayakkara Dahanayake, N. 2022. “Sri Lanka’s economic crisis is hurting education and students’ future prospects.”The Sunday Morning, May 7. https://www.themorning.lk/sri-lankas-economiccrisis-is-hurting-education-and-students-future-prospects/ Gaur, U., M. A. A. Majumder, B. Sa, S. Sarkar, A. Williams, and K. Singh. 2020. “Challenges and opportunities of preclinical medical education: COVID-19 crisis and beyond.” SN Comprehensive Clinical Medicine 2(11): 1992–1997. Hayashi, R., A. Maddawin, M. Garcia, and K. P. Hewagamage. 2020. Online Learning in Sri Lanka’s Higher Education Institutions during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Philiphenes: Asian Development Bank. Khan, M. A. 2021. “The impact of COVID-19 on UK higher education students: Experiences, observations and suggestions for the way forward.” Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society 21(6): 1172–1193. Maqsood, A., J. Abbas, G. Rehman, and R. Mubeen. 2021. “The paradigm shift for educational system continuance in the advent of COVID-19 pandemic: Mental health challenges and reflections.” Current Research in Behavioral Sciences 2, 100011. Mathrani, A., T. Sarvesh, and R. Umer. 2021. “Digital divide framework: Online learning in developing countries during the COVID-19 lockdown.” Globalisation, Societies and Education. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14767724.2021.1981253 Ministry of Education, 2020. “Annual school census of Sri Lanka. 2020”. https://moe.gov. lk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/School-Census-Report-2020-V3.pdf Ng, F., and J. Harrison. 2021. “Preserving transferable skills in the accounting curriculum during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Accounting Research Journal 34(3): 290–303. Qiang, Z., A. G. Obando, Y. Chen, and C. Ye. 2020. “Revisiting distance learning resources for undergraduate research and lab activities during COVID-19 pandemic.” Journal of Chemical Education 97(9): 3446–3449. Sengupta, E., and P. Blessinger. 2022. “Introduction to Innovative Approaches in Pedagogy for Higher Education Classrooms.” In Innovative Approaches in Pedagogy for Higher Education Classrooms (Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning, Vol. 42), Edited by E. Sengupta and P. Blessinger, 3–9. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited, https://doi. org/10.1108/S2055-364120220000042001 Shahrill, M., M. I. Petra, L. Naing, J. Yacob, J. H. Santos, and A. B. A. Aziz. 2021. “New norms and opportunities from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in a higher education setting: Perspectives from University Brunei Darussalam.” International Journal of Educational Management 35 (3): 700–712. Sia, J.K., and A. A. Adamu. 2020. “Facing the unknown: Pandemic and higher education in Malaysia.” Asian Education and Development Studies 10(2): 263–275. Sunasee, R. 2020. “Challenges of teaching organic chemistry during COVID-19 pandemic at a primarily undergraduate institution.” Journal of Chemical Education 97(9): 3176–3181. University Statistics, 2020. “Sri Lanka University Statistics 2020.” https://ugc.ac.lk/index. php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2301%3Asri-lanka-university-statistics2020&catid=55%3Areports&Itemid=42&lang=en University Grants Commission. 2020/2021. “Admission to undergraduate courses of the universities in Sri Lanka” https://www.ugc.ac.lk/downloads/admissions/Handbook_ 2020_21/HANDBOOK_ENGLISH.pdf Varvara, G., S. Bernardi, S. Bianchi, B. Sinjari, and M. Piattelli. 2021. “Dental education challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic period in Italy: Undergraduate student feedback, future perspectives, and the needs of teaching strategies for professional development.” In Healthcare. Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 9(4): 454. https://doi. org/10.3390/healthcare9040454

14 School Practicum Experience in Initial Teacher Education during Times of Disruptions The Case of Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka Mythili Ramchand, Meera Chandran, Reeta Rai and Manjula Vithanapathirana Introduction: School Practicum and Disruptions School practicum is crucial in an initial teacher education programme. It is envisaged as the space where prospective teachers are able to forge better connections between theory and practice they learn in the programme, through scaffolded reflections on the school experiences mentored by teacher educators and schoolteachers. Designing such experiences is a complex endeavour involving multiple stakeholders and modalities. Hence, disruptions such as the one caused by the COVID-19 pandemic affect this component of teacher preparation the most. The teaching practice component had to be recast in keeping with the virtual engagement with schools at a time when physical engagement between teachers and students across institutions had all but ceased. Such an abrupt shift to a virtual mode created an initial shock and raised concerns about equity of provisioning amidst prevalent uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (La Velle et al. 2020). In several countries in the Global North, the initial shock gave way to ‘pedagogic agility’, belying its image of being resistant to change, and adapting quickly the sector took advantage of the digital environment (Ellis et al. 2020; Kidd and Murray 2020; Scull et al. 2020). Online modalities presented opportunities to redesign the ‘pandemic practicum’ by reconceptualising the preservice teaching triad of the student teacher, school mentor and university instructor (Burns et al. 2020). Disruption to formal education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is viewed as a catalyst to foster learning societies and build resilience (Lim-Lange 2020; UN 2020). The need for flexibility and the notion of learning societies also gain ground as a means of fostering resilience (Alexander 2001; Lim-Lange 2020; Ra et al. 2021). Flexible learning and teaching indicate a range of approaches that can meet the varied needs of diverse learners. An effective learning society is one that engenders flexibility and learning that can help institutions and individuals successfully deal with disruptions and build resilience (Ra et al. 2021). Affordances of online modalities are, however, predicated on the accessibility of virtual classroom spaces, which in turn depend on schools’ ability to smoothly transition to an online mode of functioning. Online learning, in many contexts, accentuated social and cultural complexities, curricular issues, institutional DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688-18

200  Mythili Ramchand et al. partnerships as well as knowledge, and skills in ICT. Teacher Education sector is historically prone to inequities due to its low ranking among higher education choices (Sayed and Sarangapani 2020). Experiences recorded from the sector in the Global South indicate the need to temper the enthusiasm of online affordances for complex student learning experiences such as the practicum (Moyo 2020). Problems posed by large class sizes, cultural and language issues come into play even more sharply in the virtual space (Moorhouse 2020). In this chapter, we examine disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in teacher education across three South Asian countries, viz., Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka. Using a comparative education lens, we explore practitioners’ accounts of disruptions during the ‘pandemic practicum’ to identify if and how resilience is fostered at the level of systems, institutions and individuals. To do so, we use the categories of learning societies, flexibility, and pedagogic agility to study the contexts in which adaptations and innovations were possible; and examine issues pertaining to the complex dimensions of teacher preparation. Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka were chosen for comparison as they offer a set of continuities and contrasts in the region. On the one hand, they share common socio-cultural histories within the Indian sub-continent, and on the other represent a range in terms of economy, diversity in population, political dispensation and education provisioning. India is an emerging economy in the world and represents the majority of the world’s education system in terms of size, diversity of provisioning in terms of the types of schools, outreach and quality. Sri Lanka shares both the colonial legacy and a longer historical-political connection with India and has its unique set of issues and solutions arising from long-term conflicts, political exegesis and international relations. Bhutan offers a contrasting picture with a small population and a more cohesive society, and a modern education system initially borrowed from India. The three countries were struggling with equitable provisioning and quality education even before the pandemic (Singal et al. 2019). The pandemic exacerbated issues of inclusion in the region (World Bank 2020). The global exigencies of education for all and the need for inclusive education systems, ongoing radical educational reforms, economic transformation and the disruptions caused by the pandemic offer a rich canvas to understand how the region can foster resilience in light of current inequities and future uncertainties. Historically, the three countries have valued formal systems of education (Dukpa 2016, Akshara and Sarukkai 2020). The modern teacher education system is a colonial legacy in India and Sri Lanka whereas Bhutan had initially borrowed from India and later from countries of the Global North. The global influence in the formulation of education policies is also evident. However, the political economies and contexts of practice are different (Ramchand 2020). So, while all three countries are attempting large-scale reforms in school and teacher education to ensure inclusive education for all children, the nature and impact of these reforms have varied. The global COVID-19 pandemic that erupted in the region around February 2020 had a debilitating effect on lives and livelihoods. It has been disruptive for education in all three countries affecting children from traditionally disadvantaged and marginalised communities the most (Azevedo et al. 2021). With the schools in the three

School Practicum Experience in Initial Teacher Education  201 countries remaining closed for more than a year (much longer than the global average), educators have had to cope in multiple ways in order to continue to support learning of student teachers virtually or otherwise in challenging and difficult circumstances (UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank 2020). Even as COVID-19-related issues appear similar across the three countries, systemic responses and support are different. Currently, all three countries are struggling with equitable provisioning and ensuring inclusive education and have initiated reforms in teacher education to improve the quality of teaching. The measures include a move towards consecutive model for preparing secondary school teachers in the case of Bhutan (MOE Bhutan 2020), a concurrent model in the case of India (which traditionally has stand-alone B.Ed. colleges) (MOE India 2020), and specialised programmes for subject teachers through private provisioning in Sri Lanka (Vithanapathirana 2019), where the state finances the education of teachers in public schools (NEC 2016). There is also a move to set professional standards for teachers in India and Sri Lanka while Bhutan has already formulated standards for teachers and teaching in the country (CETE 2022, MOE Bhutan 2020). The pandemic has increased the challenges and hurdles faced in reforming the education system. The cut in education budgets of India and Sri Lanka has further compromised the reform efforts (World Bank 2020). School teaching practicum/internship is a compulsory component of the teaching education programs of all three countries (Ramchand 2020). During the pandemic, neither the university (in the case of Bhutan) nor the regulatory authority (in the case of India and Sri Lanka) issued any directive on how to manage this component when schools were struggling to function virtually (UNICEF and UNESCO 2021). While the scope of the chapter does not allow us to expand on the larger systemic issues, the case of pandemic practicum from a comparative perspective will offer an understanding of one small but crucial component of the teacher education sector. We argue that unexpected changes such as virtual teaching during the pandemic may have forced practitioners to adapt and even innovate new practices, but these practices must be supported and sustained systemically in a manner that helps build resilience among institutions, educators and learners to help transcend rather than reinforce inequities, after the disruptions. The next section provides the conceptual framework for a comparative analysis of teacher educators’ experiences of the pandemic practicum in Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka. The third section analyses the responses of teacher educators in Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka to an interview that was conducted virtually, in terms of systemic and individual resilience to move beyond the pandemic. The chapter concludes with a brief exploration of the potential and possibilities for reforming teaching practicum to prepare teachers to become resilient to face uncertainties that may arise due to unforeseen disruptions.

