The Goan Forum for Education Research Promotion by GVM Dr Dada Vaidya College of Education conducted a panel discussion on ‘Education in the Covid-19 era’. One of the panellists, Mr Deepak Khaitan, founder of Sunshine Worldwide School, enlightened us with how creative the Sunshine Worldwide School are getting in terms of educating the children through online classes.
Dr Nandita De Souza, Pediatrician and Director of ‘Sethu’ Centre for Child Development and Family Guidance, discussed how important it is to take care of the mental health of every child during the online classes. Dr Uday Gaonkar, Dy. Director of Education (South Goa) made it clear that it is important to educate the children, but now it is the time to take care of their health, and formal education must be kept at bay at the moment. The students must now learn other tactics related to life.
Dr Vikram Dalvi, consultant physician, and intensivist predicted that school will be in a position to open up only in October that too with certain protocols regarding health being followed.
The discussion was fruitful as there is hope that sooner the schools will be opened, but if the situation continues to prevail, online education is the only option. But what we notice with ‘online education’ is that it is not viable for every student in the state and the country at large, given the varied reasons for internet issues, affordability, improper gadgets, parent’s inability to keep a check on their child, etc.
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Giving it a hard thought what came to me as a revelation is the home tuitions or village tuitions as a viable option. Normally, the child could register his or herself in the school of his or her choice. The parent or the child can then approach the nearest expert tuition teacher to guide the student by visiting the student at home or making the student visit the tuition centre. With given sanitization and other protocols maintained, we can foresee that this is one of the best options to not just cater to students who are able to access the online classes but also those children who are not able to afford the online classes or online material in general.
Home tuitions or children visiting the tuition centres that are closer to their house would be in their comfort zone and the students would be inclined to study under the guidance of their tuition teacher. Knowing that the chances of learning online are farfetched and that there is hardly any other possibility of learning, the students would make the best opportunity of the available tuition teacher.
The presence of tuition teachers to a certain group of children is always beneficial. If we look at the past, we have very clear memories of our tuition teacher who took the trouble to first learn it herself or himself and then teach us. Even after attending classes in school, we would run for tuitions, because that is where personal attention was given as against the attention given in a class that has students more in number.
So the class strength in a tuition centre reduces considerably giving the teacher the chance to render personal attention to students. In this case, the teacher can decide on a study plan along with the student and execute it in the days to come. Tuition teachers have taught students for years and they definitely have the experience they need. Whether it is to discipline the child or catering to the emotional needs of the child. Students will come in contact with their friends at the tuition centres, relieving them of the present stress.
Obviously, the gathering such as these should be curtailed to a smaller number and in batches, and other protocols of social distancing and sanitization followed. So the tuition centres or home tutoring makes face-to-face interaction possible, teaching gets more personalized as the teacher can employ different techniques and pedagogies to teach the students in their charge.
This kind of learning becomes more convenient as the parents need not be worried about their children as against the online classes learning process. The parents can trust the tuition teacher who is nearest to them and send their children for studies at the given time. The students themselves would face less stress as compared to online classes. Because when ‘online classes’ happen, there are plenty of assignments given to the students and they need to complete and submit them. The completion of these assignments individually is a task in itself. But when done in the presence of classmates the burden gets lightened and shared. Later, the evaluation of these students can take place in a formal setup.
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This method paves an opportunity for the students (especially the students belonging to the elementary school) who feel lost due to the lack of smart and creative online ways of learning. This method could be a retreating back to the past, in terms of teaching and learning pedagogies. But this is one of the best options when we are troubled by the coronavirus.
There is no chance of students skipping their precious academic year, and we save the trouble for the parents who have to bear the tension of making the gadgets or technology available to their child. And then check if the child is studying or not. Thus, home tuitions or village tuition centres are a feasible option to bridge the educational dilemma of the present.
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