Whenever we talk about teaching and education, subconsciously we have a picture formed in our minds of a classroom where a teacher and the student are in close proximity with books in hands. Even if we go back to the olden days, we see the Guru or the teacher giving lessons to the student, here may be in the open, under a tree. Teaching always happened with both being physically present. But we never imagined this process to happen without their actual presence or anything different.

And then came this pandemic, along with a lockdown which brought everything to a halt. Everything switched from real to virtual. In a world where most of the things were already on a digital platform, it wasn’t that difficult to resume their work virtually. However, teaching was one of the jobs which faced some real challenges. While the schools remained closed for few days, they decided to join the digital world and start continuing teaching through online classes. Well, this is not an entirely new concept as different learning apps already existed, however, managing an entire class of 25-30 students virtually was different.

Firstly, not all teachers are of the same age, have the same personality, aptitude and skills. Not everyone is tech savvy, creative or proactive, however, being a teacher, their primary goal is imparting knowledge and as educators they are aware of their responsibilities. Here are few challenges faced by the teachers during this phase.

Learning Technology – Joining the new digital world with apps like Zoom, Google Meet, Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams etc. within a week was the first challenge faced by the teachers with factors like internet availability and speed always effecting the quality of the class

Class Preparation – Unlike an actual concrete classroom, a virtual class needs to be prepared by sending the class links to both students and parents , sharing the content, method to be used (whiteboard or PPT), sharing classwork and homework, notes, references, articles and other links, thus increasing the actual work time apart from the class duration

Managing the class – Real or virtual, classroom mischief is a common hurdle in maintaining discipline in the class, especially when kids are pro with the digital stuff and have control over being visible and audible by switching off the camera, muting and un-muting mics, chatting etc.

Facing the camera – Although most of the teachers are fluent in their subject, facing the camera and speaking to a virtual audience can be really uncomfortable, specially for senior teachers who find it difficult to take even a selfie

Lack of resources – Due to lockdowns, resources were scarce or unavailable making it difficult to conduct classes or projects

Conducting  tests – Another challenge is to conduct tests or exams because it becomes really difficult whether one is cheating or being dishonest and giving individual attention to each student virtually is also not possible

Checking assessments –  Since it is all virtual, teachers receive copies of worksheets or assignments which are not always clear, correcting them on images and sending it back is also another difficulty, it becomes more difficult when they are not sent on time

Managing family – Finding a space for conducting a class and setting it up for the class while working from home is a challenge in itself. Moreover, managing both work and family, with taking extra care and without house helps can be really exhausting

Having mentioned all these challenges, it has been almost 7 months since online classes have started and I am sure that there has not been much difference when learning is concerned. The teachers have shown great support in taking up this challenge of bringing classes to the students’ homes. In spite of the criticisms, they show up every day with a smile making their classes as meaningful and interesting as it used to be in schools. We all should be appreciative of the teachers and grateful for their untiring efforts, perseverance and passion for teaching which has a sole motive that the learning needs to grow and the future of our children should not get compromised.

Published by SFS NARENGI