Conceptual Framework and Research Methodology Disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic expose structural inequities in tertiary education in terms of variability of access across rural/urban contexts, public/ private provisioning, class and social-cultural divides. It, therefore, becomes

202  Mythili Ramchand et al. imperative to address the question of fostering resilience in institutions and individuals in tackling uncertainties raised by disruptions to formal education caused by natural calamities and human conflicts (Dohaney et al. 2020, Cohan and Honigsfeld 2017). The conceptual framework for this paper draws from a Global South comparative education perspective, distinct from the developmental, colonial logic of agencies of the Global North, tied to investments and predetermined outcomes (Sarangapani 2011; Takayama et al. 2017; Batra 2019). Such a framework accommodates the re-examination of western delivery models of education that drive educational reform agendas and global policy borrowings (Broadfoot 2000). Disruptions caused by the global pandemic present a unique opportunity to interrogate global exigencies of education for all, in the context of ongoing radical educational reforms and socio-economic transformations to conceptualise inclusive education systems while fostering resilience under current inequities and future uncertainties. We interviewed teacher educators in the three countries to understand the impact of the pandemic on the school practicum component of teacher education and the measures they have taken to provide learning experiences to their students. The interviews were conducted between November 2020 and February 2021. Each interview lasted 45–60 minutes and was conducted either by the authors or by researchers after due orientation to the interview process and the purpose of the study. All the interviews were in English. They were held over Zoom and recorded with the respondents’ permission. The anonymised transcriptions were used to analyse the themes, through an iterative process of consensus among the researchers (Creswell 2003). The interview participants were teacher educators purposively selected based on their availability and willingness to give time for the interviews. All respondents were teacher educators teaching in colleges of education/departments of education in universities/government ministries preparing teachers for secondary schools. Their profile is given below. Four teacher educators from Samtse College of Education, which trains secondary school teachers, were interviewed. For anonymity, participants in the study were coded as Bhutan Teacher Educators (BTE1, BTE2, BTE3 and BTE4). All are master’s degree holders. Three of them are men and one is a woman. The data of seven teacher educators interviewed in India are reported here. Five of them are women and all of them are from private teacher education institutions. Of the two men, one is from the Government Department of Education, and one from the department of education of a central university. Except for one teacher educator (from the Government Department) who had a master’s degree, the remaining had a PhD. The teacher educators were from the states of Chhattisgarh from central India, Maharashtra from the West, Meghalaya and West Bengal from East, Delhi and Punjab from North, and Karnataka from South. In Sri Lanka, four teacher educators were interviewed from three National Colleges of Education and one university. The two teacher educators from Colleges of Education were master’s degree holders while the university-based teacher educators had PhD. The sample included one male teacher educator and three female teacher educators.

School Practicum Experience in Initial Teacher Education  203

The ‘Pandemic Practicum’: Opportunities and Challenges to Develop Resilience A comparison across the three country contexts highlights the extent to which the three neighbouring countries are capable of engendering resilience within their education system, teacher education systems and teacher educators. Secondary literature in the form of reports on the status of education both pre-COVID-19 period and during the disruption caused by the pandemic are analysed. Secondary literature is supplemented by the interview data. Quotes from teacher educators in Bhutan and Sri Lanka are indicated by BTE (all four teacher educators are from the same college as there is only one college that prepares secondary school teachers and is named BTE 1, 2, 3 and 4), SLTE (teacher educators in the sample were either from the University Department of Education or National College of Education) respectively, while the names of states are indicated for those from India. The effect of the pandemic on the school practicum component of teacher education was similar across the three country contexts as were many of the issues faced by the teacher educators. Some of the challenges were also unique as were the responses of the teacher educators. In the discussion below, the constructs of pedagogic agility, learning societies and flexibility are used to analyse to what extent the teacher education system, institutions and individuals are resilient to disruptions as seen in the context of the pandemic practicum. Challenges Faced by the Teacher Educators The issue of access was a challenge in all three countries. Since student teachers were mostly female and from poor economic conditions, most could not afford smartphones or computing devices and internet connectivity was an issue, especially in rural parts. It disrupted the educational system because all students did not have access to educational technology such as laptops and mobile phones, and Bhutan’s data charges are high. (BTE1) Ours is a remote institute, access is problematic, and our students don’t have internet connections. We personally know our students, are aware of their problems, have connections with the community, move to online mode was unprepared and served as barrier for remote institutions as ours. (TE from West Bengal) Teaching as a profession is not given due respect and recognition, it is also highly gendered and class based. Teacher education, therefore, has to struggle more during the pandemic […] only 2 out of 52 (students I teach) have laptops at home. (TE from Delhi)

204  Mythili Ramchand et al. Girls are expected to do domestic work. They also have to depend on (their) father or brother to recharge (their mobile data) which challenges their time on task. (TE from Punjab) In Sri Lanka, the main challenges faced in the unexpected and sudden shift to online teaching were poor connectivity and power outages in many parts of the country. Although the faculty planned to implement synchronous teaching, when the suggestion was discussed (with the student teachers) they hesitated to comply with the proposal to teach online in a synchronous mode mainly due to two reasons; not having a computer in their possession, poor internet connectivity enabling a consistent communication channel to conduct a complete lesson. (SLTE from University) Fatigue and anxiety were again common issues across teacher educators: Managing home and children with work is leading to a lot of stress. (BTE 2) As far as my work goes there is no start or no end time now. (TE from Chhattisgarh) The space between private and public got disrupted due to pandemic. (TE from Delhi) The government is extending the lockdown one week by one week… the ad hoc basis of the lockdown is causing a lot of problems. (TE from Karnataka) Little systemic support was an issue faced primarily in India: Students faced problems with data storage of the vast content they receive every day – PDF files, notes and videos, for each class, from each subject. Faculty pooled money to buy mobile phones for student teachers who could not afford one. (TE from Punjab) Faculty of private institutions in India reported pay cuts since management faced difficulty in collecting tuition fees from student teachers. Some of the faculty were also not sure how long they could retain their job, in these circumstances. Pedagogic Agility of Teacher Educators Teacher educators reported measures they or the institutions took to address the challenges and support their students. In Bhutan, the teacher education colleges

School Practicum Experience in Initial Teacher Education  205 took the initiative to ensure that teacher educators were trained and upskilled in the use of technology to carry out online teaching and enhance students’ learning. Teacher educators from Karnataka, Delhi and Sri Lanka reported having set up social media groups with student teachers, school children they were engaging with during internship, and their parents for academic and emotional support. Others reported to creating buddy systems, peer group support, and small group tutorials for student teachers (TEs from Punjab, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Sri Lanka): I created WhatsApp groups with my interns, students and their parents. Some of the interns did exceptional work - they created virtual labs, designed differentiated worksheets, and uploaded differentiated materials on WhatsApp. (TE from Delhi) For lesson planning and day-to-day assistance (schoolteacher) mentors and (university) teachers of pedagogy were there always to handhold and guide them for personal care and professional skills through small group tutorials. (TE from West Bengal) There was minimal use of technology within the classroom by student trainees, however, the pandemic forced everyone to integrate technology within the teaching practice with peer group support, which is helpful for the (school) students too. (SLTE from NCoE) One teacher educator from a Sri Lankan university reported having tried out online micro-teaching/simulated teaching, maintaining a portfolio of lesson plans, teaching-learning materials, peer feedback reports, self-reflections, and recorded Zoom lessons of micro-teaching to keep track of practice teaching. Shift in another teacher educator’s perceptions of the use of new media is indicated in this response: Before the pandemic we discouraged student chat across social media during sessions or during teaching practicum due to disturbances and loss of attention to task. It is amazing that we, as teacher educators, form WhatsApp groups for communication for academic purposes, and ask all students to be alert to WhatsApp group messages continuously as links for Zoom sessions, material for classes, quick messages etc. to enable the academic participation of sessions. We now prefer WhatsApp messaging over email communications. (SLTE from NCoE) All teacher educators we interviewed across the three countries believed that despite the advantages offered by technology, school internship/practicum experience must be face-to-face: (I am) Not in support of blended learning for internships, personal contacts goes amiss, I believe my students are all great learners and learning takes place throughout life, I myself have been able to pick up well on courses that I took

