Findings from survey among

236 K-12 schools about the

IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC
AND THE FUTURE
As the world moves out of the pandemic state of existence, we studied different industries
that have been impacted, starting with something that is very, very close to everyone’s heart
– schooling.

We contacted a sample of 236 schools across different metros and smaller towns in the
country, and asked them a set of questions about the pandemic’s impact, how they coped,
and what they see as the focus areas for the way forward.

SURVEY FINDINGS:

Did the pandemic have a significant impact?

Yes, it did, with 48% of the schools surveyed saying that the pandemic’s impact was at least
somewhat negative.

The nature of the impact was double-pronged. Firstly, it impacted the admissions number
significantly, with 41% saying that admissions dropped by as much as 30% or more. Secondly, it
had crucial impact on the children themselves, with 66% of the schools surveyed saying that
children have become easily distracted easily and have problems paying attention, and 34%
saying that students have become addicted to digital games.

IMPACT OF PANDEMIC ON SCHOOLS 9%

� It has had a positive impact on schools like ours
27% 17%
� Neither positive nor negative impact on schools like ours
� It has had a slight negative impact on schools like ours
� It has had a somewhat negative imapact on schools like ours
21% 26%
� It has had a very negative impact on schools like ours

TREND OF ADMISSIONS DURING THE PANDEMIC

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Lost >50% of our admission Lost 30-50% of our admission Lost <30% of our admission No admission loss
BASE: 236 % 15 26 37 21

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THE MOST IMPORTANT CHANGE IN CHILDREN AFTER THE SCHOOLS
OPENED PHYSICALLY
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Children Children Children
Children
seek more are more Children are Communic Children
have Children
Children variety in distracted are showing ation skill / lack
become are excited
today are teaching and their refusing to lesser Language discipline / Others
addicted to to come to
"smarter" methods in attention come to interest in has been Moral
digital school
the span has school physical affected values
games
classroom reduced games
% 23 28 66 11 34 12 1 1 1 3

AXIS TITLE

Interestingly, while the world and the country move towards digital payment, these schools are
not seeing the benefits of that transition. More than half the schools surveyed say that the
majority of parents still prefer to come to school and make the payments.

FEE PAYMENT BEHAVIOUR OF PARENTS 20%

� More than 50% of my parents pay fee digitally

52%
� 30-50% of my parents pay fee digitally
� <30% of my parents pay fee digitally. Majority still prefers coming 28%
to campus and paying the fee

What has not changed?

Reassuringly, the fundamentals of running a school don’t seem to have changed.
The respondents say that the reputation of a school still depends on the time-tested
parameters of:
• Quality of teachers and teaching
• Continuous improvement in academic practices
Further, they think the school managements need academic freedom and also need to
communicate well with parameters.
In an interesting trend to the new order, they also say that schools need to be ready to develop
blended learning models and become disruption-proof.

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3
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE A SCHOOL’S REPUTATION

Quality and stability of teachers

Continous improvement and innovation in academic practices

Infrastructure like buildings, other facilities

Board exam results

First in the town' initiatives (extracurricular, technology etc.)

Advertisements and marketing activities in the neighbourhood

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5

First in the town' Continous

Advertisements and Infrastructure like
initiatives improvement and Quality and stability of
marketing activities in Board exam results buildings, other
(extracurricular, innovation in academic teachers
the neighbourhood facilities
technology etc.) practices
Mean Score 2.7 2.7 3.3 3.6 3.8 4.0

THINGS THAT THE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT SHOULD FOUCUS ON

� Provide freedom to the principal & team for academic decisions

� Communicate periodically to parents

� Nominate academic people to participate in various educational conferences

� Build the brand image of the school

� Be ready with blended learning models to face any other disruptions

� Others

Rather disappointingly, only 50% of the respondents say that they are fully tech ready, and less
than 40% say that they have display screens in all classrooms. Clearly, a fundamental shift
towards technology has met with deep resistance. It remains to be seen whether this is
necessarily a bad thing, since there are plenty of people who believe that learning outcomes
depend on the quality of the teaching and not on technology.

And so to the future…

Most of them like the stress on skill-building in the New Education Policy.

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 WHAT THEY LIKE ABOUT THE NEW EDUCATION POLICY

And in terms of getting ready for the future, it is clearly a mix of the old and the new – they want
to invest their additional budgets in better curriculum, development of teachers, and blended
learning involving use of technology.

WHERE THEY
60 WANT TO INVEST THEIR ADDITIONAL BUDGETS?

50

40

30
55
48
43
20

10

4
0
2 1 1
Enriched Professional Introduce Infracture Increase the Conduct some Others
curriculum development blended space for programs for
of teachers learning extracurricular parents
through activities
technology

So the new order in teaching has large parts which look reassuringly familiar, and some parts
which point to technology playing a big role going forward. But teaching and the curriculum
remain the center of the school ecosystem, and that promises well for our children.

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