Surveys on learning losses by month end, panel told

Context: Recently the House panel on education discusses COVID-19 impact on education and syllabus reforms. 

About the discussions:  

Surveys: 

• A survey of Classes 8-12 in centrally run schools last August showed that 80-90% of students were dependent on mobiles rather than laptops for digital schooling. Around 30% of students were affected by electricity supply disruptions.  
• States were then asked to do a similar mapping of access to online schooling, digital devices and Internet connectivity. This report is expected to be available next month. 
• The postponed National Achievement Survey, that  assesses the learning levels of students in Class 3, 5 and 8, will also be held in November this year.  

Syllabus: 

• The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports held their last round of consultations on textbook reforms.  
• They discussed about How the Mughal history is glorified in Indian textbooks? The panel also discussed about the insufficient understanding of ancient Indian history. 
• They compared history textbooks from Gujarat, Kerala and the National Council of Educational Research and Training and argued that the latter two give too much importance to the Mughal era. 
• The Committee is likely to submit its report on reforming the design and content of textbooks in a month’s time.

Source: The Hindu