206  Mythili Ramchand et al. online during the pandemic, the students will also be presented with such learning opportunities throughout their lives. Internships though should not be conducted through online modes, there are other ways of inducting students for learning about the integration of technology into teaching practice. (TE from Delhi) Internships are however a practical component and best done through offline mode, by the physical presence within the classroom. Action Research component also an integral part of the internship, which could not be undertaken by the students. (SLTE from NCoE) A teacher educator from Chhattisgarh had encouraged her students to form neighbourhood learning centres which she said benefitted both her and her students rather than going through the motions of a virtual internship. Teacher educators from Maharashtra (1), Karnataka (1) and Sri Lanka (2) reported their institutions conducted online yoga sessions, and mental and emotional wellbeing sessions through invited talks. All four reported that the participation of both student teachers and faculty for these sessions has been quite high. The two teacher educators from India and one from Sri Lanka also reported having organised online cultural activities and entertainment programs that saw the enthusiastic participation of student teachers and faculty. Our college organized online yoga and several workshops on health management and wellbeing. (TE from Maharashtra) Blessings for wellbeing is customary in Sri Lanka during a period of disaster. Everyone was glad that multi-religious blessings programme took place online to make a change in psychological wellbeing. (SLTE from University) Trainees are used to organizing a range of entertainment activities during their study period in the university. However, due to closure they were feeling isolated and burdened with the studies by themselves in various parts of the country and therefore the academics of the faculty organised the logistics of the variety show where students and staff were encouraged to submit the recorded song, dance or drama episode etc. Student and staff feedback was very positive for the programme. (SLTE from University) The extent to which individual and institutional responses to challenges is facilitated through the systems in the form of providing flexibility and support as learning societies is analysed in the following two sub-sections.

School Practicum Experience in Initial Teacher Education  207 Flexibility during School Practicum In Bhutan, the university regulates its own ITE program, including internships, but is governed by the overall directives of the tertiary education board. Teacher educators who were interviewed believe that to prepare future teachers to deal with unforeseen disruptions such as the recent pandemic, the areas of focus or priority should be upscaling their ICT-integrated pedagogic skills rather than the content enhancement: ICT-enhanced pedagogy will support the effective delivery of concepts and the achievement of students’ learning objectives. (BTE2) The abrupt transition from face-to-face to online teaching may not have done justice to the quality of teaching and learning. As a result, in addition to regular curricula, all programs should develop alternative curricula to be used in the event of such unexpected disruptions. (BTE4) In India, initial teacher education is regulated by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). During the pandemic, the NCTE expected teacher educators to complete the curriculum including the mandatory school internship. Assessments were also online, and faculty pointed out that many students had difficulties in uploading their assignments on the learning management system due to connectivity issues or a lack of technological skills. The present curriculum is worst designed for the online medium, we need to filter essentials from the non-essentials. The [curriculum] followed by institutions such as IGNOU (the National Open University in India which has been offering high quality online programs for decades) can serve as learning points. (TE from West Bengal) I feel we are just doing [what is expected of us] but it is not real teaching. (TE from Meghalaya) In Sri Lanka, the National Institute of Education (NIE) regulates teacher education. During the pandemic, all institutions of teacher education in the country offered the component of practice teaching virtually. But they also expressed difficulties in conducting the practice teaching component virtually: Only the big schools had called for online education, not all student teachers were able to complete their internships, and very few teachers were sent to remote schools due to internet access and connectivity issues. (SLTE, NCoE)

208  Mythili Ramchand et al. Teacher educators from the two faculties of education in the universities shared an intervention that is being implemented in Sri Lanka by the European Union co-funded capacity development project (CONTESSA, nd). Although not initiated as a response to the pandemic, the ongoing development of the technologyintegrated primary teacher capacity development program was considered as a blessing to face the post-pandemic situation. Systemic flexibility was unavailable to institutions and educators as noted by teacher educators from India and Sri Lanka and to a limited extent in Bhutan. Responses ranged from despondency and impossibility of a virtual school practicum experience to seeing an opportunity to enhance digital skills among prospective teachers. Readiness as Learning Societies Bhutan had a well-established monastic system of education for centuries before setting up modern schools based on an Indo-Western model in the 1960s. The country transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a democratic constitutional monarchy in 2008. The same year the Constitution adopted mandated free education from pre-primary to Grade 10 (ADB 2014; MOE Bhutan 2018). While the country has made significant progress in the last six decades in terms of access to education, issues of quality and equity remain (MOE Bhutan 2018). During the pandemic, as directed by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO Bhutan 2020), all schools and educational institutes throughout the country were closed down in March 2020. Although Bhutan had only one imported COVID positive case at the time (BBS 2020) and the situation was under control at home, the global situation was alarming, and the government’s decision to close schools and institutions was a precautionary measure. As a result, transitioning to online classes without any training was a difficult and unique experience for both educators and students (Department of Education and Literacy, MoE India 2020). In India, the right to free and compulsory education for children aged 6 to 14 was legalised in 2009. But there has been an exponential rise in private schools over the past three decades and inequities in provisioning have since been exacerbated (Nambissan 2014). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the closure of all schools following the nationwide lockdown in March 2020 pushed teachers to transition to online classes. While posing challenges to teachers who were not adept with technology or lacked access, in many instances the school closure also demonstrated their commitment towards students as they found ways to equip themselves against odds and sought local solutions to ensure inclusion (UNESCO 2021). Universities transitioned to online teaching during the pandemic, as did the teacher education institutions, with many of them also attempting to provide school practicum experience virtually. The NCTE advised all Teacher Educational Institutes not to insist on payment of fees by student teachers considering ‘the COVID-19 crisis’. Considering that the majority of teacher education institutions in the country are private and depend on students’ fees for their operations, NCTE notified that ‘all TEIs are advised to take a lenient view on payment of salary and other benefits to employees’ (NCTE 2020: 3). This ‘lenient’ view had a disastrous consequence on teacher educators, many of whom were laid off or took a 50% cut in their salaries. In terms of resources, national platforms like Swayam and NPTEL

School Practicum Experience in Initial Teacher Education  209 have large-scale offerings including MOOCs, which were available for students in higher education, including teacher education, but the number of students with digital access is small and without formal structure and guidelines it is not clear to what extent even this small numbers benefitted (World Bank 2020). In Sri Lanka, education across levels is free of charge with a small number of fee-levying private schools. The literacy rate of 98.7% is the highest in South Asia (MoE Sri Lanka 2018). With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, after several months of non-action and complete closure, the sessions of teacher education programmes gradually started through synchronous and asynchronous online sessions. Teacher educators and student teachers were provided with basic training by each institution on the Zoom platform and through the usage of various internet tools for teaching and learning. To mitigate the effects of disrupted learning, higher education institutions utilised existing Moodle-based learning management systems under university web servers. The Lanka Education and Research Network (LEARN) was connected to university web servers and used for online education (Hayashi et al. 2020). UNESCO (2013) defines a learning society as one where inclusive, relevant learning of a high quality occurs through all modalities – formal, nonformal, and informal – for all communities, both rural and urban, including disadvantaged and poor communities. The region has traditionally valued learning and prior to the imposition of colonial education (in the case of India and Sri Lanka) and move towards a ‘modern’ education (in the case of Bhutan), had vibrant community-based nonformal and informal education systems alongside formal education (Akshara and Sarukkai 2020), even if they were not inclusive and equitable as we understand them now. The current education system in all three countries, while considerably improving access and literacy rates through formal education, is as yet far from fostering a learning society with good quality and relevant education for all. Resilience: Opportunities Offered by the ‘Pandemic Practicum’ Teacher educators saw the sudden shift to the virtual mode as an opportunity that forced them to quickly adapt to the use of ICT. All of them reported that their institutions had organised workshops to orient them to the use of digital resources and learning management systems (LMS): The pandemic provided educators with the opportunity to learn and improve their ICT teaching and learning tools, while students also had the opportunity to explore the latest educational multimedia tools and software. (BTE2) Students helped us with use of technology. (TE from Mumbai) We joined courses and took the faculty development program and learnt the use of digital resources, use of LMS. (TE from Punjab)

