Since the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the normal lifestyle of the people across the globe, the virtual world has come to the rescue. The cell phone which wasn’t allowed in the school premises is running the entire education system. The education system is breathing a sigh of relief as the teachers adapted to the change seamlessly. Kudos to the fraternity of the teachers of India for adapting to the online teaching processes without having formal training. Most teachers have fresh memories of the challenging first day of online education. The trembling fingers that were operating the keyboard and the monitor that was staring at the teacher giving a tough look, the heart beats of the teachers were heard by the family members who stood as a strong guiding support. The teachers were apprehensive about the reactions of the parents at the other end of the virtual connect.
The online education system came with multiple challenges, but the teachers eventually succeeded.. To make the transformation journey easy the Principal of DMWA, Mr. Rajeev Kumar creatively thought about a Formal Online Training for the teachers to boost their confidence. Successful online training couldn’t be achieved without the hard work of the teachers and the guidance of Principal & Management. Datta Meghe World Academy is one of the top 15 premier schools in Navi Mumbai as per the survey by Education World & one of the top 100 schools in Maharashtra. I am proud to be associated with DMWA, Navi Mumbai.
Students did not face the same challenge as they adapted to the change quicker than their teachers. The students guided their Gurus without any prejudice and the bond between them was strengthened. For the first time the Guru and Shishya were in the same boat in a stormy sea of education, but after every storm there is a bright day and the era of online teaching had a turbulent start that turned into a smooth one. According to Mrs. Sonali Deb, Mathematics teacher at DMWA, the guidance and the training given by the school greatly helped her to impart online education.
In times where a small instructor led classroom is a trend, the electronic learning solution has offered more collaboration and a higher success rate than the offline. Students are loving this transformation as they are at ease at home, safe and sound which is a priority right now. Students are realising the importance of self-responsibility and discipline. Students can save time as commutation time to school has become zero. Students of DMWA are in high spirits due to guidance from the dedicated teachers during this tough time.
Life is not always a cake walk, it is filled with sweet and sour experiences and the online teaching process has its own demerits. Teachers face a tremendous problem of shoving away the boredom of the students and must constantly be on their toes to impart novel ways of teaching. It is also difficult to spot the child who doesn’t respond. Parents are complaining about excessive screen time. ENT specialists have reported increased number of patients in their clinics. Testing & conducting exams of subjective questions is a challenge, it is difficult for students to write lengthy answers. Few students faced difficulties while uploading the answer sheets in PDF due to poor connectivity. Teachers too are complaining of back ache and eye problems. The task of teachers has increased as they have to prepare PPTs, search for online activities and create quizzes which are taking a toll on their health. Students are not getting a hands-on experience and are missing their lunch breaks and playing as a team in the school.
The education system of India is getting revamped. The novel Corona virus has forcefully changed the structure of the old teaching and learning style, a new era of education has begun. Surely students, teachers and parents are happy despite having some negative impact. Together we can all overcome the challenges and teachers can prepare more activity-based teaching which is the pivotal point of NEP 2020.