After a long spell of online studies, children across the state have started attending classes in the physical mode what with schools having reopened from Monday. The attendance, though, continues to be an issue. Therefore, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has urged parents to send their children to classes without any fear.
In a video message to all stakeholders, Patnaik called upon the students not to fear Covid-19 and enjoy their time in the class. But he advised them to take necessary precautions, such as wearing masks and using soaps for washing hands regularly, to keep themselves protected.
While advising students to work hard to compensate for the loss of learning during the pandemic, the Chief Minister assured them that the government was always there to help them. However, both teachers and parents remain concerned about the reluctance of a large number of students to go back to schools.
A section of teachers feel that this could be due to their long absence from schools during the COVID-19 pandemic when online classes and examinations became the norm. While online classes meant answering mostly objective-type questions without any real surveillance by teachers as happens in off-line exams, going back to schools has brought back the fear of facing subjective or long questions in physical classrooms. Even teachers admit that students have practically forgotten how to write with a pen and need to get used to the classroom environment all over again. Psychiatrists, too, have recommended counselling sessions for students.
However, there is no denying the need for students to get back to physical classes because online classes cannot be a substitute for that. Besides, even holding online classes in remote tribal-dominated areas with poor mobile and internet connectivity has been a huge challenge for the education department. In many areas, young children had to climb up hills and trees to get connected. In some cases, the lack of mobile phones was a problem.
Even though many voluntary organisations and social activists came forward to help such students by offering financial assistance, and some even organized classes by setting up local radio stations, there is no denying the challenge of connectivity. Considering that several hundred villages in the state are yet to get mobile phone connectivity, teaching students in these areas through online classes will not be possible. The Chief Minister has repeatedly sought the Centre’s intervention to resolve the connectivity problem, but things have not improved much.
Under the circumstances, offline classes in schools are the best bet for the government. Now that the threat of COVID-19 has receded to a large extent, it is only fair to open schools and ensure that students go back to classes and resume their studies while taking necessary precautions.
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