By Benjamin Lyngdoh
The other day a group of concerned parents stated that ‘the future of their children is destroyed because of Covid-19’. They are parents whose children are in classes eight, nine and ten. It is understandable that such parents will be the most worried lot as matriculation results are considered the hallmark and the first stepping stone into career building. High school education is the foundation for choosing amongst the streams of arts, commerce and science from class eleven onwards. If the foundation and counselling is not inadequate then the choice of a stream might be a difficult task. After all, it involves going into a higher and specialised study that ultimately builds a person’s career graph. It is a precarious situation that has impacted the high school students enormously. Amidst this consideration, the fact is that all students across schools, colleges and universities have been affected in varying degrees. The degree of impact depends upon the seriousness of the student and the involvement of the parents. This primarily defines how bad the pandemic has been for students. In terms of learning and knowledge, we generally see a lot of half-cooked students with a few exceptions. Of course, the pandemic is the reason for it; but sadly much of it is our own doing.
In April, 2020 there was a clip on social media where a kid was asked as to why she has not gone to school? She answered because it is Corona holiday. The people around her can be heard laughing and clapping and everyone took it as hilarious. Well, today it is not funny anymore! Just look at the kind of havoc the pandemic has caused on the learning of students. Even today many of them still behave as if they are on a holiday. Since last year the desire and willingness to learn has deteriorated. The motivation is lost. In fact, some of them outlandishly hope that they will not need to go to their educational institutions anymore and that marks and divisions will be handed to them on a platter.
The worrying thing is that they have become half-cooked not because of the Covid-19 situation alone, but because of taking advantage of the situation. For many, learning has become secondary, studying has become a rarity and scoring marks has become a piece of cake. One student of a school proudly claimed that he scored 92% in his year-end examination but on discussing the basics of the subject-matter his knowledge was scanty and left a lot to be desired.
However, the intention of this column is not to demean; rather, it is to lay down the facts as they are. We must accept that we have a problem of half-cooked students and take steps to reverse the trend. Yes, we may not be able to do much about the pandemic induced restrictions; however, a lot can and must be done at the household level. As one teacher quipped, “When you are at school (lower classes), the real learning happens at home!”
The online classes are going on. The good thing now is that teachers have got the hang of it and students are in the bandwagon. However, the important point to be factored here is that we do not have a culture of teaching-learning through online mode. It is alien to us. Unlike in western countries where the practice of online classes dates back to the 1990s, for us it is something new and forced upon both teachers and students. Online classes are not built in our psyche and hence it will take time for the students to adapt to learning through it. This is precisely one of the reasons why students learn less these days. It will take time for them to acclimatise to it just as it took time for the teachers to learn to teach online.
In this structural transition, the year 2020-21 has turned into a nightmare for the students. The condition worsens if the students already lack the desire for learning. Then all hell breaks loose. Here, let us take NEHU and the colleges affiliated to it as a case in point. In July, 2020 when we were all grappling with the issue of conducting examinations, all stakeholders from teachers to students to parents to society were involved in it. Till that time, it was unsure as to when and how examinations would be conducted. Till that time, the attendance of students in online classes was as good as 100%. When it was decided that the examination would be an ‘open-book online mode’, gradually the attendance started dwindling and the frequency of class-attendance became erratic. Combine this with cases where teachers do not take classes. Then everything goes for a toss. The outcome is half-cooked students in higher education. The year 2020-21 has brought out students with impressive marks and percentages but without adequate learning.
On the other side of the coin, 2020-21 has become the year of ‘excellence of the serious’. There are cases of students who have done well during the pandemic. However, these are few and are predominantly those who have the backing of two critical factors – a good internet connection with supporting gadgets and parents who are able and willing to guide/teach their children. In truth, this will become an increasing trend in the near future. As nice as it appears this cannot be a yardstick for the many. This is because in Meghalaya not everyone has the economic means for online learning. This is true even of those within Shillong itself.
The 2020 Oxfam report points out that the richest 10% in India own 74% of its wealth. In the case of Meghalaya, it would be fair to propose that the richest 10% owns 90% of its wealth! This disparity only indicates the depth of the problem. In addition, the majority of parents do not possess the ability to teach their children. There are many who cannot handle their children once they reach class five and above. This is a practical problem. All of this is a melting pot that leads to half-baked students impacted by the pandemic. In the short-term, the only way out of this problem is for teachers to consistently be on the look-out for students and motivate them to study; for students to reciprocate and be responsible towards their education and future careers and the parents to guide and teach their children to the extent possible. In addition, teaching by neighbours and friends can be of great help for parents who lack the skills. Failure to act on this will only aggravate the problem of half-baked students!
In the end, it goes without saying that classroom interaction is irreplaceable and that online teaching-learning is only a supplement. However, this very concept of blended learning is here to stay. Hence, there is need for the teachers, students and parents to rise to the challenge. Parents that are able to should invest in gadgets and teach their children at home; for those who are not able to, the government must assist in acquiring gadgets and parents are to build social networks for teaching-learning of their children.
“The worrying thing is that they have become half-cooked not because of the Covid-19 situation alone, but because of taking advantage of the situation. For many, learning has become secondary, studying has become a rarity and scoring marks has become a piece of cake.” One student of a school proudly claimed that he scored 92% in his year-end examination but on discussing the basics of the subject-matter his knowledge was scanty and left a lot to be desired.
(Email: [email protected]; The Author teaches at NEHU)