In February this year, children and parents across the
country were looking forward to the new academic session beginning immediately
after the annual exam – new classes, books, uniforms, friends, and perhaps in
some cases, even new schools. Then COVID-19 made its unwelcome presence felt,
and everything changed. Schools and offices were shut, children and adults
confined to home, and life as we knew it became a thing of the past.
More than three months later, the world has come to terms
with the fact that the virus is here to stay and is readjusting itself to this changed
reality. With economies having suffered due to severe lockdowns, governments
are taking steps to reopen everywhere, ensuring suitable precautions. This
includes schools too, and plans have been made to gradually restart, bringing
in various grades in a phased manner. What might be some of the things to
consider as we begin this process?
First, the more obvious – adoption of administrative and
logistical measures such as more intensive cleaning and sanitisation processes,
the use of masks and hand sanitiser, frequent hand washing for all, monitored
social distancing, fewer students in each class to allow physical separation, staggered
classes, reduced entry points, and so on. These are self-evident steps,
relatively easier to implement with a little care and monitoring, and will help
ensure health and safety for all.
Second, most schools will probably begin by bringing back
senior students along with the very young, followed in phases by the other
grades. While older students can understand the need for various precautions,
children in kindergarten or grades 1 and 2 may find that more difficult. It is
hard to ensure that such young children follow social distancing norms, nor can
they be implemented in any practical sense with 5-8 year olds. For instance,
several primary schools in Australia, which opened about a month ago, have had
to shut down again as a result of infections among younger children. As we
reopen in India too, schools will need to be prepared for the inevitable periodic
shutdowns from time to time, as and when cases of infection among young
children are detected.
Third, these strategies could – in some cases – be combined
with a blended learning model through the use of alternate approaches, to
reduce the need to come to school. During the period of lockdown, several
schools had adopted online technologies to stay connected with their students;
naturally, this has not been possible in all cases since not all children have
access to the internet or devices, but even in less well-resourced schools,
attempts have been made to use messaging tools to share school work. Even when
there is limited access to technology, schools can consider simple solutions
like handing out worksheets and varied assignments to children when they come
to school, for completion at home; students could then be in school for some
days in the week and learning at home on others. Wherever possible, the use of
such methods could help reduce the need for children to be physically present
in a classroom.
Several commentators have expressed concerns about the loss
of learning that is likely to have taken place during this time and the need to
ensure that children get back to regular school work as quickly as possible.
The truth is however, that both the students and teachers will need time to
ease back into a more or less regular routine. The biggest mistake we might
make therefore, would be to immediately start focusing on trying to make up for
lost time and pushing to get back to learning as usual.
Consider what they have dealt with in the last few months. An
overarching sense of fear about an unknown virus and its effects. Insecurity
about jobs and livelihoods. Financial distress as jobs have been lost or
savings have dwindled. Worries about providing for the family. The burden of obtaining
provisions and necessities for daily needs. Loneliness and isolation from
extended families or friends. The stress of seeing parents and loved ones worry
about all of these – in other words, life in a pressure cooker environment with
multiple sources of anxiety. Most people have faced these and other uncertainties,
and school students and teachers are no exceptions. To expect them to come back
to school and pick up from where they left three months ago is unrealistic and
insensitive.
Children will come back to school with many apprehensions and
misgivings. The first thing they need is reassurance and pastoral care, not a
regime that expects them to start rigorous swotting for annual examinations as
if the intervening months had never happened. Their mental and emotional well-being
needs to be ensured before we can reasonably expect them to start routine
schoolwork again. They will need counselling, story-telling, handholding, and
validation. This means extra effort on the part of the school and teachers,
many of whom would be in need of such reassurance themselves.
We often assume that teachers are superhuman, expecting them
to be able to manage everything from teaching to supervising mid-day meals, collecting
vast quantities of data, or undertaking census or revision of electoral rolls,
but that is not really the case. Schools will need to plan for and put in place
programmes that address teachers’ requirements for support and reassurance also,
ensuring that they are ready to deal with their students before reopening.
Teachers can only provide support to their students if they themselves have had
their concerns allayed.
For years now, the big challenge in India's school sector has been the improvement of learning outcomes. This period marks a brief break from that all-consuming narrative – if we get the task of supporting our students and teachers right, we can go back to making progress in improving learning, albeit with some delays. If we get it wrong though, we will be looking at lower learning levels in the near future and that much more additional work to get them back on track.
