Sir,

Covid-19 that hit the world as a pandemic forced countries all over the globe to change over to ‘Remote Learning’ or what is popularly known as ‘Online Teaching.’ Due to the pandemic, school buildings are closed, campus gates locked and a new online teaching has emerged with mostly recorded videos and sometimes live sessions.

A change that was so unexpected in its entirety and so sudden and so complex in its nature and scope that it demanded incredible co-ordination from different participants, such as students, parents and teachers.

As a teacher and an administrator for many years, I have experienced that if parents attend a couple of Parent-Teacher Meetings in a term, it will be a great achievement. But somehow for reasons best known to themselves, many parents shy away from attending such important meetings.

Under such real circumstances, it has been a huge task for all the three categories. There are parents with varying experiences and comfort levels (as they come from different educational backgrounds, different native languages and circumstances) and there are many teachers with no proper exposure and training in new methods of teaching.

So this type of hybrid teaching and learning is a very tough proposal considering the harsh ground realities. A traditional or conventional classroom teaching always provided for social and emotional connection, very different from the atmosphere of a virtual class.

In a digital class or a virtual class, as some teachers have confided in me, it is a huge challenge for the teachers to connect with the students and keep them motivated and engaged as in a conventional class with its live discussions. In a digital class it is nearly impossible to ensure that every voice is heard. Many sensitive parents have opined that whether it is possible in a digital class, to involve students in such critical process like self-awareness, group or team participation and healthy competition bringing out interpersonal skills that are so essential for success in school first and in life later.

The transformation to remote teaching is so quick that, many teachers in rural areas may not have thought of creating a video and now they have to grapple with new technological tools of teaching like One Note and Microsoft Teams or Flipgrid to name a few.

Whatever may be the method employed by the parent it is an illusion to bring in classroom discipline at home. In the new academic situation that is slowly evolving in our cities and villages, our teachers have to co-ordinate all the technical information (with low or non-availability of internet or power) and deliver the same effectively using the bewildering tools. It is then only that learning will be a meaningful process and the society wholly will benefit.

– Prof. K.V. Satyan, Texas, 17.7.2020

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