Teacher’s day and night(Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2:Education 
Prelims level: COVID 19 
Mains level: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education

Context:

• The pandemic has forced schooling to move online, but the burden of digital inequality has fallen on the great majority of children who do not have access to smartphones, let alone laptops, or the internet.
• But is there no alternative to virtual classrooms?

Creative initiatives:

• Several creative teacher-led initiatives on the ground, demonstrate that it is not just desirable but also possible for governments and communities to design solutions that take the last child along.
• In Karnataka, for instance, the vatara shaale model of community schooling used open community spaces like temples, courtyards and prayer halls to teach children in small groups, with social distancing norms in place.
• Like in many other states, only about 30 per cent of children in the state have digital access.
• Spliced for other factors like caste and gender, it throws up a grim picture — as well as the possibility that children, especially in the more impoverishedparts, would be sucked into wage labour or child marriage.
• Similarly, in Sikkim, a maths teacher’s concern for the students of her village led her to visit them at their home for short lessons that ensure they do not fall off the learning grid.
• The local administration of a village in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, has allowed teachers to broadcast English lessons through loudspeakers.
• Both the Sikkim and Karnataka state governments have responded by absorbing elements of these innovations in new learning programmes devised to adapt to the COVID-19 challenge.

Setting precedent:

• Few they might be, but these examples are a glimmer of hope in an education system that stiflescreativity in both teachers and students.
• They also show up the generalisation of the commitment-less, undertrained government school teacher as a lazy stereotype.
• The fact is that schools and teachers exist in a continuum with local communities, and are more responsive to their needs than they are given credit for.
• Many teachers used the disruption of the pandemic to come up with solutions that adapted to their environments and local needs.
• They placed the concerns of children at the top who might be left behind at the centre, without being told to by government circulars.
• Some used the unavailability of textbooks and blackboards to set aside the pressure of rote learning for a more inclusive pedagogy.
• The crisis of the pandemic must be used, therefore, not to ramthrough the chimera of futuristic tech-savvy education.
• It must be used to empower the public school teacher with genuine autonomy and support, like Karnataka and Sikkim have shown.

Conclusion:

• Many teachers are using disruption of pandemic to come up with solutions adapted to their environments, local needs.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1)With reference to the Corona Fighters, consider the following statements:

1. The game presents a new and extremely creative way to teach people the right tools and behaviours to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
2. The game was designed to influence the players’ actions in the real world, reminding them to take the right precautions and escape infection.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: C

Mains Questions:

Q.1)Highlights the impact of COVID 19 induced lockdown on the education sector. What are the various steps taken by the government and school teachers in this context? Comment.