Don't let Covid derail your learning

Cdt. Parth Sehrawat, RIMC, Dehradun

The global pandemic Covid-19 has affected the whole world for over seven months now bringing everything to a grinding halt. But the most affected group is that of students. It is said that students are like clay that is shaped by its surroundings. So, if the conditions around are not favourable, the clay will not be moulded properly, And this is what we are witnessing these days.

 The lockdown enforced to halt the spread of the pandemic affected students the most as all educational institutions were closed. Initially, it was seen as a spell of “much-needed” freedom from the drudgery of going to school and colleges and facing highly stressful exams. But as days stretched into weeks and weeks into months and the virus showed no signs of slackening its grip on countries across the world, things changed for students.

Firstly they were confined within the four walls of their homes completely cut off from their friends, outdoor life and socialising. Many put on weight due to lack of exercise. Besides this their eyesight, too, was affected due to the constant use of mobiles and laptops. The motivation to study and work hard has been the third casualty due to the disruption of real-time classroom teaching.

I am not saying that online classes have been in vain. But these surely are not as good as normal classes for children. Online classes are like one-sided communication (most of the time) where you can barely ask or communicate with your teacher. Then these are only available on smart phones, which many students cannot afford. Some poor people have had to borrow money to buy smart phones for online classes of their kids.

Then there are network issues in rural areas and as a result most of the students are unable to join proper online classes.

The other big reason is morale of students. Given a choice between playing or studying, around 99% of children will play rather than attend a class virtually.

This behaviour is being observed often these days as students are not attentive during the classes. Many are skipping classes. There are instances reported by teachers of students being found sleeping during the class. Most of the time teachers find that students are not attentive in online classes.

There is a proper way to attend these classes like keeping the back straight, being attentive and participating in class properly. But these things are not being followed as the time is limited (35 mins) for each class and the number of students is more.

One should not forget that the lockdown has ‘blessed’ us students with a lot of time. It is a golden opportunity to learn and strengthen our skills rather than while away time in useless pursuits. It is rightly said that “A smooth sea can never create a skilful sailor”. So we can do some work out to be fit and we can also improve our immune system. Go for indoor activities like yoga, meditation, dance etc.

Till now, there is no vaccine for Covid-19 and educational institutes are not likely to be opened sometime soon so we have to utilise lockdown as a “blessing in disguise” by improving our shortcomings. The teachers should encourage the students to follow self-study.