210  Mythili Ramchand et al. Online teaching practice, although not as effective as school-based teaching practice, is a good solution to meet the new situation arising from the pandemic. All components of teaching practicum cannot be practised or evaluated in an online mode. But I am surprised at the rate both teacher educators and trainees picked -up the online work and saw its positive aspects. (SLTE, NCoE) Teacher educators in Sri Lanka also pointed out that none of them experienced a negative perception for online teaching practicum from their student teachers. Amid all the chaos and fear, all four teacher educators in Bhutan reported being able to accommodate themselves in the new mode of virtual education and discovered themselves to be now more resilient to such abrupt changes in the system. Four of the seven teacher educators from India found networking and collaboration among themselves to be enriching. The cohort of teacher educators we interacted with, despite their personal hardships, had proactively taken measures to ensure their student teachers obtained a meaningful school practicum experience, to the extent possible. These included providing peer support and tutorials through social media groups (primarily WhatsApp), organising virtual yoga and wellness sessions, holding cultural activities and entertainment virtually, collaborating among teacher educators from other institutions and supporting the setting up of neighbourhood learning centres for school children. Political exigencies and cultural practices appear to be supportive of building resilience in Bhutanese institutions and educators, even while policies were ad hoc. In India and Sri Lanka, regulations are more rigid, and the entrenched structures allow for lesser scope for flexibility. Nevertheless, some individuals and institutions were able to be resilient and attempt to address the challenges to the extent possible within their ambit of influence. However, they will remain as fire-fighting measures and temporary unless the larger system evolves as a learning system and policies provide greater flexibility to institutions and individuals. The pandemic practicum threw up unexpected challenges for teacher educators and institutions. Teacher educators, we had interviewed, reported to have taken up some ad hoc but contextual solutions to address them. Going beyond the pandemic, how can teacher education and its crucial school practicum component be strengthened? Can teacher education institutions and teacher educators be more resilient and better prepared to address challenges? What are some of the lessons that can be learnt from the comparative analysis of the pandemic practicum across three countries? The next section attempts to address these questions. The Post-Pandemic Imperative: Implications for School Practicum and Internship Teacher education has been recognised as an important sector in all three countries, which had initiated reform efforts in the sector, over the past decade. Concomitantly, teacher educators have been marginalised by centralised curriculum design and subjected to increasingly intrusive accountability measures (Sayed and Sarangapani 2020). The disruptions caused by the pandemic have brought to

School Practicum Experience in Initial Teacher Education  211 the fore the importance of teacher educators’ adaptive experience and understanding of their contexts to respond to local challenges. Institutions and educators currently have little autonomy in all three countries with centralised decision-making and regulations regarding curriculum design and delivery. It is therefore imperative that teacher educators are taken in as partners in the reform process. Individual teacher educators and institutions have shown agility during the disruption caused by the pandemic and the sudden shift to online classes, as is indicated in other studies during this period (Ellis et al. 2020). Though the state/ institutes provided some support in the form of training and making available digital resources in all three countries, transitioning was difficult for most teacher educators. More handholding and support structures along with academic communities of practice is needed to ensure teacher educators are effective in the post-pandemic period. Informal collaborations and networks that have been forged during the pandemic need to be nurtured and allowed to continue post-pandemic. These would help provide potentially safe spaces for teacher educators to share innovative ideas and practices, solicit suggestions for academic problems and design school practicum experiences that are contextually relevant for their students and neighbourhood schools. Parents and community support for the practicum experience that some teacher educators reported having established through social media networks can be institutionalised through school networking. Also, if teacher educators are to function optimally, systemic support is needed to address issues related to fatigue, and anxiety and in the case of India, uncertainty regarding their jobs to be urgently addressed. Regional cooperation and cross-border understanding of school practicum design and practices would be helpful. Such comparative perspectives will enable a more nuanced understanding of one’s own practice and appreciate commonalities and differences across country contexts in the challenges faced and ways of addressing them. Documentation of good practices and sharing them across neighbouring countries will also enable teacher educators to gain more visibility and strengthen their professional identities.

Conclusion There is evidence that the teacher education sector adapted quickly to the virtual, online modality during the shutdown of face-to-face teaching during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The adaptability of the sector has been notable given its reputation for conservatism. However, the underlying historical, structural and cultural inequities compounded with material conditions have severely impacted the quality of learning overall, but specifically the critical component of the internship. Teacher educators interviewed for this chapter from the three countries, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka reveal the numerous challenges they faced ranging from lack of access to devices and connectivity needed to engage with the practicum component online, lack of systemic support and fears regarding their own and their students’ wellbeing and ability to cope. Additionally, teacher educators in India faced anxiety due to pay cuts and job losses.

212  Mythili Ramchand et al. Teacher educators from all three countries noted the absence of policy directives or its ad hoc approach during the lockdown, quite in contrast with the centralised and highly regulated responses before the pandemic. Their narratives on conducting the practicum in the virtual mode show that sectoral responses to the challenges were mostly initiatives of individuals and institutions, who showed resilience in meeting the sudden disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Teacher educator agency, evident in their practices during the pandemic, must be recognised and supported through curriculum and policy for comprehensive reform of the sector towards inclusive education. The sector has to be flexible to foster resilience among the institutions and practitioners of teacher education and help accelerate countries in the region become learning societies.

References ADB. (2014). Three Decades of Development Partnership Royal Government of Bhutan and Asian Development Bank. Manila, Philippines: Asian Development Bank. Akshara, K. V., and Sarukkai, S. (2020). Indigenous education practices: An introduction. In Sarangapani, Padma M., Pappu, Rekha (Ed.), Handbook of Education Systems in South Asia. Singapore: Springer Major Reference Work. Alexander, R (2001) Border Crossings: Towards a comparative pedagogy. Comparative Education, 37(4), 507–523. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050060120091292 Azevedo, J. P., Hasan, A., Goldemberg, D., Geven, K., and Iqbal, S. A. (2021). Simulating the potential impacts of COVID-19 school closures on schooling and learning outcomes: A set of global estimates. The World Bank Research Observer, 36(1), 1–40. Batra, P. (2019). Comparative education in South Asia: Contribution, contestation, and possibilities. In Wolhuter, C. C., Wiseman, A. W. (Eds.), Comparative and International Education: Survey of an Infinite Field (Vol. 36, pp. 183–211). UK: Emerald Publishers. Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS). (2020). Bhutan reports first COVID-19 case. Friday, March 6, 2020. http://www.bbs.bt/news/?p=129299 Broadfoot, P. (2000). Comparative education for the 21st century: Retrospect and prospect. Comparative Education, 36(3), 357–371. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3099623 Burns, A., Danyluk, P., Kapoyannis, T., & Kendrick, A. (2020). Leading the Pandemic Practicum: One Teacher Education Response to the COVID-19 Crisis. International Journal of E-Learning & Distance Education / Revue Internationale Du E-Learning Et La Formation à Distance, 35(2). https://www.ijede.ca/index.php/jde/article/view/1173 Centre of Excellence in Teacher Education (2022). Professional Standards Setting Body for Teachers and Teaching: A White Paper. Mumbai: Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Cohan, A., and Honigsfeld, A. (2017). Students with interrupted formal education (SIFEs): Actionable practices. NABE Journal of Research and Practice, 8(1):166–175. https://doi.org /10.1080/26390043.2017.12067802 CONTESSA (n.d.). Contemporary teaching skills for South Asia. https://contessa-project.eu/ Creswell, J.W. (2003). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Department of Education and Literacy, MoE India (2020). India Report Digital Education: Remote learning initiatives across India. New Delhi: Government of India. Dohaney, J., de Rόiste, M., Salmon, R., Sutherland, K. (2020). Benefits, barriers, and incentives for improved resilience to disruption in university teaching. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101691

School Practicum Experience in Initial Teacher Education  213 Dukpa, Z. (2016). The history and development of monastic education in Bhutan. Education in the Asia-Pacific Region, 36, 39–55. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1649-3_3 Ellis, V., Steadman, S & Mao, Q (2020). ‘Come to a screeching halt’: Can change in teacher education during the COVID-19 pandemic be seen as innovation? European Journal of Teacher Education, 43(4), 559–572. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2020.1821186 Hayashi, R., Garcia, M., Maddawin, A. and Hewagamage, K.P. (2020). Online learning in Sri Lanka’s higher education institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, ADB briefs No.151 September 2020, http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/BRF200260-2 Kidd, W., & Murray, J. (2020). The Covid-19 pandemic and its effects on teacher education in England: how teacher educators moved practicum learning online. European Journal of Teacher Education, 43(4), 542–558. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2020.1820480 La Velle, L., Newman, S., Montgomery, C., and Hyatt, D. (2020). Initial teacher education in England and the Covid-19 pandemic: Challenges and opportunities, Journal of Education for Teaching, 46(4), 596–608. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2020.1803051 Lim-Lange, C. (2020). Commentary: COVID-19’s education revolution – where going digital is just half the battle, April 19. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/com mentary/covid-19-coronavirus-education-digital-revolution-transformation-12650974 Ministry of Education, MOE Bhutan. (2018). National Education Policy. Draft. Thimpu: Royal Government of Bhutan. Ministry of Education, MOE Bhutan. (2020). Bhutan Professional Standards for Teachers. Thimpu: Royal Government of Bhutan. Ministry of Education, MOE India. (2020). National Education Policy. New Delhi: Government of India. Ministry of Education, MOE Sri Lanka. (2018). School census report 2017. Colombo: Government of Sri Lanka. Moorhouse, B. L. (2020). Adaptations to a face-to-face initial teacher education course ‘forced’ online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Education for Teaching, 46(4), 609–611. Moyo, N. (2020). Covid- 19 and the future of practicum in teacher education in Zimbabwe: Rethinking the ‘new normal’ in quality assurance for teacher certification. Journal of  Education for Teaching, 46(4), 536–545. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2020. 1802702 Nambissan, G (2014). Poverty, Markets and Elementary Education in India. In Working Papers of the Max Weber Foundation’s Transnational Research Group India. https://www.ghil. ac.uk/fileadmin/redaktion/dokumente/trg_india/Paper_3_Geetha_Nambissan.pdf NCTE. (2020). Guidelines to Teacher Education Institution (TEIs) to cope up with COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis. New Delhi: National Council for Teacher Education. https://ncte.gov. in/WebAdminFiles/RecentAnnouncement/0_20_08_2020_637335320672297662.pdf National Education Commission (2016). Study on the Professional Development of Teachers and Teacher Education in Sri Lanka. Research Series No. 02. Colombo: National Education Commission. Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Bhutan (2020). Prime Minister’s Office - PMO, Bhutan Posts | Facebook. Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Retrieved September 16, 2021, from https://www.facebook.com/PMOBhutan/posts/update-all-schools-and-educational-institutesacross-the-country-will-remain-clo/2776746812438004/ Ra, S., Maclean, R., and Jagannathan, S (Eds) (2021). Powering a Learning Society During an Age of Disruption. Singapore; Springer. Ramchand, M. (2020). Learning to teach: Initial teacher education in South Asia. In Sarangapani, Padma M., Pappu, Rekha (Ed.), Handbook of Education Systems in South Asia. Singapore: Springer Major Reference Work.

