The fears that the students and parents are grappling with can be easily addressed if the schools are able to follow the guidelines set by the Ministry of Education
When schooling went online on the first of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many students were more than excited. However, what was supposed to last just for a few weeks, turned out to be several months. Now, for the first time in 18 months, schools across the country are opening their doors for in-person classes.
The past year has been a challenge for teachers and students in terms of learning. Various issues such as internet connectivity, lack of concentration and capturing the students’ attention in a virtual classroom proved to be a challenge. However, as schools reopen, many teachers are looking forward to teaching offline after long. For M Jayanthi, a Chennai-based English teacher, it was something she was looking forward to after the state government notified that schools can reopen in their state.
“For me, personally, it is great to be back at school after long as there is nothing like being in classroom to meet the students. It gives us the opportunity to actually see how the students are reacting positively and interact a lot more during the learning process, which is absent during a virtual classroom,” Jayanthi explains. For many teachers like Jayanthi, in-person classes have been a long time coming and something that they have longed for. Additionally, they have also been able to connect better with their students better offline and bond more than in a virtual classroom setting.
Though teachers are happy to get back in action after many months of online teaching, there are several tools that they need to adopt in order to cater for students who are learning online and offline. “Having taught students from home is something that we had gotten used to. Returning to campus after two years presented us with new challenges – having to teach the lessons to students attending classes online and offline simultaneously. It took us some to adjust but we have adapted ourselves well given the circumstances,” opines Anupama.
However, she believes that this hybrid model cannot run for long as students require physical interaction and play with their peers. “Teaching the students in a physical classroom enables me to connect, interact with students better and offer more real-life examples,” adds Jayanthi.
Parents, however, have been mixed about schools reopening at this point in time. Most are anxious about the safety measures and if their children will be well protected outside their homes.
“Attending classes online, for now, seems a safer thing to do as I am able to keep my son safe and be watchful of where he goes. However, I do find that children are beginning to take virtual classes not too seriously and their concentration on the subject often wavers. So, restarting physical classes will be a logical step to take,” says Kalyani Ramamoorthy, a parent of a Class 10 student.
While most schools will reopen their campus to students phase-wise, the school management have not made it mandatory for everyone to come in for physical classes.
“Personally, for me, I believe that my child will benefit immensely from in-person classes as he is very social and is inquisitive. So, if he is comfortable and that the school strictly follows the safety measures, I wouldn’t mind sending him back to school,” shares Kalyani.
In this light, schools have been putting together a comprehensive plan so that safety measures are in place for the students considering the health risks. This ensures a safe learning space for students and their parents who are anxious about returning to campus. Additionally, schools are also offering a hybrid model of learning so that students who elected not to come into school do not miss out on classes that are being conducted offline.
Schools are also ensuring that their staff is vaccinated, following 50 percent seating capacity in classrooms, lunch breaks in an open area and the adherence to social distancing norms are some of the aspects being focussed on. Taking such steps have enabled schools to ensure safety for all their students.
“I was more than happy to send my son back to school as I do understand not everything can be learned online like the practical lessons required for subjects like Science. Despite this, I do have a little bit of fear as he is going to exposed to a big crowd. We are also not aware how the virus might behave in this context,” shares Anupama S, a Chennai-based PGT Biology teacher and parent of a Class 12 Student. “But at some point, you have to brave it and this is what we have done.”
Though learning online seemed to be doing great, many students began to feel stressed about studying and began isolated from their peers as online schooling continued on longer than expected. Teachers have felt that their students are more silent during a virtual class and did not respond as much during interactions. The sudden transition to online schooling might have alienated them from learning actively online and be more responsive.
“No student was prepared for something like this as it was a completely new concept for them. They were not habituated to learning online through platforms like Zoom and Google Classroom,” shares Nikita Hazarika, Clinical Psychologist (RCI) & Founder, Ashwas Mental Health, Guwahati.
“They were not sure of the rights and wrongs, the etiquettes of attending an online class. It definitely puts the student in a sense of uncertainty and helplessness as they do not have any sense of control,” she said. As a result, created a lot of concerns within the students as they were looking to connect with their teacher, which may have not taken place entirely on an online platform.
With public health experts revealing that lockdown has put one in seven students at risk of poor mental health across the world, parents and teachers have become proactive in how they can support their children. In fact, a survey by ChildFund India across 10 states reveals that 78 percent of children were feeling sad and eight percent were feeling anxious because they were not able to meet friends and teachers, access or/and understand online learning sessions, and because they were missing active face-to-face learning.
While it may be a relief for the students to attend physical classes after almost 18 months, the transition from online to offline is going to be challenging. As everything is changing around them swiftly, students will need to be given time to adjust to their new routine and being in a physical school after long. Hence, it might be natural for them to become overwhelmed by it.
