Tamanna Khan has been struggling to catch up with her classes since her school in India reopened this spring, nearly two years after shutting during the coronavirus pandemic.
The 11-year-old’s family was hit hard by the economic fallout from the disease. It wiped out her father’s income as a tailor in Mumbai, and he and his wife were forced to leave their slum dwelling to return to their home village several hours away by car. They left their daughter with her aunt, where she struggled to continue her online studies with only a mobile phone to use.
“Studying online was very difficult and boring, with poor connections. I had a lot of problems learning,” said Khan, who has since returned to school. “It was very hard to be without my parents.”