Children displaced, online learning a challenge

Silence fills the classrooms at Government Primary School in Kapurthala, that once echoed with laughter, lessons and learning. The blackboards remain untouched, the benches empty.

“The floods have eaten up one month in our lives. It’s been almost a month without studies. Our studies have been severely affected. It will be a challenge to bring students back on track,” a worried teacher at the school told The Tribune. Triggered by the overflowing Beas nearby on August 12, life had come to a halt these past many weeks in Sultanpur Lodhi.

Among the worst-affected by the floods are the three government schools in the area — Government Primary School in Baupur (65 students), Government High School in Baupur Jadid (45 students) and Government Primary School in Kammewal (17 students). All of them have been shut in this time.

The road leading to the school at Kammewal is so bad you can hardly use it. In Baupur Jadid, the school grounds were cleaned by teachers hoping to restart classes, only for the waters to rise and return. But the damage is not just physical. Many children, along with their families, have been displaced by the waters. Several homes have developed cracks. Their parents — mostly farmers — are now grappling with lost crops, lost income and the daunting task of starting over.

“After the floods ruined our fields, they’ve now affected our children’s education too. My three kids studied in the village school. Now they sit idle,” Sukhdev Singh, a farmer from Baupur Kadim, told this reporter.

Satnam Singh, a father of a Class 10 student at Government High School in Baupur Jadid, says his son has not studied for over a month. “There are cracks in our home, and cracks in his spirit too,” he says quietly.

While online classes are being arranged for students of Government High School Baupur, the challenges are huge. Most parents are away during the day, working in fields or other labour.

Teachers are doing what they can — sending worksheets, checking in via calls, even walking to visit students where possible. Mid-term exams for secondary classes have been postponed. “Right now the priority is safety of the students. It may be difficult for the students to go somewhere else as water levels have risen again,” said District Education Officer (Secondary) Harjinder Singh.

Exams for primary students are scheduled to begin on September 23, but teachers say the children are not prepared. “But, we will try to make them prepare on phone. That is the only option right now,” they said.

While mid-term exams are set to begin in Punjab government middle, high and secondary schools from tomorrow, they have been postponed in flood-affected school in Kapurthala.