Empowerment Through Education

Tamil Nadu has an education policy that is in line with the historical legacy, the present situation and future aspirations of the State. Its efficacy flows from its commitment to improve access, equity, and quality of education. It has a method to address issues related to on-field implementation of policy, understanding learning outcomes and employmentready skills.

- Anitha Pottamkulam

When M. K Stalin took over as Chief Minister in early May 2021 the impact of the COVID pandemic was acute in the school education sector. The schools were already closed for around 16 months and the severity of the learning gaps stared in the face of students, teachers and the school authorities. It was a source of deep anxiety for parents. The impact of the closure was particularly acute and disempowering for students from the government schools. Learning through the online channels or through smartphones still excluded several children.

To design a response, the Tamil Nadu government turned to history's lessons. One such was Arivoli Iyakkam, the adult literacy campaign launched in the 1990s. The campaign was multipronged - it used empowered volunteers, street theatre with songs and powerful messaging, deep fieldwork and conversations and events in informal spaces. This was bound together with a strong collaborative spirit between the various layers of the political leadership, the administration and civil society.

A field study titled 'Loss of Learning during the Pandemic' by the Azim Premji University in January 2021 on the situation in India said "The loss for the students involved both loss of curricular learning and 'forgetting'- which has been described as ' abilities that children have forgotten due to lack of usage." The report highlighted the challenges of students moving to more complex subjects once the schools opened without a strong base and the long term impact of such regression.