A meta-analysis of 15 studies done by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) also confirms this feeling of students on a global level. These studies were done in 10 countries and involved 22,996 children. They saw that 79.4 percent of children had been affected negatively by the pandemic and the resulting lockdown, 22.5 percent had a significant fear of COVID, 35.2 percent complained of boredom and 21.3 percent had experienced sleep disturbances.
Having stayed most home most of the school year and not having interacted in person with anyone outside their immediate family has perhaps had a negative impact on their mental well-being.
“Students are having problems like anxieties about being judged by their teachers and not being able to connect with them. So, they often judge their performance themselves and feel that their marks might get cut if they do not attend classes. While these might seem silly, it means something to the growing children, particularly adolescents as their self-image and identity mean a lot to them,” shares Nikita.
This, as a result, has impacted their social interaction with their peers and are beginning to feel anxious as they haven’t done it in some time.
“Some of the common disorders that I see in the children I talk with are social phobia and generalised anxiety. Additionally, I have noticed that those diagnosed with conditions like OCD are getting negative thoughts that are getting reinforced as they are at home all the time. For example, someone who has a compulsion to wash their hands is doing it more now due to the fear of germs as a result of the pandemic. In this light, a lot of things have escalated,” adds Nikita.
Hence, it is important for schools and teachers to actively support their students during this transition and ensure that their mental well-being is advocated. This is why it is important for teachers, counsellors and health workers to act in unison to ensure students’ well-being during this time. As many may feel panic on returning to campus after long due to the changes that have experienced over the past year, some schools have chalked out a plan to address their concerns. Doing so ensures that the students do feel the pressure of learning in a physical space and that their fears are being addressed in a constructive manner.
The fears that the students and parents are grappling with can be easily addressed if the schools are able to follow the guidelines set by the Ministry of Education. Doing so can ensure that the safety of students and staff are maintained. For instance, in New Delhi, all staff must be vaccinated and class sizes will be capped at 50 percent with staggered seating and sanitised desks. While it is not compulsory, for now only students from classes nine to 12 will be allowed to attend classes. Additionally, only students in classes nine to 12 will be allowed to attend at first, though it is not compulsory. Some of the common guidelines that schools across different states are following include mandatory thermal screening, staggered lunch breaks, alternate seating arrangements and mandatory isolation room in school premises.
Ensuring that these protocols are strictly followed does come with its own challenges, particularly when resources and infrastructure vary from school to school. Which is why the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) has suggested that schools should be open only when they have the necessary infrastructure to implement COVID-19 protocols, have staggered timings, social distancing, and ensure hygiene.
“While we are following the guidelines set by the government, we do have a few challenges to overcome such as managing physical and online classes simultaneously, and the logistics of having 50 percent of the students attend classes. As we work around this, we called our students to write their exams in person at school for now,” shares PG Subramanian, principal, BV Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyashram, Chennai.
As the school intends to start in-person classes for their students in some time, Subramanian shares that the school is ensuring that the safety audit is being done regularly. “We are disinfecting and fumigating the campus on daily basis, placed sanitisers at vantage points and temperature checks are also being done,” he says.
At another school in Chennai, they have implemented truncated timings for each class to enter, temperature checks at the entrance, limiting the number of students to 50 percent of the class strength. Additionally, distance is also being maintained between the teachers and students while the classes are being conducted. They spend around four hours at school before going back home for the day. At the end of each session, the school is fully sanitised for the next day. These proactive steps to keep their students safe by the schools assure apprehensive parents that necessary precautions are being taken to ensure the children’s wellbeing.
Though much of the country’s public spaces have opened up, some parents are still have mixed feelings about schools reopening. While those returning to work from office are ready to send their children back to school, those who have already built a support system to enable their children to study at home are reluctant for various reasons.
“I feel schools should not be rushed to reopen, particularly for the lower classes. We have to keep in mind the children’s health in mind as well because a vaccination for their age group is not available yet,” avers Adeethi Thomas, a Bengaluru-based kindergarten teacher. Hence, it is important to ensure that the schools have adequate healthcare infrastructure in place before they reopen and assist schools who may need help in doing so.
Having well-ventilated classrooms, physical distancing, mandatory masks, vaccinated staff and adherence to hygiene protocols at school are just some aspects that can assure parents that it will be safe for their children to return to school. However, the journey ahead is not going to be easy. While it is a bittersweet journey for many, the new normalcy ahead will need to prioritise a safe learning space that also caters to the well-being of students across different learning groups.
The author is a New Delhi-based freelance writer. Views expressed are personal.