Teachers struggle with the challenges posed by the COVID-19 lockdown

Teachers struggle with the challenges posed by the COVID-19 lockdown

Other than the side-effects on health, COVID-19 has brought some unique challenges for the teachers as they have to deal with the anxious students and parents as they manage their household chores and face uncertainty regarding their paycheque.Teachers receive a plethora of calls from parents complaining about video files being too heavy, online platforms not working properly due to technical glitches and many more.For Ella Joshi, a teacher in a private school in Delhi, a typical day includes recording video lectures, cleaning the house, taking live classes and handling anxious parents and students over the phone."The problem is that students are also not used to this kind of learning. So we have to put in lot of effort only to deliver the lecture and giving feedback to each and every student remains a challenge. It's much easier in classroom teaching. I record the lectures so students can go back to them whenever they want, send out power point presentation for notes and then take an online session for questions and feedback," Joshi said."However, doing this amid all the cooking, cleaning and other household chores is a different challenge altogether. Unlike regular teaching, work hours are not defined anymore," she added.Amita Sharma, other teacher says that teaching small children online is even more difficult."One can still deliver lectures and send assignments to senior children but it is very difficult to attend to primary classes' children online. There are technological hassles too and a lot of parents have not been paying fees during the lockdown so we all have got 30 percent pay cuts. It is very unfair for us as lockdown has come with similar challenges for us too and financial woes are just adding to it," she said.Authorities in Gurgaon and Noida have asked the schools not to ask for fees from the parents, the Delhi government is deliberating over this issue."We are flooded with calls from parents. We understand their anxiety as well but it is an added stress for us to answer queries like whether the fee has to be paid, what all charges can be waived. Sometimes there are calls about assignments not downloading, so there are a lot of calls about issues that are actually not under our control. And all this is beside the routine which has just got hectic due to regular online classes and evaluation," said a private school teacher in Gurgaon. She did not wish to be identified.Another teacher said, "Our school has only credited half salary this month and has assured that the remaining half would come once the fee collection is complete. Parents also have to understand here that while there is a lockdown, classes are going on as usual and it requires even more efforts than in regular classroom teaching".