The times that have been never dreamt of. The pandemic times which blow around the globe, leaving no space untouched : A wide gap is being seen between government policy and the actual situation
By Rehnuma Dadani Surat
The outbreak of COVID-19 affected the lives of all sections of society as people were asked to self quarantine in their homes to prevent the spread of the virus .The lockdown had serious implications on mental health, resulting in psychological problems including frustration, stress and depression .
The impact of COVID-19 on the students of different age groups time spent on online classes and self- study, medium used for learning, sleeping habits ,daily fitness routine and the subsequent effects on weight ,social life and mental health.
Moreover our research found that in order to deal with stress and anxiety, participants adopted different coping mechanisms and also sought help from their near ones.Pandemic has affected a large number of students across states, class, caste , gender and region .
The shutting down of schools and the decision of shifting down of schools and the decisions of shifting traditional classrooms to digital platforms is not only increasing learning inequality among children, but also pushing a large number of children out of school due to the digital divide other than learning ,the absence of schooling would also have a long lasting effect on children. The role of the budget in the current situation as well as beyond the pandemic is very crucial to ensure inclusive education for all.
As government announced suddenly lockdown school should switch on to digital platform ,it was very difficult for parents to understand the concept of online teaching .
As every parent was not able to connect with the schools even teachers were not trained to go on digital platform ,due to sudden lockdown in the country in some areas parents were facing network issues, the parents who were having two wards and one android device to connect with online teaching and many other issues faced by the parents.
Students from age group 3 to 6 years was not able to sit in front of the cameras and was not able to interact with teachers. Pandemic changed the school concept to digital at online as we can see that online education makes the child techno-savvy learners but it took away the habit of writing as students forget to write in there note books because digital schools provide word documents and pdf of notes to students worksheets etc parents has to run for the print outs ,as in lockdown parents were writing and giving the students to complete as parents responsibilities were gained to do 50% of work for their child.
But the parents who were not able to write that students had faced lots of problems ,some parents took seriously some thought to stay away from education as schools were charging fees for this reason students lost their knowledge of education, but the disadvantage of online learning is students forget to interact clearly with teachers, writing method ,board work, field trips for learning ,physical science clubs, activities ,competition, playing with friends on play ground,annual functions,sports day,PTM’S and many other things missed by the students
As we continue to live through these challenging times, adopting ourselves to the new normal it would be helpful to reflect on what students and teachers among those severally affected by the pandemic likely have learnt.
Robert John Meehan, an educator and author has wonderfully said “A WELL PREPARED AND ENGAGING TEACHER IS CATALYST…A SPARK THAT CREATES THE DESIRE TO LEARN IN OUR STUDENTS”
(The contributor is Surat, Gujarat based Educationist, Social worker and Artist)
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