“With this period, only the fittest will survive. As harsh as it might sound, that is just the way it is. There are those who will find a way, but some wouldn’t, and you just have to try and do what is best for you right now. Do what works,” a friend of mine told me recently.
Her words left me thinking. I could not help but agree with her. We were discussing the schooling of our nation’s children in the COVID-19 pandemic period. I know I have discussed the issue in this space before, but for me that it is the most troubling effect of the pandemic. I know our country has been dealt more than a double whammy and then there were the murders of cousins Joel and Isaiah Henry over the last weekend and Haresh Singh on Wednesday, as well as the protests and other issues.
But in all of the pain, our nation’s children still have to be schooled and that is one of the issues facing parents as this is the time children would usually have been returning to the classrooms, dressed in their spanking new uniforms and shoes, with books and bags and so on. At this point, there are no physical classrooms to return to; some will have to turn up to the virtual classrooms while others will not have access.
This is not the normal format of this column, but I believe I am expressing the concerns of many of my sisters. We are most worried about our children’s education and their overall development during this tough period.
“More than half of my students’ parents say they have no internet. And this thing is really worrying me because more than half of those children could not read and I am wondering what will happen to them,” a worried teacher told me recently.
“The public system is not really prepared for the online learning and even if we were prepared our students can’t afford it. What will happen to those children?” she asked me, not expecting an answer.
Minister of Education Priya Manickchand has been trying and the government has set aside monies to help our nation’s children. The minister knows she cannot go it alone and she has been meeting with stakeholders, but the hard truth is that no one has all the answers. Regardless of what they do it would not be enough, there will still be those children who will not access any form of significant learning during the period. There will be nowhere to lay the blame; not at the feet of the authorities, the teachers, and not even the parents. That is just the sad reality.
And even those who are accessing online learning will also suffer tremendously. I cannot get rid of the image of the child who in frustration burst into tears while faced with online learning. His helpless mother had uploaded the video to Facebook, and she related that there was nothing she could have done but to cry with her son.
I am sure that is how some parents feel, and it is not just for the suffering of their children but also out of sheer frustration of trying to balance all the other responsibilities and attempting to manage their children during the online sessions. Working parents will find it doubly hard.
“Mommy I just want to go back to school. I miss school. I miss my friends,” my younger son said to me recently and I saw the sadness in his face.
I am sure those are words that parents are hearing almost every day. A friend asked me recently how I felt about all of this. It was a difficult question and I told her while I know our children remaining home is for everybody’s safety, I am also very fearful of the long-term effect this stay-home period will have on them.
We all know how important it is for children to be interacting with their peers, as it plays a great part in their development. Nothing beats the face-to-face interaction with their peers and teachers. I am putting all of this in this space because it is something that troubles me constantly; it is at the forefront of my mind all the time. Maybe it is because I am a parent of school-age children, but I hear and see this same fear when I interact with other parents.
Some schools, at least the private schools, are now introducing children wearing their school uniforms during the sessions in an effort to get them in the right frame of mind. I am not sure if it will help. Maybe knowing that their cameras are on and the teachers are ensuring that they are dressed in the uniforms will help.
“We can’t have children coming to classes sometimes topless, some of them sitting on their beds…,” one educator told me recently.
So they are now appealing to parents to find designated corners for their children to learn. For some families, the homes are too small to accommodate this. And if there is more than one school-aged child, and this is the case in many instances, then how many designated spots can parents find? The home environment is not conducive to this type of learning.
So even in this case the fittest will survive. Those children who can remain focused and motivated will pull through, the others will limp and make it somehow. As for those who have no access, they will just have to pick up from where they left off when schools finally reopen.
Adults must understand more than ever that sacrifices must be made, and they have to try to do everything possible to ensure that children are exposed to some form of learning. I am not just speaking about parents, guardians, and relatives but also educators. During this period, our teachers once they have the access or whatever assistance is provided through the Education Ministry, must understand that they have to go above and beyond to help the nation’s children.
The attitude by some of ‘this is the time for parents to teach their children’ is not right; in fact, it is downright heartless. Not only parents are working, but there are some parents who just cannot teach their children, and that is a fact. So, I am appealing to teachers to do what you can to help out nation’s children, they need you now more than ever. Just help them, please.
And let’s not forget the disadvantages of online learning. According to e-student.org:
● e-learning can cause social isolation
● e-learning requires strong self-motivation and time management skills
● there is lack of communicational skill development in online students
● cheating prevention during online assessments is complicated
● online instructors tend to focus on theory rather than practice
● e-learning lacks face-to-face communication
● e-learning is limited to certain disciplines
● online learning is inaccessible to the computer illiterate population
So, as was said earlier, the fittest will survive. That’s just the way it is.
