Slowly, but steadily, parents, teachers and students are getting comfortable with the online classes started by schools in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. There are a few challenges, for sure, as the conventional school set-up is different from the online one but everyone is adapting to change.
“As far as online classes at home are concerned, it is more challenging to teach the younger kids as their attention span is short; we have props to teach them in classrooms but we don’t have that kind of infrastructure at our home,” said a teacher at Noida's Billabong High International School.
Initially, a lot of students — especially the younger ones — were having problems adjusting to this change. So, a session was organised for the young students to make them understand the concept of online classes. Now, things are improving with each passing day as students are getting accustomed to this set-up, the teacher said.
Proactive schools
Some schools started the online classes early in March. Besides teaching all the subjects, they are also taking dance and yoga classes online.
“Students took some time adjusting and teachers should be applauded for their efforts in this. Changing times call for change in requirements. Schools have used the current coronavirus situation as an opportunity and have prepared themselves on how to deal with an uncertain atmosphere in the future as well,” said Yosha Saluja, whose daughter studies in Pathways World School in Gurugram.
Adriti Prayan, a class VI student at Khaitan Public School, said that now the number of classes has reduced to five from eight and in a 40-minute class, students are given 20 minutes to do an assignment and the remaining time is used by the teacher to clear doubts. “On the first day, we faced some issues as it was new for all the students but now it has become easier to learn through this mode,” she said.