Less than 50 per cent of children are able to catch up with their age-appropriate learning following the COVID-19 pandemic and they get distracted easily, a new survey on learning loss and education recovery has claimed. Over 48,000 students participated in the survey by the Smile India foundation. It covered urban, rural and aspirational districts of 22 states.

"According to teachers, less than 50 per cent of children have been able to cope with the learning loss over the last two years and are able to catch up on their age-appropriate learning currently," it said.

"These are mostly those students who have been regularly performing well prior to the pandemic as well. Hence, bringing the rest of the students to par with their expected learning level will require some time and effort in the upcoming months," the survey said.

Fifty-eight per cent of teachers were of the opinion that children have missed on social skills and now get distracted easily, it added. "Their attention span has gone low." The survey noted that parents have started getting more involved in their wards' education. Forty-seven per cent of them were of the view that there is an increased interaction between them and teachers in schools as well as over phone calls, it said.

"Thirty-eight per cent of parents started interacting with teachers by visiting schools, and there is a 27 per cent increase in attendance in parent-teacher meetings (PTMs). Fifty per cent of parents interviewed felt the absence of digital learning resources like devices, networks, and data packs made the learning experience inadequate for the children during the pandemic," the survey said.

Thirty-one per cent of parents' most preferred mode of learning during the pandemic was direct classes in offline mode or cluster classes, it said, adding: "Twenty per cent felt worksheets and visits by teachers were very convenient and useful."

(With PTI inputs)