214  Mythili Ramchand et al. Sarangapani, P. M. (2011). Soft Disciplines and Hard Battles. Contemporary Education Dialogue, 8(1), 67–84. https://doi.org/10.1177/097318491000800104 Sayed, Y., and Sarangapani, P. M. (2020). Understanding teachers and teacher education in South Asia. In Sarangapani, P. M., Pappu, R. (Eds.), Handbook of Education Systems in South Asia. Singapore: Springer Major Reference Work. Scull, J., Phillips, M., Sharma, U & Garnier, K (2020). Innovations in teacher education at the time of COVID19: an Australian perspective. Journal of Education for Teaching, 46(4), 497–506. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2020.1802701 Singal, N., P. Lynch, and S. Taneja Johansson. (2019). Education and Disability in the Global South. New Perspectives from Africa and Asia. London: Bloomsbury Academic. Takayama, K., Sriprakash, A., and Connell, R. (2017). Toward a postcolonial comparative and international education. Comparative Education Review, 61(S1), S1–S24. https://doi. org/10.1086/690455 UNESCO (2013). Key Features of Learning Cities. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. http://uil.unesco.org/lifelong-learning/learning-cities/key-featureslearning-cities UNESCO. (2021). No Teacher No Class. Status on Education Report India. New Delhi: UNESCO. UNICEF & UNESCO (2021). Situation analysis on the effects of and responses to COVID19 on the education sector in South Asia. https://www.unicef.org/rosa/reports/ situation-analysis-effects-and-responses-covid-19-education-sector-asia United Nations (UN). (2020). Policy briefing: Education during COVID-19 and beyond. https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/sg_policy_brief_covid-19_and_education_ august_2020.pdf Vithanapathirana, M. V. (2019). Towards reforming teacher education: concerns and priorities, Twenty ninth J. E. Jayasuriya Memorial Oration 14th February 2019. World Bank (2020). The COVID-19 Pandemic. Shocks to Education and Policy Responses. Washington, DC: World Bank https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/ 33696)

Conclusion Lessons from South Asia Uma Pradhan

This volume is anchored in the central premise that crises open multiple temporalities that combine the urgency of unprecedented situations as well as the endurance of long-neglected inequalities. The COVID-19 pandemic presented similarly unique and constantly changing moments of simultaneous ruptures that interacted with existing contexts, as seen in many crisis contexts (Gotham and Greenberg, 2014). This volume presents 14 chapters that explore the issue of the COVID-19 pandemic and education in the distinct socio-political contexts of five countries in South Asia. Many chapters in this volume started as a paper presented in an online conference titled, ‘Education in Crisis: Rethinking Education in (Post)-Pandemic South Asia’ organised in July 2021 at the University of Oxford, UK. This initial project was joined by many other scholars who through their research insights contributed to thinking more deeply about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education. All of us entered this book project with different theoretical orientations, research methods, disciplinary perspectives, and regionally varying experiences of COVID-19. Despite these differences, our objective in this volume is to explore the ways in which the pandemic shaped education practices and systems in South Asia by drawing on empirical research in one or more of the countries discussed herein. There are significant particularities in each country, but the case studies and their research frameworks also illuminate the general dynamics between new problems arising in the crisis and enduring structural inequalities in these countries. This multiplicity of approaches has proven to be an asset for understanding the complexity wrought by a global crisis as it informs us about educational futures that are intimately linked with social justice. The volume, thus, engages with social science responses to the crisis through various conceptual lenses, especially as it relates to education. This volume decidedly takes the South Asia region as its empirical site. The pandemic gave rise to shifting configurations of both the problems faced as well as innovations proposed in many countries around the world, including in South Asia. Despite being bound by country cases, this volume tries to make three distinct ways to reflect on South Asia: as a context to understand the impact of the pandemic on education, as a site of learning from the pandemic, and to explore the possibility for exchange of ideas on innovations made during the pandemic. In a sense, then, this book builds on the way the pandemic manifested through socio-political contexts of country cases while also attempting to draw lessons for/ from the region of South Asia. It tries to explore an emergence of learning spaces DOI: 10.4324/9781003332688-19

216  Uma Pradhan that unsettle existing national sensibilities and open up more cross-national imaginations. We hope that this book is timely and topical, in providing an interdisciplinary perspective on both opportunities and challenges posed by the pandemic on education in South Asia.

South Asia as a Context The chapters utilise the specific context of South Asia as a key reference point to reveal a larger story about the contemporary dynamics of the crisis. We invited scholars studying different South Asian countries to join this project. Each of them was asked to centre the issue of the pandemic as a ‘crisis’ in relation to education, as it was experienced in these particular locations in South Asia. Organising the chapters around individual countries has provoked some generative insights into deep rifts and multiple experiences that exist across South Asia. The objective, of this volume, is not necessarily to find similarities and differences through the comparative description. Instead, we have attempted to situate and explain local events within the broader historical, socio-economic, and cultural conditions that shape education systems. The specific country cases, therefore, provide a meaningful context to make sense of not just uniqueness, but also plurality in experiences of the pandemic, across these locations. What we present here is a range of standpoints, specific experiences, and distinct perspectives on education. In doing so, each chapter identifies the locally specific particularities of the research context and the ways in which it interacts with the broader features of the pandemic that affected the world. Situating these local-national-global dynamics at the heart of analysis, chapters in this volume explore the South Asian region as a context to understand the patterns of differentiated experiences, its interaction with existing education inequalities, and a range of different ways in which the pandemic was governed. South Asia faces an array of educational challenges, ranging from unstable education infrastructures to enduring educational inequalities. The region is home to the world’s largest number of out-of-school children and many local educational initiatives have not yet resulted in significant gains for the education system in South Asia. What we present is a consideration of historically contingent events, forms of political intervention, and socio-spatial dynamics while contextualising and analysing the impact of the pandemic on education. South Asia has long occupied academic imagination in social sciences. This volume explores how the socio-political, geographical, and cultural specificity of South Asia may help us to make sense of our shared history and contemporary experiences. Taking inspiration from Chen’s (2010) framework of “Asia as method”, we pay close attention to South Asian countries’ experiences and interventions not only to help us to expand our perspectives but also to allow the political contexts to become one another’s reference points for learning. Power and politics have a material impact on how people perceive risk and vulnerabilities. The colonial past of much of South Asia and its diverse political systems have left an uneven landscape that affects the present ability to understand the exposures to and ways to mitigate crises. This volume draws on and contributes to this broad field of area studies by centring on how experiences of crises are embedded within

Conclusion  217 longer histories of systemic vulnerabilities. Seeking to go beyond simplistic dichotomies between local and global, the volume explores if the commonality of the geographic locations is likely to animate issues of common concern across the nation-state borders within South Asia.

South Asia as a Site of Learning Given the complex context of South Asia, there is much scope to learn from each other’s experiences regarding how the pandemic has manifested itself through different socio-political contexts. The project expands on the current understanding of South Asia as an analytical category and its usefulness in thinking through the government and institutional responses of various South Asian countries and how it can enable us to reimagine the future of education. The chapters in this volume explore issues ranging from primary education to higher education, from training for employment to music entrepreneurship, and from education for the poor to private education, and in doing so, present the far-reaching consequences of the pandemic in education. Their analysis points towards the need to rethink strategies that address what led to this crisis as we look ahead towards long-term recovery in all aspects of life. Crucially, the crisis could open up a productive space and make visible possibilities for new social and pedagogical practices. Even while the pandemic may no longer be the immediate crisis in many countries in South Asia, the pandemic has significantly altered the functioning of education systems. The urgency and immediacy of the crisis could provide a productive space and formative power for developing shared visions for the educational future. The chapters in this volume present insightful analyses of – the idea and practice of learning (Section I), experiences of education inequalities (Section II), and challenges and opportunities offered by new education technologies (Section III). Here, we use crises as ‘focusing events’ that bring new issues to the political agenda (Birkland, 2006). All these sections utilise crisis as a fruitful space to ‘rethink’ and bring together potential lessons for other contexts as well. The chapters in this volume also show that the enduring socio-economic inequalities within the region could provide insights into the existing inequalities that may manifest in new forms or become more visible due to a sudden rupture in everyday routine. While the school closures posed apparently new problems during the pandemic, these new issues were exacerbated by the existing inequalities, resulting in differential impact on different social groups. These case studies from South Asia caution against the inequalities and violence entrenched in the existing education systems. The visibility offered by crisis could serve as an opportunity to build on the collective experience of crisis, and imagine a way to build education futures that is more just and equitable.

