Because of the coronavirus we were forced into closing the center for the younger children. The government has closed schools for 5th standard and below and we followed the same policy at the center. We intended to close for older children as well but they requested that we give them some support since they had exams. With this in mind we agreed to keep the center open for older children but in a limited capacity and with the condition that children would be cautious and make sure to not have very limited physical contact and predominantly use the time to study for their exams. Despite having this discussion and communication yesterday many younger children did come by today. It was the hardest thing ever to tell these little children that we would not be able to have them today. While they understood the concern and it was a very healthy conversation I could feel their boredom and pain. Some children asked me if they were expected to “lay eggs” at home with so much free time. No school or center makes for a really really boring time for the children and I so wished there was something I could have done for them. Finally I was able to give the children some worksheets to do and promised to bring them more tomorrow as well before they left.  Though we have had to compromise on a lot of our principles of agency and democracy and in some sense force children to study this coronavirus situation has showed us what such a set up would look like. With a much improved facilitator learner ratio we were able to work with most of the children to help with their exams. Though the children are predominantly memorising answers, we were at least able to help them do it more efficiently by understanding what they were memorising. We also saw that most learners were willing to spend time with the facilitators and they have a strong desire to do well in their exams.  I have always wondered how some other spaces operate and how they are able to achieve a lot of academic growth in less time than us and with less facilitators. Today it felt like I got an answer to this question. Academic progress feels much easier to do in a structured and undemocratic manner. However, the only learners who came by today were ones who were already doing well in their school. Most of the learners who have been marginalised at school did not show up at all when play was not on offer. The learning is not nearly as meaningful and there isn’t as much joy in the learning. I must point out though that some children did thrive today and there are many children that do thrive in this setting but the most important thing to note is that it’s not for everyone and may not be viable at all when there are no exams to motivate children to study.