ActionAid Association and Slum Mahila Sanghatane organized a public hearing on the impact of Covid-19 on Children’s Education on the 22nd of March at SCM House Bangalore.
Download Report of Jury on the Public Hearing
COVID has had a terrible impact on every aspect of life, as we all know. The sufferings of the underprivileged because of COVID and the efforts taken to combat the infection are self-evident. The humankind has witnessed an unprecedented tragedy of the century. Loss of loved ones, lost livelihood prospects for historically marginalized groups, increased child maltreatment, loss of learning due to school shutdown for 20 months, increased child marriage, child trafficking, and child malnutrition are just a few of the difficulties that vulnerable communities experienced.
According to the ‘State of Working India 2021– One Year of Covid-19,‘ a study conducted by Azim Premji University, roughly 230 million additional individuals are now below the minimum wage poverty line, primarily due to economic shocks. The current economic crisis is having a negative impact on children’s education.
The public hearing was an attempt to hear children’s, parents’, and community leaders’ perspectives on a unique educational catastrophe affecting the marginalized.
These cases were heard by an empowered jury panel, which will make recommendations to restore the right to education of children from disadvantaged populations. The cases covered following issues:
- Denial to children learning
- Children forced to drop out of school due to a lack of funds to pay for private school fees.
- Children are out of school because they have not received a Transfer Certificate (TC) from a private school.
- The hardships of the marginalized children who are unable to afford online education.
- Once again, children are the inevitable forces of child labor.
Parents, children, and representatives from the organisation spoke on the topics mentioned above and many could not contain their sorrow. Ms. Kavitha Ratna – Director, Research, Advocacy, and Communication Division, The Concerned Working for Children Bangalore; Mr. Gurumurthy Kasinathan – National Coalition on the Education Emergency and Adv. Vinay. K Srinivasa – Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore were members of the jury.
Please find the case studies presented at the hearing here
List of Participants is here
Please find the report from the Jury here