On the comeback trail as schools reopen

A year of home study will soon be out and once again students and teachers would be interacting but with caution and difference

Dr Mehnaaz Rehman

Honestly speaking, the Covid-19 era has hit education hard as it did a century before when the Spanish Flu invasion tore apart the global education system. Though in those days the system was not so advanced yet the teachers scribbled notes on the paper and circulated them to the students till the children got back to their schools only to find the environment prevailing alien and perhaps landed in a scenario, where the world was then a book, and those who did not keep in touch with the situation read only one page. Now with technology screaming all over online education a new trend with teachers on the screens and students watching and trying to understand what was being taught. This was a road which was less travelled both by educationists and the students. But there was no option other than this.

From their academic success to their social skills and mental health, the pandemic is a crisis for today’s children – and the fallout may follow them for the rest of their lives. When today’s children and adolescents grow up, will they see themselves as a lost generation, whose lives will forever fall in the shadow of a global pandemic? Those children who grew up in this pandemic will obviously become adults one day but the imprints in the brains of time that has gone and they will remember that they lived through the pandemic. But at present, they are feeling the effects. The school closure was one of the most visible and controversial means by which Covid-19 affected young people. According to UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization), the education of nearly 1.6 billion pupils in 190 countries got affected that’s 90% of the world’s school-age children.

So now, when the pathogen has trimmed down its devastating blows on humanity, students would be back, the problems would emerge and the teachers have already started listing them out and by the way, they are spot on many facets!

Some pertinent things that can be observed with the children are:

Lack of concentration

There is a vast difference in the child sitting on his/her desk under a table lamp in his/her study room and the same kid going to school/college and shuffling between classrooms for their period wise lessons. At home and online teaching though kept students abreast with the syllabus but they perhaps have not concentrated and thus are carrying doubts in their minds which could have got sorted out in classrooms. Though the internet is there but still the material available, obviously in plenty can only be read, analyzed and learnt on the rote or crammed. For sure not the best way to learn.

Teacher-student interaction

This has to be a top-quality syndrome but for almost a year the children were on their mobile phones, tablets, laptops and desktops trying to learn what was being explained. Though the teachers were there doing their very best to drill the matter into the heads of their students yet the interaction fell very short of the high standards which are there in the classroom. Although the Directorates of Education in Jammu and Kashmir along with their teaching brigade made a great charge to keep the students on the syllabus but still would have to overindulge double time now so that they are in the right frame of mind for their full term exams.

Exploration and analysis of what was taught online

Studying in bubbles at home, the virtual classes did not give enough time for exploration and analyzing as to what was being taught. The thinking process remained limited and compartmentalized to what was taught. Now everything would have to start from a scratch so that the thinking ability for drawing inferences will require a great rejuvenation. Most educationists believe they would have to concentrate more on this and some have even planned crash courses in schools regarding this.

Disciplinary aspects

Increased social isolation, loneliness, health anxiety, stress and an economic downturn are a perfect storm to harm children’s mental health and well being are major concerns. It is the loneliness factor that was adversely the way of our thinking and this is how it is doing. Loneliness was unnatural; human beings are to be in a relationship. Loneliness is fear; there is no freedom in it. Loneliness is anxiety; worry its sister, uncertainty, its friend. Loneliness is endless wonder about endless wondering. Coming out of this will take time but it is the teachers who have to pick up the gauntlet. The time is now!

No throwing caution to the winds syndrome

Again, I would say that starting the schools is a good initiative but it can only be a productive one if the rules and regulations are followed by the students. Though infections have minimized yet the bug is in the air. The point has to be drilled into their heads that they are the ones who are responsible for your own safety. The repercussions of not being within safety norms should be told to them point-blank. Also told to them would be the fact that the more the merrier equation, for the time being, is out of the window and it will take time to boomerang. Schools are also directly related to the public transportation system. Hopefully, the government would have taken this factor into the account. So, students and teachers: it is time to get on your marks and the race this time is an interesting one. To get into the career-making rhythm with the virus impact creating all the chicanery so that you do not have a smooth run you all have to make things happen. Teachers will have to rise to the occasion and provide all the assists to their students, so it is once again game on here after a lapse of a little less than a year!

It’s not that everything has fallen apart. Everything is there as it was before but the attitude of the people towards life has changed. The children are not too far behind. After being at home for considerably a long time now they also know as to what is happening and as to why masks are being worn. To many it was a strange phenomenon like they were seeing people not shaking hands, moving gingerly one behind the other, no friendly hugs with smiles moving out of the canvas and grimaces/grins taking their places. To the children, it was already a different world and the future well they do not know but can guess. Think it over! 

With more than 10 years experience in educational leadership, Dr Mehnaaz Rehman has PhD in Education, MA in Economics, MBA and MEd degrees. She is currently working as Vice Principal at AA Academy, Kulgam and was recently nominated as Joint Secretary of J&K Private Schools and Children Welfare Association