South Asia and the Possibility of Knowledge Exchange Crises are not new to South Asia, but their frequency and severity have increased recently, especially as it interacts with deep-rooted structural vulnerabilities in the region. This increasing accumulation of crisis has revealed the fragility of existing

218  Uma Pradhan systems, including education, and its unpreparedness to face uncertainties. This makes it imperative to have an open, critical discussion on the region’s education systems. This book is a call to reconfigure our intellectual horizons and create a platform that brings together insights from multiple national contexts, disciplines and backgrounds. The contributors, in this volume, seek new ways to reimagine education within the broader patterns of damage, loss, and recovery from the ongoing pandemic. While the chapters highlight national responses, they also open up the need to understand cross-national possibilities based on the similarities and differences in the crisis experience. These collective insights can lead to sharing of solutions and even resources and pedagogical interventions to navigate emergencies such as the pandemic, in the future. In envisioning the possibility of a space for knowledge exchange and collaboration, we approach South Asia as an opportunity for understanding the connections, boundaries and limitations within area-based knowledge production. By bringing these chapters together in one volume, we hope to start a dialogue within an area that is marked by different cultures, political conflicts and economic disparities. The contributors examine issues related to new intellectual possibilities within this geographic space where knowledge sharing is not limited by the geopolitical boundaries, despite the apparent static regional imaginary. This volume addresses this by bringing together the lessons learnt and reflecting on the road ahead while also acknowledging the region’s current temporal location, in which the pandemic may no longer be the greatest threat to many depending on their geographical, social and economic position.

Conclusion Both crises and post-crisis periods are experienced in the moments of rupture that are historically and contextually contingent. This volume acknowledges these ever-evolving dynamics of crisis by paying close attention to the locally specific regional context of South Asia. Through a set of 14 chapters that provide an account of a range of research on education and the pandemic, it reiterates the need to learn from national experiences and their lessons for global contexts. The editors of this volume would like to thank all the contributors for their efforts and patience in bringing it together. We hope that it will be useful for academics, postgraduate students, practitioners and policymakers interested in education, South Asia, and international development.

References Birkland, T. A. (2006). Lessons of Disaster: Policy Change After Catastrophic Events. Washington DC Georgetown University Press. Chen, Kuan-hsing (2010). Asia as Method: Toward Deimperialization. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Gotham, K. F., & Greenberg, M. (2014). Crisis Cities: Disaster and Redevelopment in New York and New Orleans. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Index

Page numbers in Bold indicate tables. academic abilities, loss of 6; children’ 20; learning loss as 19–20, 22, 24 Accelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development 5 access 89, 90, 91, 92, 94, 96, 97, 98, 99, 103 adaptation 68, 74, 79, 81, 117, 200 administration 9, 83, 112–113, 131 Afghan Research and Education and Education Network (AfgREN) 5 Amarnath Land row agitation (2008) 102 Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER) 16 anxiety 17, 21, 23, 62, 67–68, 79, 94, 103, 152, 191, 192 apprenticeship: Folk Lok programme 46, 53; during the global pandemic 50–52; musical 7, 38; Taḥnani Dāphā Khalaḥ (TDK) 7, 45–57 Arm Force Special Power Act (AFSPA, 1958) 102, 118 Article 35A 105 Article 370: abrogation of (August 2019) 102, 104–107, 109, 111–112; J&K state special provisions under 105 assessments 16, 20–22, 26, 77, 83, 84, 174, 182, 188–189, 194–195, 197, 207 asynchronous learning 96 audio conferencing 187 Azim Premji Foundation 19, 22, 98 Bangladesh 161, 178, 180–181; COVID-­19 pandemic in 2; education transformations in 4 Bangladesh Research and Education Network (BdREN) 5 Below Poverty Line (BPL) population 118 Bhutan: Bhutan Teacher Educators 202; COVID-­19 pandemic 2

Bildung 161, 169 blended 75, 76, 83–84; learning 75, 181, 182, 188, 205; professional 76 build back better 9, 26 (Re)build Back better 26 Burhan Wani encounter (2016) 102, 109 Business Line (2020) 113 capacity building 77 Central Board of Secondary Education 91 Centre for Writing and Pedagogy (CWP) 59–60 circumstances 3, 75, 84, 137, 154, 173, 201, 204 Cisco WebEx 162 classes 76, 80, 89–99 common school system 89–90 Community Classes/Schooling 113 community schools 90 components 82, 106, 147 conflict management 118 conflicts, Arcadia’s approach to 94 consonance/dissonance, in India 159–170; complexities 165–167; contours, to education 169–170; educational institutions 159; emergency remote learning 160–162; learning communities 167–169; methodology 162–163; overview of 159–160; systemic apathy/institutional ­disengagement 163–165 Contemporary Teaching Skills for South Asia (CONTESSA) 77 content 76, 79, 81–82 counselling classes 70 coverage 81, 118, 191 COVID-­19 pandemic 39, 142, 146–154, 173, 174, 176, 177; Delta variant 1; education, during crisis 2–4;

220 Index ­education in India 15; outbreak of 1; restrictions 109 crisis 74–75, 84; as context 31; in context of COVID-­19 75; in education 59, 104–105; fund 154; life during 75; potential future 74; psychological phenomenon 75; theory 75; time 159, 161, 162, 163–165, 167–169 Crisis and new beginning: Contributions to a pedagogical anthropology (1987) 162 Critical Narrative Analysis (CNA) 34 critical pedagogy 7, 82–84 curriculum/curricular/curricula 74, 76, 78, 81–82, 83, 84, 169, 174 Curriculum of Plague, The (2021) 162 Dāphā: Sacred Singing in a South Asian City 49 decolonisation 47, 54 Decolonizing Methodologies (1999) 47 deficit, in Indian education: academic abilities, loss of 19–20; convenience, discourse of 22–24; crises/power of statistics 16–17; economic losses 21–22; learning loss 15, 18; learning, seeing/ assembling 18; science/society, co-­production of 17–18; time, to reimagine 24–27 Dehradun school 92, 96–98 Delhi University Act (1922) 65 delivery 74, 77, 81, 84 development 76, 77, 83 digital 74–76, 78; access 96, 117, 121, 125–126, 209; content creators 106; divide 5, 8, 9, 64, 90, 98, 110–111, 117–119, 120, 123, 126, 159, 166, 170, 176, 191; skills 181–182 Digital Divide Gap Framework 176 Digital India 118, 121 DIKSHA app 121 disadvantaged communities 200 dissonance 9, 159–170; among the learning community 162; among the teacher-­ trainees in a study-­abroad programme 160; in digital education 10; in field of higher education 160; in learning among the learners 159; remote learning 160–162; transient sense of 168; in understanding of education in crises 163 distance education: during COVID-­19 pandemic 74; crisis 9, 186, 196; online 187 distance learning 175–176; during covid-­19 pandemic 96–98; low-­tech asynchronous modes of 96

District Information System for Education (DISE) data 131 Disturbed Area Act 102 double lockdown, in Kashmir 4, 7, 10, 102–114 Early Childhood Education (ECE) 140 earthquake, in Nepal (2015) 4, 30, 49 economic crisis, in Sri Lanka 74, 186–187, 191, 196; impact on education 140, 197; online teaching and 186–187; post-­pandemic 10, 74, 186–187; transitional emergency model 196 Economic Times, The 22–23, 90 e‑curfew 104, 111 EdTech programs 181–182 education 45–46, 48–50, 56–57, 74–84; during COVID-­19 pandemic 2–4; “hysteresis” effect 75; marginalised learners see marginalised learners, in India; technologies of 8–10; transformations see education transformations, in South Asia educational experience 6, 54, 109, 175 educational reforms 22, 26, 153–154, 161, 200, 202 education delivery, modes of 10, 183 Education in Crisis: Rethinking Education in (Post)-Pandemic South Asia (2021) 60, 215 education inequalities 7–8, 96, 98, 216–217 education, in Nepal: COVID-­19 lockdown 30; labour migrants 30; ‘learning loss,’ discourse of 30, 34–37; in pandemic 33–34; pandemic-­related school closures 37–40; schooling, learning loss 31–33 education transformations, in South Asia: during COVID-­19 pandemic 4–5; in-­person learning 5; school closures 4; social, political and economic inequalities 5; students’ participation in formal schooling 5 education within crisis/state of exception 104–105 e-­learning 5, 26, 76, 79, 84n2, 117–126; in COVID-­19 pandemic 117; in India 119; national portal for 76; student data packages 76; via mobile phone 123 embodied 45, 47, 160 Emergency Remote Education (ERE) 77 Emergency Remote Learning (ERL) 159, 160–162; habitual learning practice 168; infrastructural facilities, lack of

