The ‘Kalika Chetarike’ programme, which was formulated to arrest the learning loss of students reported due to the COVID-19 pandemic induced school closure, has succeeded in improving the learning abilities of students, according to a survey.
In the mid-line survey, which was conducted by the Department of School Education and Literacy, around 87% of the teachers shared that there is an improvement in learning ability of the students because of the programme. Also, 88% of the parents said that children learn better through Kalika Chetarike sheets.
Decline during pandemic
The prolonged school closure and limited learning opportunities for the students during the COVID-19 pandemic had led to a decline in learning levels among the children. This has become evident in many recent surveys including the National Achievement Survey - 2021 and Annual Status of Education Report 2022. Apart from this, the National Education Policy-2020 advocates that every student in primary school should achieve basic literacy and numeracy as the first priority of the education system.
Taking cognizance of the situation, the State government had launched ‘Kalika Chetarike (Learning Recovery)’ in the academic year of 2022-23. The focus of the programme is more on the learning recovery for all school children rather than just the completion of the current grade level syllabus. A lot of activities and teaching through worksheets were introduced in the programme.
The department conducted a mid-line survey in December 2022, covering 692 primary and 330 high schools with approximately 78,000 and 50,000 children, respectively, from Grades 2 to 9 across 35 districts and 204 blocks. The data was collected by 3,400 teachers.
Improvement in attendance
The results of the survey show that the changed pedagogy and usage of worksheets/activity sheets helped to create a rising interest among students towards school and thus improving attendance. Around 89% students and 84% teachers mentioned the increased interest to come to school and improved attendance.
Among those surveyed, 60% of the parents said they participated in their children’s learning through homework/activities given by the school. The same section (60%) also shared that a few times they helped their children in learning at home.
Learning outcomes improve
The study shows that 47% of both Grade 2 and 3 students attained the learning outcomes defined for their levels, i.e., ability to read a simple sentence in Kannada in the Foundational Literacy section. Around 81% of both graders have developed necessary oral language development and phonological skills at the time of the assessment.
English learning
In English, it is observed that 58% of Grade 2 students achieved outcomes defined for them (can hold a simple conversation in English), while among Grade 3 students, 44% have achieved the outcome, i.e., reading a simple sentence. In the Foundational Numeracy section, in Maths for Grade 2 and 3, around 74% of Grade 2 students can answer a simple one-digit subtraction word problem and 69% of Grade 3 students can answer simple three digit additional problem.
