The time has come to think out of the box, innovate and engage with kids more. As a parent, the onus falls on them how best they take care of their kids and take extra efforts to understand them. Teachers also have to evolve and increase their patience, improve their deliveries and make themselves interesting. Time for a teacher to also wear the trainer’s hat
Biswadeep Gupta
It has been almost ten months that students are forced to stay at home with schools being closed from February last year. Many schools are trying to open up but the Covid scare is not making it feasible completely. Online classes for children were a lifesaver, particularly for those who could avail the facilities offered by select schools.
The online class mode is a new phenomenon even for the teachers and best of the school are having their own challenges. Teachers who are exceptionally good in the classroom scenario are finding it extra challenging to be in front of a camera and teach. These are making the teachers stressed, irritated and pressured. They are constantly being watched, thereby being judged by multiple eyes and minds, which itself is an issue.
For students, the same routine without physical contacts is monotonous and painful. Human minds need a companion. Children need company and what best can be than a school. But the situation is not permitting to really open up fully. It will be too risky and neither the schools nor the parents are willing to take the risks.
Parents are equally getting stressed with the online mode. It is becoming more demanding as the school hours are encroaching the home front. Technology is creating havoc to parents who are not accustomed to technicalities and suddenly are left to guide their kids with zoom classes, pdf, etc.
Overall everyone is becoming fatigued and all needs change. The big question is how do we get there? What is the roadmap? The pandemic scare still exists.
The time has come to think out of the box, innovate and engage with kids more. As a parent, the onus falls on them how best they take care of their kids and give extra efforts to understand them. Teachers also have to evolve and increase their patience, improve their deliveries and make themselves interesting. Time for a teacher to also wear the trainer’s hat.
Bottom line is all the stakeholder has to accept the reality that the next couple of years we have to experiment with a hybrid model of teaching, i.e. online, in-campus, activity-based. Students, teachers and parents have to evolve in the system and accustom themselves in order to sustain the crisis we are in for a very very long time. Change and evolve; accept and explore. Let there be no repentance in future…
