Better late than never, say teachers as schools set to reopen next week

Hyderabad: School students will soon be sitting on class benches after a long gap of 18 months. The call from the government is to continue with 100 per cent student strength in all schools and for all classes as the doors open on September 1.

The government-run schools play an important role in educating the marginalized sections of the people. The staff of these schools have started coming in from Thursday, while the works on keeping the classes, benches and the premises clean have begun.

Deccan Chronicle made an attempt to reach out to and interact with the teachers at government schools to take their views on the government’s decision to re-open the closed institutions for normal classes.

Many teachers welcomed the decision and pointed out that the children were stressed out at their homes, “which could impact their mental health.”

“Once they are back to the routine of attending the schools, they will be meeting friends. This will relax their mind and help them concentrate in the learning process. Online classes did not help them much. Many of these students lacked the Smart phone and were not able to sit in front television screens to learn and absorb the lessons,” teachers noted.

“Moreover, subjects like Mathematics and Sciences are meant to be explained to the students face-to-face. This makes them understand even complex subjects.”

A teacher noted that many of the government school students have illiterate parents. They fail to get proper guidance or help at home to clear the doubts about their curriculum. This makes the government teachers more relevant and responsible in building the career of students and shaping their future academic life.

Thalla Srinivas Reddy, headmaster at Andhra Vidyalaya High School, Kattalmandi, said, “Students in government schools are not able to follow the classes via online. There has been so much of learning loss since early last year. At least, by opening now, we will control the damage.”

Vinatha kumari, Mathematics teacher at Mahboobia High School, said, “It’s very difficult for teachers to make students learn mathematics at online classes. It’s good that physical classes are restarting by following the Covid precautions. Physical interaction is more important especially at this adolescent age and children are faced with high psychological stress.”  

Gatadi Neeraja, bio-science teacher at the same school, recommended, “It’s better to start the higher classes. There is a lot of learning loss for the students. At the same time, health-related precautions should be maintained. The government should release proper guidelines, keeping in mind the coronavirus threat as also the future of students.”

K Sunitha, Physical science teacher at the Government High School in Musheerabad, said, “The government’s sudden decision is pushing teachers into awkward situations. Restarting all the classes in one go will lead to difficulties in maintaining the norm of social distancing.”

Her statement was supported by another teacher in the same school, Venkat Laxmi Telugu Pandit. “It’s better that once the children get vaccinated, the schools reopen for physical classes.” She added, “However, students may carry the infections. Through them we get infected, and we also carry this virus home.”

Meena Kumari, government teacher: “We request the government to open only the higher classes -- the 9th and the 10^th. The pandemic situation is not over yet. So it’ll be very difficult for us to deal with children.”

Karanakar Reddy, Nishulk Prabhath high school, a government aided institution at Khairtabad, said: “The government should do phase-wise opening to maintain physical distance. Else, this will be difficult. There is the fear of this pandemic all around.”