The learning graph of students studying in schools located in the countryside has declined at an unprecedented level due to the prolonged closure of schools owing to the Covid pandemic. Its effect has been such that students studying in the countryside schools have even forgotten to read and write. This is the biggest challenge that the teaching community in rural areas is facing now.
Speaking to Education Ti mes, Umakant Kumar, head master, UMS Kharihara Urdu (Boy) School in Banka district of Bihar, says, "The academic level of students has gone down to ground zero due to the prolonged closure of schools. The slight improve ment that the students sho wed before the emergence of the pandemic has comple tely disappeared. The sylla bus for most classes has also not been completed which has burdened the teachers and students."
Despite limited resour ces, most schools are helping students to retune them to the schooling culture and de aling with the learning defici encies. "It would be a hercu lean task at hand for us to complete a year's syllabus in just a month as we have not been able to teach anything due to the closure of scho ols," says Kumar.
Most local students struggled in reading and wri ting, which has further dete riorated. Teachers are forced to teach students from the elementary level, he adds. The schools are making ef forts to make them read aloud in the classrooms. In addition to this, we have made it man datory for the students to do calligraphy writing in Eng lish, Hindi and Urdu.
"Four teachers from our school were already taking online classes. We made a Fa cebook and a WhatsApp gro up, which was joined by 300 local people to help the stu dents learn, says Kumar.
Kashinath D Bhoir, princi pal, Maharashtra Military School in Murbad town of Thane district, says, "The writing speed of most stu dents has decreased to a gre at extent. Due to online clas ses, many students got ad dicted to online games on their mobile phones which has added to the weakening of their academic base."
"Due to lack of interaction with teachers and peers, stu dents have also lost the emo tional equilibrium, leading to their academic loss. Since we have started coming to scho ols, we are working on impro ving the basic concepts. Ma ny students completely stop ped studying due to lack of in ternet connectivity and mobile phones. We are now focusing on improving the language base and maths," adds Bhoir.
Published on :- Times of India
Date :- 28 02 2022
