Need to revise the discipline lesson, say teachers as schools reopened after 19 months

Several school teachers are finding it difficult to maintain discipline during offline classes, and at the same time, manage conducting online classes for students sitting at homes for the same subject

Getting back to school after around 19 months was a joyous moment for both students and teachers as they missed meeting friends in the classroom, running around in the playground and face-to-face interaction with others owing to virtual classes.

School teachers have been reaching out to students individually, and sometimes even their families, in order to ensure every student, is easing into the physical classroom set up with as little hassle as possible, said a representative of DG Khetan School in Malad. (HT FILE)

The flipside of this happy picture, however, has been the fight to bring discipline back into a classroom. Several teachers are finding it more and more difficult to maintain discipline during offline classes, and at the same time, manage conducting online classes for students sitting at homes for the same subject.

“Basic rules of being seated while in class and not interrupting a class while the teacher talks suddenly seem like a task for students. We [teachers] are noticing more and more students with shorter attention span, which is becoming a problem during offline classes,” said Melina Matthews, a secondary school teacher from a state board school in Vashi. She added that many teachers have been facing similar problems.

“The first few days we thought that the sudden change in the routine was affecting students, and we gave everyone time to adjust. But increasingly, more and more teachers are finding it difficult to control the classroom. We feel helpless because while we understand that the students are going through a lot, there’s not much we can do to bring things back to normalcy,” said another teacher on condition of anonymity.

In August, state minister of school education Varsha Gaikwad announced that offline classes will restart on August 17 for class 5 to class 8 in rural areas and class 8 to class 12 in urban cities by following Covid-19 protocols. This decision was, however, not approved by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. In the last week of September, Gaikwad announced that after a 19-month break, schools in the state will reopen, starting October 4. In a series of tweets, Gaikwad mentioned that in rural areas, schools will reopen for class 5 to class 12 will resume, while in urban areas schools will reopen from classes 8 to 12. An approval from the local municipality followed and a government resolution (GR), too, was released soon.

This was not the first time that the state government had called for reopening of schools. Last November, the school education department had released a similar circular, announcing re-opening of schools for classes 9 to 12 in a phased manner. By January, another circular was released, directing that students from classes 5 to 8 be brought back to school in groups and maintain Covid-appropriate behaviour on campus. Both these circulars, however, were revoked after Covid-19 cases started rising again, and the state government called for another complete lockdown starting mid-April.

“Until September, children would sit at home with a phone or in front of a computer screen during the class, and by keeping their video off they were free to roam around during the class as well. Many would respond to questions asked by teachers by quickly searching for information online. Suddenly, coming back to school has left many children feeling bound and frustrated,” said Arundhati Chavan, president of Parent-Teachers Association United Forum.

She added that coming back to school has not only shaken students out of their routine but created problems for teachers as well. “Instead of suddenly asking schools to reopen, the government should have waited for schools to conduct some workshops and only then bring back staff and students in a phased manner,” she added.

Many schools are also observing that students from the older classes are showing “aggression” in classrooms by constantly back-answering or defying the teachers’ orders. Keeping this in mind, more and more schools are working with counsellors and are conducting workshops for staff as well as students to help them transition into a classroom better.

“We knew this process of coming back to school will be difficult for students as well as teachers. So we got our team of school counsellors together to train our teachers first in how to handle students in such a situation. Our teachers have been reaching out to students individually, and sometimes even their families, in order to ensure every student, is easing into the physical classroom set up with as little hassle as possible,” said Kavita Aggarwal, chairperson of Mumbai International Schools’ Association (MISA) and director of DG Khetan School, Malad.