Index  221 166; learner-­initiated endeavours 167; learning experiences 167; programme 9; reality of learning 165; teaching-­ learning practices 165 emergency remote online teaching and learning 74 emergency remote teaching 9, 186, 196 Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World (Arturo Escobar) 24 English-­medium education 93, 95 English-­medium schools 91, 92 epistolary interviews 33 Equated Monthly Instalment (EMI) 123 E-­school 76, 79 E-­Thaksalawa (E-­school) 76, 79 ethnography 33 exclusionary decision-­making processes 153 face 74, 76, 78, 79, 81–83 Facebook pages 120 federalism 45, 49, 53, 118, 174, 177 Financial Modeling 195 Folk Lok programme 46–47, 50–54 foreign 82, 174, 186 formal schooling 5–7, 37, 39, 75, 89 foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) 23–25 Gallup survey 67, 178 Gap, The: Access and Awareness 177–179; Pedagogical Digital Skills and Preparedness 181–182; usage 179–181 gender based exploitation 142 Global North 183, 199–200, 202 Global South 132, 173, 175, 183, 200, 202 GMeet 168 Google: Classroom 152; Meet mode 81, 168; Suite 162 government school 76, 78, 80, 81, 82, 89 Greater Kashmir (2021) 113 gross domestic product (GDP) 17–18, 21–24 GSMA study 5 hegemony 7, 31–32, 36, 40 higher education 7, 9, 79, 84, 103, 106, 108, 140, 159–160, 187, 189, 209 higher education institutes (HEIs) 4, 186; online education 188, 189; Sri Lanka 189, 196 Hindu Business Line, The (2021) 113 hybrid approach 98 “hysteresis” effect in education 75

ICT-­enhanced pedagogy 207 ‘ICUBE 2020’ report on Internet Adoption in India 62 identity 121, 132–133, 136, 138, 140, 141 implementation 77, 78, 81–83, 89–96, 118, 176 India 131–142, 159–170; consonance/ dissonance see consonance/dissonance, in India; COVID-­19 pandemic 2; education see Indian education; learning loss 15; marginalised learners see marginalised learners, in India; National Education Commission of 1964–1966 see Kothari Commission; neighbourhood schools see neighbourhood schools, in post-­ pandemic India; RTE Act 89 Indian education: deficit see deficit, in Indian education; educational technology 23; foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) 24 Indian School Certificate Examinations 92 Indigenous 56–57 Indraprastha College for Women 66 informal group, WhatsApp-­based 167 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) 76–80, 82, 83; basic 76; communication and teaching 82; communication based on 82; competence 82; in-­education 77; integration of 76; knowledge/skills 78; skills 77, 78, 80; teacher training programmes 78, 83 Information Technology (IT) Park 133 Instagram 168 Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS) 103 Institutional School Teachers’ Union (ISTU) 149 integration 89, 90, 92–96, 121, 206 intergenerational 32, 47, 51, 78, 81, 82 International Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) 106 international school 78, 81, 82 Internet: 2G 110, 113; ban/e-­curfew 104, 105, 107; curfews 8; social media 105; users of 63 Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) 62 Internet-­Express 111 internet infrastructure 10, 62–64, 71, 118 Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) 160, 162

222 Index interviews 39; epistolary 33; face-­to-­face in-­depth 79, 111, 133; in-­person 107; with international schoolteachers 81; semi-­structured 91; on teacher’s experience 79, 83; telephone 78 Islamabad Capital Territory 180 Jammu and Kashmir (J&K): divided into union territories 105; home-­outside boundaries 102; Muslim population in 108; Public Safety Act (1978) 102; suspension of Internet access 105, 121; union territory of 105; see also Kashmir conflict JK Knowledge Network (JKKN) 111 Kashmir conflict 102–114; Armed Forces Special Power Act (1990) 102; challenges, in education 108; conflict/ pandemic 111–113; course completion 108–110; digital divide/internet siege 110–111; Disturbed Area Act 102; double lockdown 102, 105–106; education vs. education within crisis/ state of exception areas 104–105; home-­outside boundaries 102; J&K Public Safety Act (1978) 102; methodology 106–108; official working days 103; positive initiatives, by community 113–114 Kashmir Mental Health Survey (2015) 103 Kashmir Reader, 2020 113 Kashmir students 106 knowledge 45–57 Kothari Commission 89–90, 97 labour market 21, 38, 132, 141–142 Ladakh, union territory of 105 Lanka Education and Research Network (LEARN) 188, 209 learners, marginalised 117–118, 122 learning 74–79, 81–83, 89–92, 96–98; communities 167–169; COVID-­19 pandemic, loss in India 15; crisis 16, 24; distance 175–176; e-­learning see e-­learning; emergency remote 160–162; learners’ experiences of 160; loss 15, 30, 34–37; passive 192; schooling, loss 31–33; seeing/ assembling 18 Learning Adjusted Years of Schooling (LAYS) 21 learning communities 9, 161, 162, 167–169, 170

learning losses 18, 19, 23; conceptualizations of 20; COVID-­19 21; crisis in India 16; criticisms of 24; decades of progress 35; deficit, in Indian education 18; definitions of 31; discourse of 34–37; education, in Nepal 34–37; ideas of education 31; learning/ schooling 31–33; linguistic learning loss 20; pandemic crisis 31; proclaim objectivity/influence policy 32; summer learning loss 20 Learning Management Software (LMS) 76, 162, 209 learning platforms 5, 83, 120, 123, 176 learning space 7, 54, 56, 72, 126, 159, 165–167, 215 lessons 82, 83 literacy 35–38, 41n2, 75–78, 118, 119, 122 lived realities 67, 103, 164, 165 low-­cost private (LCP) schools 8, 131–142, 143n1, 132, 174; compensation/ benefits 138; cost-­effectiveness, neo-­liberal logic of 141; female teacher 135; loss of income of teachers 141; low-­paying job 135; neo-­liberal teacher 136; profit-­driven ethos 139; salary/ increments 133; teachers 133; women-­ dominated workplaces 136 low-­income households 173 Machil encounter (2010) 102 management education 187, 188, 189, 196–197 marginalised learners, in India: dabbling, with digital world 123–126; digital deprivation 120–121; digital divide 117–119; digital refugees 122–123; education crisis 117; e-­learning-­for-­all 117; site/methodology 119–120; tribal children 117 massive open online courses (MOOCs) 112 mass promotion 103, 104, 114 Medecins Sans Frontieres(MSF) 103 Microsoft: Forms 148; Teams 80–81, 162 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 134 Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) 34, 36 Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MoFEPT) 181 Ministry of Panchayati Raj 117 ‘mohalla’ (neighbourhood) schools 90, 96–98 Mongolian National Television 176 multifaceted digital divide 84

Index  223 multi-­modal framework 181 Multiple-­Choice Question 194 music 7, 54 Muslim population, in Kashmir Valley 108 Mustang district (Nepal), during COVID crisis 38 National Capital Region (NCR) 66 National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) 207 National Council of Educational Research and Training’s (NCERT) Learning Outcomes 20 National Education Policy (2020) 90, 92 National Education Technology Plan (2016) 176 National Institute of Education (NIE) 76, 131, 207 National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) 131 National Knowledge Commission 90 National Sample Survey (NSS) 118 National Teacher’s Award 2020 114 neighbourhood schools, in post-­pandemic India 89–99; distance learning, during covid-­19 pandemic 96–98; fieldwork, for study 91–92; Kothari Commission’s vision of 89–90, 97; Right to Education (RTE) Act of 2009 89; section 12(1)(c) implementation 92–96; WhatsApp 90 neo-­liberal era 140 neoliberalism 131–133, 147–148; education systems 151; as political-­economic ideology 147; school systems 149 neo-­liberal policies 132–133 Nepal: COVID-­19 pandemic 2; earthquake of 2015 4; education see education, in Nepal; Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) 34; Pokhara 34; private school teachers see private school teachers, in Nepal; rural populations 37 Nepal Education Cluster (NEC) 33 Newa settlements (Nepal): Kathmandu Valley 57n2; people in Kirtipur 48, 53; socio-­cultural makeup of 45 NITI Aayog (2018) 118 non-­institutionalised learning 31, 38 OECD report (2020) 22, 75 online 74–84 online education 5, 186–193, 195–196, 207, 209; challenges/drawbacks 190; higher education in Sri Lanka 9

online learning 89, 91, 96–98, 199; management systems 187 online teaching, in Sri Lanka 74–80; anxiety/ stress 191, 192; assessment practical exposure 192, 195; challenges/drawbacks 190; connectivity 188, 190, 193, 194, 203, 204, 207; COVID pandemic 113; economic crisis 186–187; educational/ instructional-­related challenges 192–195; faculties of management 186; higher education institutes 187–189; human-­ related challenges 191–192; hybrid mode 186; learning strategies 78; management education 188–189, 196–197; methodology 189–190; new opportunities 195–196; overview of 186–187; passive learning 192; resources 187, 188, 190, 191, 194, 195, 196; social interaction 191; soft skills 193; structural challenges 190–191 On My Mind report (2021) 66, 69, 70 on/offline classroom: care, pedagogies of 68–69; educational institutions to COVID-­19 pandemic 59; faceless screen 61–62; home/hostel 64–66; Indian internet infrastructure 62–64; mental health/disability 66–68; online education 71, 72; sharing 69–71; teacher–student relationship 69–71; “Writing and Oral Communication” (WOC) 59–60 onsite education model 9–10, 76, 81, 186–188, 193, 195, 197 open secret 114 Open University of Sri Lanka 77, 187 outcomes, learning 81, 174 outreach schools 93, 99 Pakistan: COVID-­19 pandemic 2; Education and Research Network (PERN) 5; National Education Response and Resilience Plan (K-­12) 174; Taleem Ghar 9 pandemic 103–105, 107–109, 111–113, 117–127, 159–170 pandemic practicum 199, 200 pandemic-­related school closures 37–40 paying-­guest accommodations 65 pedagogy 82–84 pellet guns 102 phantasmagrams 17, 22 phenomenology 159–170 platforms 2, 5, 10, 19, 46, 47, 50, 56, 74, 77, 83, 84, 112, 119, 162, 168, 173, 176–179, 189, 194, 208

