When schools shifted online in 2020, Manju’s family got her a new smartphone to attend online classes and she regularly attended them. But she could not understand what was being taught. Every other day, Rahul got study material on WhatsApp from his school teachers. However, he still felt he was not learning. Rohini and Nazia collected activity sheets from their schools, but neither could complete all the tasks on their own.

These stories were shared by students studying at the secondary level in government and government-aided schools in Delhi in a survey conducted by the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) in June-July, 2021. A careful reading of their experiences suggests an underlying challenge — the limited presence of teachers.

Discourse on school education during the pandemic has largely focused on the lack of access to digital devices. However, this alone cannot ensure learning. Our interviews with students revealed many insights into the barriers to learning, illuminating how big a role the presence of teachers played. Teachers were needed to communicate to students about the new modalities of school, adapt classroom activities to virtual platforms, assist students with worksheets, clear students’ doubts, and assign homework, facilitate peer interaction, and check in with irregular students.

One student only learnt about online classes a few months after classes started; 31% of respondents said their teachers did not provide feedback on the assigned homework. Many respondents added that their teachers could not be reached for one-on-one interactions. Anecdotally, a few respondents shared that their teachers had been delegating their responsibilities to the class monitor.

Why was this the case? In our discussions, teachers shared that they were overburdened with Covid-19-related administrative duties, resulting in untenable work hours. Scheduling classes was also a challenge as many students only had access to devices in the evenings when the earning family member, who had the phone, came home. Teachers had to teach from their own devices in school premises, and had trouble getting proper connectivity. They were provided limited training which only focused on how to use digital platforms (such as Google Meet). Teachers did not receive adequate training on the skills required to adapt the syllabus to the new modes. They were stressed because of the pandemic and economic uncertainty. Last, the lack of an adequate number of teaching and non-teaching staff meant that not enough time could be devoted to student needs.

The burden of non-teaching work has been a long-standing issue. The National Education Policy 2020 takes cognisance of this and suggests that other than midday meal-related work, teachers cannot be deployed for non-educational purposes. Teachers spend 75-80 days a year on non-teaching activities, as reported in a recent study by Azim Premji University. An earlier study (by the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration or NIEPA) found that only 19% of a teachers’ annual school hours are spent on teaching activities.

In the last year, we have seen the emergence of many ed-tech products and services. However, research examining learning outcomes from using e-resources shows either that there are gains only for a few students, or that in the gains reported, there is also a teacher involved in integrating the resources into the learning process. Unfortunately, most government measures to support learning during the pandemic were through compiling e-resources. Not enough was done to hire, train, and support teachers to make meaningful use of these resources.

74% of respondents said they did not learn adequately during this period. When asked what they missed about their schools, many students answered that it was the real-time interaction with teachers, which made learning easier. This suggests the need for a greater policy focus on the human functions needed to facilitate learning. Bridging the digital divide would be meaningless without bridging the distance between student and teacher.