While in Switzerland, school life is expected to return to almost normal after the summer holidays, school children in the Usthi projects are still being taught from a distance. 

With the nationwide lockdown to control the Covid-19 pandemic, all educational institutions in India had to close. While in many places the restrictions have been eased or only apply regionally, the school buildings are still closed to the children. Nevertheless, after the end of the summer holidays in June, classes have started again and the children are taught at a distance in various forms. In the Usthi schools the teachers meet daily on the school grounds to work on the material and make it available to the children. The school lessons are recorded on video and then sent to the pupils by mobile phone. The pupils then meet in small learning groups, as by far not all families have a smartphone.

In addition to the digitally provided lessons, the children have to work on the material from the books themselves. At the Ananda school, the children can also pick up worksheets from the school grounds and bring them to the school for correction. If possible, all children are accompanied by their teachers on the phone, and at Ananda there is sometimes a personal exchange between teachers and schoolchildren, always respecting the protective measures. In Penthakata, the accompaniment is only possible from a distance, as the place is again in lockdown due to high case numbers.

Digitally supported home schooling also takes place in Hyderabad. Since many children without smartphones could not benefit from the digital teaching units, the local Usthi partner has bought second-hand mobile phones for them. Usthi had expected that at least the skills training centres would be able to resume operations in July. Unfortunately this was not yet possible. However, everything is set up in such a way that operations could start again immediately when the authorities give the approval.

According to the current state of knowledge, a decision on any further easing will be taken on 15 August at the earliest. Usthi is impressed by the flexibility of the students and by the great commitment of our partner organisations and their staff in these difficult times.