224 Index policy discourse 30–31 policy-­making, public education 16 political-­economic process 146 Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) 103 PowerPoint presentations 63 Pratham NGO 20 precarious labour 141 preparedness 74–84 presence, of family members 166 pre-­service/in-­service 76, 77, 80, 83 Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) 208 private school 146–154 private school teachers, in Nepal: economic effects, of pandemic 148–150; low institutional support 151–154; methodology 148; neo-­ liberalism, in education 147–148; overview of 146; psychological effects 150–151; teacher wellbeing 147–148 privatization 16; digital deprivation 120–121; in Indian education 16 professional development 76, 77 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 173 Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals 35 Public Safety Act (PSA, 1978) 102, 104 Pulwama attack (2019) 102 Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board 179 Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) 179 QS I-­Gauge report (2020) 63 quality 76, 77, 82, 84 questionnaire 77, 78, 163, 190 regional cooperation 211 remote 74–77, 80, 96, 111, 113, 119 remote teaching: adapting to 173; emergency 9, 186, 196; use of Zoom and WhatsApp in 80 respondents: basic profile of 107; educational status 109 right to education 7–8, 89, 122 Right to Education (RTE) Act (2009) 89, 90, 122, 134 Roy, Arundhati 16, 25 rural 19, 35, 37, 63, 78–79, 91–92, 97, 113, 119–120, 179 salary 124, 132, 133–135, 148–150 sample 77–79, 80, 83, 91 Samtse College of Education 202 Satori Centre for the Arts (SCA) 46

Scheduled Caste students 66 Scheduled Tribe students 66 school 74–83, 84n2 School Children’s Online and Offline Learning (SCHOOL) survey 96 school closures, pandemic-­related 37–40 school education 4, 16, 24–25, 74, 132 schooling, learning loss 30–32, 31–33, 34 school management committee (SMC) 149, 150 school practicum design 211 school practicum/disruptions: conceptual framework/research methodology 201–202; flexibility 207–208; opportunities/challenges, to resilience development 203; overview of 199–201; pandemic practicum, resilience 209–210; post-­pandemic imperative 210–211; readiness, as learning societies 208–209; teacher educators, challenges 203–204; teacher educators, pedagogic agility of 204–206 School Sector Development Plan (SSDP) 153 SCHOOL survey 98 school teaching practicum/internship 201 segregation 89–99 self-­complexity theory 68 semi-­urban 78, 79, 84n2 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) 161; coronavirus (SARS-­ CoV-­2) 1 smartphones 174; buying via credit systems 123; during lockdown 79 SMS 96 Snapchat 168 social: connectedness 83; emotional learning 25; identity 75; inequalities 77 social interaction, lack of 191 social media 105, 107, 177; groups 210; influencers 106 Society for Unaided Private Schools of Rajasthan v Union of India & Another 2012 92 socio-­economic transformations 202 Software Freedom Law Centre, India (SFLC.in) 104 South Asia 161, 166, 170, 180, 216–217; earnings, loss of 21; education transformations, during COVID-­19 pandemic 4–5; knowledge exchange 217–218; learning 6–7, 217; post-­ pandemic, possibilities/challenges 2, 5–6

Index  225 Sri Lanka: COVID-­19 pandemic 2; economic crisis in see economic crisis, in Sri Lanka; ‘General Education’ 74; online teaching see online teaching, in Sri Lanka; Postgraduate Diploma in Education program 80; teacher preparedness see teacher preparedness, in post-­pandemic Sri Lanka; University of Colombo/Open University 77 State of the World’s Children 2021, The 67 stress 191, 192 Student Accessible Resource and Learning App (SARLA) 111 student-­centred teaching 83 Students’ Federation of India (SFI) 65 Student Tenants’ Union Delhi (STUD) 66 sustainable development goals (SDGs) 35 SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) 5 synchronous 59, 83, 89, 90, 93, 96, 97, 98, 162, 164, 165, 189, 195, 204, 209 system 45, 46, 48, 50, 51, 54, 55, 56, 57 systemic apathy 9, 163–165 Taaleem Ghar 181; app 9, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180; programmes 175 Taḥnani Dāphā Khalaḥ (TDK) 45–57; adapting/transforming/mobilizing 54; apprenticeship programme 45; apprenticeship programme, during global pandemic 50–52; dāphā music 54; digital online platforms 56; education, from Indigenous perspectives 56–57; Folk Lok 53, 54; Indigenous knowledge systems 46–48, 57n1; Kirtipur by 2019 50; learning/knowing, within Indigenous context 52–56; lockdowns, in Nepal 51; reviving Indigenous education 48–50; traditional music apprenticeship 7 teacher 74–84; development 76, 77, 83 teacher development/teacher education 75, 83 teacher education 9, 75–78, 83, 188, 210; in Bhutan 204; components of 201–203; educational literature on 141; implications for school practicum and internship 210–211; need to reform 75; quality of 76; responsibility of 76; shortcomings in 77; in Sri Lanka 76; structural improvement in 142 Teacher Education sector 200 teacher hiring policy 153–154 teacher preparedness, in post-­pandemic Sri Lanka: critical teacher pedagogy 82–84;

curriculum content, inability to cover 81–82; economic crisis 74; General Education 74; need to reform teacher education 75; online teaching 75–78; research questions 78–79; school education 74; study, methodological outline of 78–79; technostress 79–81 teacher–student relationship: care and sharing in 69–71; power imbalance in 70 teacher wellbeing 8, 146–148, 150, 151, 153, 154 teaching 74–83; “low-­cost-­no cost” method of 113; teaching and learning 74–76, 79, 82, 83, 117, 153, 173, 176, 189, 192, 195 Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (1994) 68 technologies 74–77, 79, 80 technology-­enabled learning 75 technostress 79–81 Telangana All Private Teachers Association 141 telelearning 175–180 TeleSchool 9, 174, 176, 177 tele schooling: access/awareness gap 177–179; distance learning 175–176; opportunities/challenges 173; overview of 173–175; pedagogical digital skills 181–182; preparedness gap 181–182; research aims/methodology/conceptual framework 176–177; Teleschool/Taleem Ghar 177; usage gap 179–181 Teleschool programme 174–182, 178, 180, 182 temporality 75 tiered engagement 181 Tourist Reception Centre (TRC): in Srinagar 111 trainees 76, 77, 80 training 76, 78, 79, 80–83; Information and Communication Technology (ICT) 83; teacher 78 transient dissonance 160, 162, 165, 166, 167 transitional emergency model 9, 186, 196, 197 transmission 35, 47, 55, 159, 178 Ukraine, Russian invasion of 30 uncertain/ uncertainties 74, 75, 77, 78, 79, 82, 103; among teachers 79; high degree of uncertainty 75; needs in 78 UNDP Youth Strategy (2014–2017) 106 UNICEF report 1, 26, 36, 66; on the mental health of adolescents 66;

226 Index On My Mind (2021) 66; State of the World’s Children 2021, The (2021) 67 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO): declaration on the primary goal of education 26, 36, 161; Report of 2021 131 University Grants Commission (UGC) 65, 187 urban 2, 19, 63, 78, 79, 96, 118, 123, 132, 170, 178, 209 video conferencing 90, 96–97, 162, 187 Video Lecture Repository 111 virtual: awareness 83; learning 5, 8, 24, 81, 83; live presence 81; teaching 9, 147, 201 Wani, Burhan 109 WhatsApp 90, 96, 107, 123, 124, 168, 205, 210; informal group 167; in remote teaching 80; for teaching– learning 77 WiFi 164, 174, 183 Wire, The 111 WISE APP 113 Woessmann, Ludger 22 women teachers 131–142; crying in front of their students 136; dual labour 137–138; heightened precarity during the pandemic 140–141; with high education levels 135; at LCP schools 135–137, 142; in low-­cost private schools see women teachers, in low-­cost

private schools; meeting their family’s demands 134; neo-­liberal time for 136; qualifications of 135; remuneration compared to men teachers 134; salary of 134, 141; sexual comments hurled at 136; societal and family pressure 134; teacher identity in neoliberalism 132–133 women teachers, in low-­cost private schools: diminished value, as teacher 138–140; dual labour 137–138; heightened precarity 140–141; methods/field site 133; overview of 131–132; teacher identity, in neoliberalism 132–133; unequal pay/ teacher mortification 133–136 World Bank 4, 18, 21; Global Jobs Indicators Database 21 World Health Organisation (WHO) 1 Writing and Oral Communication (WOC) 59–60 youth 103, 106 YouTube channels 120, 152, 180 Zoom 47, 80, 81, 83, 107, 152, 189, 209; awareness sessions 81; chat 194; classes 110; facilities in 83; fatigue 67; features of 80; lessons of micro-­teaching 205; platform 193, 194; promoted 80; in remote teaching 80; in Sri Lanka 80; subscribed to 80; use of 80 Zoom classroom 59, 61; crisis in education 59; hand-­raise function 62