How did the JNVs, Eklavya Schools handle education during COVID-19?

NEW DELHI: The pandemic meant a major setback to residential government schools that had to embrace online teaching but had many children without devices or skill to operate them.

Binay Hembram was one of the lucky ones. When the Covid-19 pandemic’s first sweep through the country led to the closure of schools, Hembram already had the tool that would see him through over the next two years. His father had a smartphone and he was able to attend online classes once his school, the Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) in Salgadih village of Ranchi district in Jharkhand, was forced to move teaching online.

But many attending government residential schools were not so lucky. Unlike the best-known private residential schools that teach the well-to-do, public residential schools are usually for some of the poorest, most marginalized students in the country. These children were some of the worst sufferers of the disruption caused to education by
the pandemic.

The EMRS schools had to close during the lockdown, despite being residential institutions. “Though the children stay in a protected environment, it is the movement of the staff that posed a probable risk for the students. So we had to send our children back home and shut the school,” said Garvin Waters, principal of EMRS, Salgadih, which has 480 enrolled students.

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Remote schools, low attendance

The experience of remote, online learning varied across schools and states. At EMRS Salgadih, the classes were through WhatsApp and Zoom calls. Recorded videos, assignments, notes were all sent via messaging apps. Its students are from the remote tribal areas of Jharkhand but despite that, most had a smartphone in the family. “I will say around 70 percent [had smartphones],” said Waters. “It is only 30 percent of the students either did not have a smartphone or did not have internet connectivity as they were in the hills.”

But at the schools run by the Telangana Minorities Residential Educational Institutional Society (TMREIS), reaching students was more difficult. “Many students could not attend these classes because of the lack of devices. Only 20 to 30 percent attended”, said Shaik Liyakat Hussain, Joint Secretary, TMREIS, which runs residential schools for children from marginalised communities.

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Eklavya Model Residential School, TMREIS

The EMRS schools were set up specifically for tribal students through a scheme of the ministry of tribal affairs. They are akin to the Ashram schools except the first is funded entirely by the union government and for the second, funding is shared between the centre and state.

While Ashram schools and EMRSs are comparatively new, JNV, another chain of the public residential school started functioning in 1986.

TMREIS runs a chain of schools for the minority community in the state of Telangana. This started operating in 2016. “The children are from very poor background doing odd jobs, their parents are mainly labourers working in construction sites,” said Hussain.

When the pandemic struck, the students needed all the help they could get. Alumni donations, teacher visits, The Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) too, had started online classes.

Here, the alumni stepped in, gifting devices to children from their district. The teachers, the commissioners and other well-wishers came forward to give devices to the students but they weren’t able to help every child. Every district in the country has a commissioner for JNVs in the district.

“We had to ask a few students to gather at a place when these classes were conducted. It was tough but what else could we do?” asked M Lakshmanan, assistant commissioner, Bhopal region. Lakshmanan started his career as a mathematics teacher in a JNV in Jammu region, gathered experience working as vice-principal and principal across JNVs.

Teachers and students live on the JNV campuses in closed communities. “The students had to go back home only when the state government or the district administration did not allow the residential school to function...Whenever the government allowed, the JNVs were open and a maximum of the students were back on the campus barring a few of those whose parents were not willing to send them. There was an element of parent willingness as the Covid situation were not normal. We did not force those students to come,” said a senior JNV official at the school chain’s Delhi headquarters, asking not to be named.

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JNV, EMRS: Reacting fast

Some of the EMRS reacted quickly even in the first year of the pandemic training its teachers to conduct Zoom sessions. “Instantly, WhatsApp groups were created and content shared. Gradually the children and the teachers who were not tech-savvy were guided by the school management. The computer department taught them how to go into a zoom session, how to conduct classes and upload answer scripts etc. We did fantastic in the year 2020,”
added Waters.

Hembram, now in Class 11 and studying science, added that he was able to attend classes online. An all-boys school, EMRS Salgadih offers only science to students after Class 10. Hembram had joined the school in Class 6 after clearing an entrance exam. The school is affiliated to Jharkhand Board which conducts board exams for Classes 9, 10, 11 and 12. In 2020 and 2021, the Class 10 board exams were cancelled due to Covid and all students promoted to the next level on the basis of the marks obtained the previous exams. “This is such an amazing school, many children of our village don’t know the facilities we have here. I always felt privileged,” said Binay Hembram.

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For the less privileged, learning has been a challenge. The 30 percent EMRS students who could not attend online classes would get the notes from friends and classmates and watch the videos when they could access devices and the internet.

The JNVs last reopened for all students and classes in November 2021. “For the few students who were not able to get any device, teachers went to their homes to take extra classes,”
said Lakshmanan.

“There were many, many such students and in a few cases, our teachers visited the home of those students, delivered the materials, workbook,” said the JNV official. “Otherwise, we have sent the materials by post, through fellow students or any messenger. All the JNVs contacted every student during the pandemic. We were in touch with all the students continuously and not a single student was left out. Even during the pandemic, all our students appeared in midterm examinations and final examinations.”

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Navodaya Vidyalaya remedial measures

At the JNVs, remedial measures are party of the system as is the constant tracking of achievement. “There are many remedial measures [and] we are conducting bridge courses for the students according to their achievement level,” said the JNV official. “Our system is a very closely-connected system. Teachers are consistently in touch with the students. We keep on having many tests and quizzes and based on that, our students’ performance – subject-wise, chapter-wise – is mapped. We do this practically all the time. This is our normal practice. Now that the students are coming back to school after so long, this is specifically being done.”

Gaps are identified even during teaching. “When we teach in the classroom, we don’t normally confine to the chapter and line by line of the syllabus. I will relate to the previous knowledge of the child and when I relate a concept to the previous knowledge of the child, I will know where he is lacking,” explained the official. “Ours being a closed community, all teachers live together on a campus and they discuss the performance of the students
among themselves.”

In Telangana, the TMRIES schools are now taking extra classes on holidays and evening hours, though student participation is very low, said Hussain.