Old bell rings, school never the same

With the Covid-19 pandemic situation in Tamil Nadu severely disrupting education systems since March 2020, teachers in schools, who started conducting physical classes earlier this week, face a tough challenge in overcoming the weariness and lethargy among the students who are resuming offline studies after a long gap.

Teachers have bracketed the issues, which they are likely to confront in the coming months, under three groups  catering to children of elementary level, middle & high level, and higher secondary classes.

Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Association president PK Ilamaran claimed that most of the students till Class 3 couldn’t even write and read alphabets or count as they did not have physical classes for the past two years.

“As parents complain that they could not teach the children during lockdown due to various issues, teachers now face tremendous pressure in bringing the children back to the mainstream,” he added.

Echoing similar views, J Senthilnathan, a senior teacher of a government school in a far-flung area in Ervadi taluk in the district of Ramanathapuram, rued that children are still in lockdown mode.

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“We are finding it very difficult to make them sit in the classes as they often go out in the pretext of going to the washroom,” he said adding “it will take some time for things to return to normalcy and teachers should also be patient”.

Tamil Nadu Elementary School Teachers’ Forum member P Shankar said parents are also too ambitious that their children learn fast. “They are putting pressure on teachers, who were already under severe stress,” he said.

Dhilip, an English teacher with a government higher secondary school in Villupuram district, said though the pandemic situation has not eased fully, it was important that the government continue physical classes for all high and higher secondary schools considering the graveness of the situation on the education front.

The headmaster of a government school in the Chennai outskirts said it was a challenging time for both teaching and non-teaching staff in dealing with the children, who do not have the maturity to strictly follow Covid-19 safety protocol.

Tamil Nadu Parents-Teachers Welfare Association president S Arumainathan said whether it was children from elementary or middle or higher secondary, parents were literally waiting to send their wards to the schools. “Most of the parents of children in a government school, who cannot offer online classes, were labourers and they can’t sit and teach their children by ignoring their jobs,” he added.

According to Tamil Nadu Education Commissioner K Nanthakumar, there is a proposal to give skill development training to all the teachers from elementary and middle government schools to deal with the children, who were at home for almost two years. He said the training, which would start soon, will add strength to the existing teaching.