The pandemic’s impact on education is still being tallied. After two years of lockdowns and online classes, a growing section of educators (with support from public health experts) support the re-opening of schools. They point to the range of issues created by the new system—learning gaps, unequal access, and loss of social and other non-academic learning.

Joining the chorus is a new survey spearheaded by economists Jean Dreze, Reetika Khera and researcher Vipul Paikra. Covering students of “underprivileged families” from classes 1 to 8, the survey has come up with several conclusions. The most alarming—only 24% of students in urban areas study regularly. For rural areas, the number was a shocking 8%.

The survey’s focus was limited to a section of the population—the 1400 students surveyed mostly resided in “rural hamlets and urban bastis”, with 60% residing in rural areas, and more than half of the surveyed belonging to Dalit or Adivasi communities. The biggest obstacle for this population has been the unavailability of mobile devices and internet connectivity—a staple for online education.

The findings of the survey are also consistent with other learning outcome assessments—half of the students enrolled in class 5 could not pass simple reading tests meant for class 2. The problem is only exacerbated with general promotion being opted for by many schools.

How must we balance the risks of infection with the potential loss of learning? Public health specialist Chandrakant Lahariya has advocated that the scales are heavily tilted towards the latter.

He boils it down to three central arguments—one, serosurveys have shown that children face a lower risk of moderate to severe disease; two, vaccination is not a prerequisite for opening schools, so we need not wait for vaccination programs to reach that stage; three, the severity of disease has not altered with strains. “So altogether, the benefit of opening schools is far greater than any risk, and the risk is really minimal,” he says.