Role of parents in overcoming the learning crisis in India

By Sri Rajan and Gouri Gupta

For a long time, India has been grappling with a learning crisis in the foundational years of learning for children. The prolonged school closures in 2020-21 exacerbated the situation, hitting disadvantaged students the hardest. The data on foundational learning looks worrisome as 92% of children across primary grades have lost at least one specific language ability while 82% have lost at least one mathematical ability between 2020 and 2021.

While the pandemic had a devastating impact on learning outcomes, it also presented an opportunity. With schools shut, home learning gained momentum and parents became central to children’s education. This accelerated parental engagement became a driving force for continued learning. Data shows that 75% of school-going children (Grades 1-12) received help either from parents or older siblings at home during school closures. The percentage was higher at ~80% for children in primary grades. Even when both parents had less than 5 years of schooling, 55% of children received support at home.

The positive relationship between parental involvement and students’ academic achievement is well documented with a global meta-review of 75 research studies trying to establish what forms of parental engagement are most powerful. According to the review, parental involvement variables that show the highest correlations with academic achievement are reading at home, communication between parents and children regarding school, parental encouragement, and support for learning, amongst others. Parental involvement has also been linked to school readiness.

The opportunity to harness parental engagement through technology

Even with life and school going back to normal, in light of the existing evidence, there is value in ensuring continued parental engagement, especially for foundational learning. One of the ways in which parental engagement can be sustained and harnessed is through technology. Technology can allow parents to supplement their children’s learning outside of school where they can track progress, access additional learning resources, connect with other parents and teachers, and do fun activities with their children.

An Indian non-profit organization that has been harnessing parental engagement to catalyze education in the foundational years is Rocket Learning. A Government-anchored, education technology (EdTech) solution, Rocket Learning uses a system of automated nudges and existing infrastructure within state governments to build children’s literacy and numeracy skills through daily parent-led activities on WhatsApp. The platform shares video compilations of the groups’ responses and badges to incentivize, sustain, and enhance parental engagement. Top Parent is another non-profit EdTech solution based in India, which is a direct-to-parent app having both parent and children-facing content and incentives (such as rewards and points), to empower parents to meaningfully support their child’s learning and development.

The potential in India

The recently launched Bharat Survey for EdTech (BaSE) by Central Square Foundation is an attempt to bring the voice of the parents and children from low-income segments into the discourse on EdTech. It captures the reality on the ground and brings forth interesting insights regarding technology-enabled learning across households. BaSE captures data from over 6,000 low-income households across six states in India. Conducted towards the end of 2022, BaSE explores key questions around access, perception, and usage of technology for learning by parents and children. It was found that 85% of the surveyed households have access to at least one smartphone, and access to enabling infrastructure such as electricity and the internet is nearly universal. Among the surveyed households, 72% of children enrolled in Grades 1-12, had access to smartphones. This shrinking digital divide across urban and rural households may indicate a growing preparedness to embrace technology in various aspects of life, especially education.

The survey showed that 86% of parents in low-income contexts were aware of using technology as a means of facilitating learning. This was a significant rise from pre-pandemic levels. There appears to be a positive correlation between parents’ knowledge and ability to use technology and children’s consumption patterns of technology for learning purposes. Nearly 63% of school-going children used smartphones for learning when parents could explore various features and applications, such as Facebook, YouTube, or Google. And when parents could not use smartphones only 26% of children used them.

The survey also explored trends around home learning to understand the extent of parents’ involvement and their perceptions of education at large. It was found that as many as 70% of children received some form of learning support from parents and other household members. Typically, parents tracked what was being taught in school (79%), helped children finish their homework (77%), and clarified doubts or revised lessons with them (56%).

Beyond at-home support, parents invested in supplemental learning avenues such as paid private tuition. The survey showed that 37% of children availed of private tuition, with parents spending an average of Rs. 355 per month. This goes to show the value parents attribute to education and the willingness to support their children’s learning by leveraging every possible resource, irrespective of their socioeconomic backgrounds.

Institutionalising of home learning is critical

Recognizing the aspiration that Indian families have for their children’s education and the pivotal role that parents can play in their children’s academic achievements, it seems inexcusable to not integrate the school and home better. Institutionalization of the process of learning at home with active parental involvement especially for foundational literacy and numeracy can provide the tailwinds that our school system needs to make our children “NIPUN”. The NIPUN guidelines mention this; it is time to make it a reality with a plan for i) active communication and awareness building with parents around the importance of home learning, ii) structured integration of home learning into traditional teaching-learning practices, and iii) a robust method to monitor what success will mean. Best practices on these models exist in the Government and the affordable private school space. The Government of Uttar Pradesh recently ran a campaign for NIPUN – “ab ghar main padhai hogi aur bhi mazedar – chatbot ki kushalta dikhlaegi sabko NIPUNTA” – emphasizing the fun aspect of home learning to achieve NIPUN goals. Bharti Foundation schools in Haryana seamlessly integrated what the teacher was teaching in class with the homework she was assigning to children on a free learning application. The opportunity for the Indian education system is to scale and institutionalize parental support in their children’s learning. In the words of Gandhi – “Every home is a university and the parents are the teachers”; let us empower our parents to play the role.