• By Admin
• 19 Aug, 2020
• Share

Effect of Lock-Down On Children, Parents, Teachers and School

Effect of Lock Down On Preprimary & Primary Schools, Parents & Teachers

When did you last visit a school? Well, whenever you did, visualize the scenario. It is a building that greets you with a lot of noise, the noise of students chatting, teachers laboring hard to maintain discipline in their respective classrooms, the noise of students running around, playing, laughing, etc. It is a building that has an aura and very high positive energy. In this blog, we will try to get an overview of the effect of lockdown on Preprimary & primary schools, parents & teachers.

Of late, things have changed. There is silence all around. No more noise, no more sound of the thumping shoes of the children running around or the teachers teaching and giving routine instructions. The aura & energy is gone. You can no longer see the kids rushing into the school in the morning or running towards the exit with the last bell ringing. The usual sight of parents dropping and picking up their children is also gone.

This is the sight of all schools without exception for the last four months. It is the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of schools are closed, affecting the lives of millions of students. There have been varied effects of this lockdown. Parents have locked their children indoors because they fear the children getting infected by the Coronavirus.

All schedules have gone haywire. The kids are now deprived of all physical activities. They spend a lot of time lying on the beds or the couch. Their movements are currently limited to electronic gazettes. The kids are seen spending hours glued to the TV or playing video games on the mobiles and tabs. Lying down and watching TV for hours and doing no physical activities, these habits are having a telling effect on their mental and physical health. While the diets of some kids have increased, resulting in obesity, and in some cases, it has gone down, resulting in kids becoming cranky.

It is no regular school vacation. It is a forced and prolonged vacation. It has created enormous pressure on both the parents and the kids. Due to social distancing, people are not meeting each other. While parents have been able to manage, the kids have been dearly missing playing and meeting with their friends and peers. Although it is possible to keep in touch through video conferencing, this certainly does have the effect that an in-person meeting would have. The children are feeling deprived and isolated. Their behavior has changed; they are showing tantrums that they did not earlier. The parents are losing their patience; violence at home is reported more often. Parents have also complained of children talking less, isolating themselves to a room in many cases. These are signs of depression. This abnormal state of mind where fear, anxiety, depression, and the feeling of not knowing what to do can lead children to a stage where they might even think of injuring themselves.

The problem is not limited to only children. The parents face the challenge of maintaining a perfect balance between giving the children time and managing the new norm of working from home. A neglected child could spend extra time with the electronic gazettes. It further adds to the anxiety the child already is in.

The fallout effect of the extended lockdown in schools has been the challenge to ensure that the kids do not lose valuable learning time. To achieve this, the schools opted to start online classes for the students. The sudden shift from a regular classroom to a virtual class has challenged the students and the schools. Not every home has a Laptop, a PC, or even a Tab. The child must attend the course on the micro screen of a smartphone. Often internet speed and connections interfere with the continuity of the class.

Moreover, if the kids are from Nursery school or Kindergarten or preprimary school, parents have the additional duty of monitoring the kids because of the limited attention span of these small kids. Congratulations to all the parents, especially the mothers, for being able to motivate and help their children attend online classes.

On the other hand, shifting from regular classroom teaching to online delivery of lectures is no less a challenge for Schools. The challenge is daunting if the audiences are from preprimary and primary schools. We need to appreciate the schools for being able to upgrade themselves as per the demand of the hour.

Going online was a new experience for the teachers . Despite minimum facilities and not so hi-tech equipment, the teachers have delivered. They were always at risk of being judged by the student's parents for everything, be it their teaching style and knowledge, pronunciation, command over the language, dressing sense, body language, etc. I sincerely congratulate and appreciate all the teachers involved in online teaching. They are all doing a commendable job.

Well, things are tricky for one and all. Every individual, from the child to the parents, teachers, and school administration, is doing their bit to maintain a brave face and fight the challenge.

Again in the present situation, the children are worst affected. Our joint responsibility is to keep their morale high and do all the possible endeavors to keep them in the right frame of mind.

Well, once things are back to normal, and you decide to enroll your kid in a playgroup or primary school, look for the best. The one with trained staff to take care of your child with dedicated and trained teachers, where hygiene is on the priority list and safety is everybody's concern, should be your choice.
Mastermind Playgroup and Primary School would be the most appropriate choice for your child. We meet all the expectations of the parents.

Also Read: Online Education-The Challenges For All Concerned