Bilal Margo
What will life be like when India and the rest of the world lift the lockdown completely? Will life as we knew it before Covid-19 return? Well, with the extension of the nation-wide lockdown for another two weeks, albeit with significant relaxations, we will have to wait for some more time to find out. There’s no reliable data to tell us when the pandemic will end. The new norms of social distancing, masks, gloves and washing of our hands is here to stay. Even if all restrictions are lifted, until a vaccine is found, we have to remember that the virus is still among us. So, unless we continue to follow social distancing norms, we are going to see a spurt in cases in India. Do expect identification of hotspots to continue and cluster shutdowns. There will probably also be temperature sensors at public places and quarantine measures will be put in place if an infection is detected in a workplace. Middle seats won’t be sold in flights; every other seat will be empty in theatres – perhaps forcing the managements to hike ticket prices. One good thing that may come out of lifting the lockdown partially is that migrant labour and house maids may be able to go back to work, but whether factory workers in the non-essential sectors would be able to go back soon is still an open question. Life during the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult for parents and children alike. The return to school is an important and hopefully welcome step, but you and your children likely have many questions. Here’s the latest information on what to expect and how you can support your young student. Given the difficulty of the situation and variation across the globe, countries are in different stages regarding how and when they plan to reopen schools. These decisions will usually be made by national or state governments, often in discussion with local authorities. They will have to consider public health, the benefits and risks for education and other factors. The best interest of every child should be at the centre of these decisions, using the best available evidence, but exactly how this will look will vary from school to school. No doubt, that the Covid-19 pandemic has unleashed the biggest calamity that humanity has faced so far. We all are going through perhaps the most trying circumstances of our lives.Education disruption impacts our readiness for the future and also has huge economic and lifestyle costs. Under such circumstances, it is fair to say that the majority of students have not only been left unequipped but also neglected by the education system. The educational crisis that we are presently facing began long before the COVID-19 crisis ever set foot in the country. This time can be used to make amends for the better. The school day normally has its own rhythm and routine punctuated by lessons, bells and breaks.
Never has it become more necessary to do this — to give time for humanity and the earth to heal.
Now more than 90% of the planet’s children are out of classes, the disruption will ripple for years. Teaching has moved online, with digital lessons on a scale never seen – highlighting concerns that digital poverty is locking children out of learning. Even in a major economy such as the significant minority don’t have ready access to a device of their own, which they can use for schoolwork. When did we last see a school with full of children? When was a school bus plying last time? What an unusual time, extraordinary situation! Congregation is the enemy of coronavirus. No crowding and no congregating. Schools, colleges and universities are all closed and we don’t know when they are going to reopen. Make sure that you take all measures to minimize this disruption so that when life returns to normal, you are even more prepared to take advantage of the opportunities that life and the world-at-large presents to you. Many people are saying what is wrong if the academic institutions are closed, the community of teachers and students can continue the imparting and receiving of education online. It is easier said than done. May be they do not know the real Jammu and Kashmir. The students here in Jammu and Kashmir are experiencing the same condition from last more than a decade. Students here are halted at homes since August 2019. Schools are deserted, no one bothered, our future is in stake. The mass use of mobile phones doesn’t mean the medium is used for constructive purposes other than communication, entertainment and spreading of fake news. In the absence of reliable data, it is difficult to arrive at any definitive conclusion. But, from our common understanding we can say that the phone is rarely used for educative purposes in schools. Even for higher education its use is limited. Here we need to understand one basic characteristics of education. Is education merely a process of transferring texts or lessons from the teachers to the students? It is a wrong notion of education. Ready-made texts or for that matter study materials are only a part of education. The purpose of education is to hone an inquisitive mind and develop a critical thinking among the students. There are many ways to do that. These also include texts and study materials. What happens in the process of imparting and receiving education? Many things happen simultaneously. And instead of saying imparting and receiving education, may we say reading-learning process. This is a dual process where the teachers and students participate in the process. It is not only a process of learning, it is also a process of understanding and creating new knowledge. It is a creative process of participation. At school level, particularly in our context which is the context of a developing world, it is not possible to do it online. There are apparently three different but inter connected aspects of education. Education is a process of developing an attitude to learning. It is a process of creating new knowledge and finally it is also acquiring certain human and ethical values while involving in the reading-learning process. Is it possible to do all the three virtually without attending schools and classrooms? I don’t think so.
Not that we have all the facilities everywhere for imparting education online. Even, if we had the facilities, education will not happen online at school level. It doesn’t happen even in most developed countries. Yes, we have been seeing quality music being produced during the lockdown through specialised apps by artists. It was done at a different level by a highly synchronised and skilled group of expert musicians. To expect that from ordinary students will be asking for the impossible. So there is practically no alternative to the regular schools and classrooms. But we are never going to get back the school days lost in the lockdown. So how can the lost of so many days could be recovered? When we speak in terms of recovering lost school days, we in a way indulge ourselves in a kind of quantification which is difficult to measure and it is again in a sense speaking about the time required for imparting lessons and texts to the students. Here, leaving aside the ideality of the issue, if we come to the practical thing, first thing comes to our mind is the list of holiday in the school calendar. This is one thing we can easily expend with. In such crisis time holiday is a luxury. So all school holidays including summer and winter holidays must be dispensed with. Other holidays should also be done away with. I am sure this will give us many more additional working days to compensate the lost school days. The examinations and other academic routine may be rescheduled accordingly. Then, we should also explore the possibility of breaking a class to different shifts to avoid congestion in the classroom and for maintaining social distancing. This may be a problem in overcrowded private schools. But, shouldn’t be a big issue in some of the government schools where student population is thin. Then, provision may be made for extra classes or special tutorials so that lost school days can further be recovered and compensated. The most challenging thing will be maintaining hygiene in the school campus and classrooms. Actually this is not a crisis. This is an opportunity. The practice of best hygiene should be an integral part of our education. Besides, to fight the COVID-19, the education department should prepare an elaborate hygiene manual in consultation with the public health experts and educators. We should do this in a way so that it can be used not against this pandemic but for any future pandemic to come. The thing is all the extra burden will mostly fall on the members of the faculty and the education administration. Given the urgencies, it may not be that difficult to get their cooperation and support. In nuclear families, especially, parents might have to miss work to take care of their children. Some of them could be healthcare professionals, who are desperately needed to mitigate the pandemic. There is pressure on teachers, too. “Every teacher has a unique teaching style. Over a period, they would have built a rapport with the children. This is done through observing their body language in class, their interaction with classmates — how it is different in small groups and large groups. Now, they just see them on computer screens and there could be a lot of disturbances. A dog might walk in during the class.” Conducting large-scale, high-stakes examinations, however, will be more complicated. Most board and entrance examinations have been either postponed or suspended, causing disruptions in the academic calendar. The students who are slated to appear for next year’s board exams, for instance, have already lost instructional time.
(The author is a freelancer and writes regularly for “Kashmir Horizon”. Views are his own) [email protected]
