ADDRESSING THE POST-PANDEMIC LEARNING GAP AND SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT (SEL)

सार

The worldwide spread of the COVID-19 virus caused disruptions in education systems that were incomparable to any other time in history and led to learning losses and socio-emotional problems of such magnitude that these are still affecting the educational process today. The present study is aimed at ascertaining the size of learning gaps to date after the pandemic and the connection between these gaps and the socio-emotional growth of students in different educational settings. Schools, hospitals, and homes for children were the three main settings to do the research in. Upon analyzing the learning outcome data of 450 students aged 8-16 years who went through the learning process in these three different educational contexts, mixed-methods approach the researchers interviewed 35 educators from urban and rural settings. It was found that the average loss in students’ learning in mathematics and reading amounted to 4-6 months, whereby the most disadvantaged groups had a learning loss of up to 8 months. Furthermore, an investigation into the socio-emotional status of 62% of students was performed and these children were found to experience superior levels of anxiety, poor social skills, and low motivation compared to their peers. The study highlights effective strategies for intervention, among which are academic support tailored to the needs of the students, incorporating social-emotional learning programs, and teachers' continuing education as the key factors in the recovery. Drawing attention to learning gaps without taking into account the socio-emotional needs of the students leads to no more than a short-term success. This research offers practical advice for teachers and decision-makers in the field of education on how to devise recovery programs that are holistic in content and cover both the learning and the emotional aspects of student growth.