We have probably heard Nelson Mandela’s famous saying, “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world,” however what happens when the most powerful thing that could influence the world is put to rest during the outbreak of a pandemic?
Education is a vital aspect of mankind and has grown to be the most powerful force aside from the basics of roti, kapada and makan. The accumulation of fundamental knowledge takes place over more than a decade in any typical school year, despite the fact that learning has moved to being “byte sized” in recent years. And as the world experienced the lockdown years, our educational systems underwent a significant change.
In this article, we explore the changes in school experienced by teachers, trainers, and school administrators over the past year. Here are some insights from the UN sustainable development website on education regarding the
crisis the schools faced during the Covid outbreak. Around ‘147 million children are estimated to have missed more than half of their in-class instruction over the past two years due to school closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This generation of children could lose a combined
total of $17 trillion in lifetime earnings in present value.’
An even greater understanding of the alarming state of affairs in the Indian context was provided in the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) published by Pratham NGO. One key findings from this report quoted was ‘The percentage of class 3 children who were able to read at the level of class 2, has dropped from the already low 27.3% in 2018 to 20.5% in 2022 — a decline visible across most States, in both government and private schools.’
Another finding described the impact that recent years have had on the fundamental arithmetic ability, which is one of the necessary skills for higher education. – ‘The All India figure for children in Std III who are able to at least do subtraction dropped from 28.2% in 2018 to 25.9% in 2022.’ All of this information suggests that the educational system, and teachers in particular, are dealing with numerous difficulties.
Challenges faced by educators
Many pupils’ academic skills suffered because of the pandemic-induced virtual education. The effects of a short attention span and poor focus abilities are significant drivers in poor
performance in school.
Vidya Kolhapur, Principal of JSS Pre-Primary English Medium School, Dharawad, expressed various observations on pupils returning to school after the pandemic, this included ‘inability to sit for lengthy periods of time, lack of toilet-training in younger children, struggle to
make friends, and lack of social skills.’ During the last two years of a child’s life he/she was confined to the comforts of his/her home and did not practice learning, eventually leading to many children becoming overly playful and slightly lazy with learning.
Rajalakshmi Iyer, an experienced teacher from Mysuru, shared what she witnessed in school following the pandemic, ‘Little things like writing date on books, maintaining separate class and homework notes, filling up index, usage of pencils in textbooks and workbooks were forgotten by most of them.’ Teachers were left with the responsibility of making students perform, which makes it extremely tiring for them.
Many students had formed the habit of watching videos/reels and found it tough to stay away from digital devices. In fact, many parents complain that the addiction is still continuing with their kids. A teacher’s job was made more challenging by working around nuances of poorly formed habits.
Rajalakshmi also narrated that her students ‘…..were passive and only wanted gadgets and not humans for infotainment. Since the syllabus was not modified, bridging the learning gap became a herculean task and not having a solid foundation will be reflected in the years to come.’
“As we are aware, in teaching, communication is crucial, and if it fails due to a shortening of attention gaps, it requires tremendous efforts from the teacher to keep the class alive.” As Rajalakshmi points out, the teachers also found it difficult to get the students to sit still and concentrate during class.
A teacher’s job also entails preparing students for exams and completing the syllabus.The shift from virtual classes, activities, and tests was a significant transformation in and of itself, as was the return to the classroom.
Vidya Kolhapur highlighted the obstacles faced by educators in guiding their students to complete their homework. She recalled how her teachers expressed dissatisfaction when they learned that the homework assignments were rarely completed. It was difficult for teachers to handle both home and classroom assignments.
This past year has been a learning experience for both students and teachers; nonetheless, everyone involved has done an outstanding job of merging old school norms with the challenges presented by new age learners. We are so proud of every teacher who has worked so hard to restore the ‘old’ normalcy in our classrooms.
But has the effects of the pandemic, remote study, digital dependency- truly worn off? Will the data from ASER have an upward change ? or are there still, many a struggles, we are yet to discover, that only time will tell.