My 12-year-old daughter misses school and moreover her dear friends. She’s now tired of the unexpected and unwarranted long break from school. When are we reporting back, she cribs. She has surprisingly become taller and leaner from what she was just a couple of months ago, not to speak about being more reserved. I wonder whether social distancing has made her quieter, more introvert as also unfortunately got her addicted to the internet.
I observe the lockdown has weaned her from her keyboard instead the Internet has trapped her in its grip. Hooked to the net, she seeks refuge in artworks and more so in composing animated clips, which she uploads and calls up her friends to like, share and subscribe. Studies have taken a backseat. I attempt to teach French which I once loved and am pleasantly surprised as I realise I’m still so very much in love with the language, I can almost sense the same love blossoming in her petite heart. Siri assists us unconditionally and I’m grateful.
My son who’s in higher secondary is struggling with his online classes, thanks to the erratic power supply, poor connectivity, and his frame of mind. Unlike my daughter he is not an academic centric kid. He has perpetual stock of innumerable ruthless rationalistic questions that standard text books and a harried parent like me often fail to give convincing response. I watch him as he sits for the virtual class.
As the online class progresses, he easily gets bored, impatient and moreover tired of clinging to his smart phone, it’s challenging to retain and sustain his attention, not surprisingly, his mind wanders, he turns to me and questions – Do you think at least now, the government will be giving us the laptop we were promised in the fifth standard, he chuckles, and even before I can respond he throws the next bomb …you’re aware na about the poor 14-year-old girl who committed suicide in Kerala as she could not get access to online class, as I gasp, he turns his attention to the devise and gets engrossed in the virtual discussion, for a moment I wonder did we even communicate at all. I once again wonder what brews in a teen’s volatile mind and I shudder at the thought of young lives snubbed due to these testing times.
Being in the teaching profession, I too am coping with the paradigm shift in teaching methodology. The teacher is transformed from the ‘Sage on the stage’ to that of ‘Guide by the side’. Technology is here to assist and connect the teacher and taught as never before. The teacher is now all the more of a facilitator rather than an all knowing source of knowledge. I upload my first clip and I sound very alien and distanced. I miss my classroom teaching which was more interactive, amiable and besides more humane.
But, reality stares in the face, I speculate the options open in educating. As is known, no European country has made it compulsory for parents to send their children to school. Post admission, home schooling is one sensible option open to wards and parents. Children, can be tutored at home as per the prescribed syllabus, though online classes, staggered timing of classes are some other options open, and certainly self study is here for keeps, until something better comes along.
