Noida schools gear up to welcome nursery kids after a two-year gap

Experts say limited social interaction during the last two years of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought upon various behavioural changes among toddlers whose early years of development has been overshadowed with social distancing and Covid protocols

Atharva’s parents Sonila and Arun Singh are worried ahead of his first day at school as he is yet to start conversing in full sentences comfortably. The three-year-old Sector 104 resident has got admission in nursery class at a private school in Noida.

As Covid restrictions and guidelines are weaning off, schools in Gautam Budh Nagar are ready to start the new academic session in physical mode. (Picture for representation ANI)

“Over the last two years, Atharva has only been surrounded by his parents 24x7, but now it is time for him to start school. While we have tried our best to educate him for his overall development, he is yet to start conversing in full sentences. This made us worried after which we decided to consult a speech therapist,” said Sonila, who is an HR executive at a multinational firm.

Experts say limited social interaction during the last two years of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought upon various behavioural changes among toddlers whose early years of development has been overshadowed with social distancing and Covid-related protocols.

“There are four behaviour traits that children develop in early years. These are speech development, gross motor development, fine motor development and social interaction. Over the course of the lockdowns and social distancing guidelines, these attributes of children have been severely affected,” said Dr DK Gupta, growth and development paediatrician and chairman of Felix Hospital, Noida.

Gupta added that various factors caused by the pandemic have increased separation anxiety among toddlers and delayed speech in many. “As a result, queries from parents regarding their child’s behaviour development have increased manifold lately, especially for kids who are about to start nursery school,” he said.

It is not just parents who are worried over the impact of the pandemic on their children, but schools are also bracing themselves to face new challenges among the new batch of nursery children who are about to start the academic session from April 4.

As Covid restrictions and guidelines are weaning off, schools in Gautam Budh Nagar are ready to start the new academic session in physical mode, even for nursery classes, which have largely remained online since the pandemic began in 2020. Teachers and counsellors are expecting new challenges compared to the pre-pandemic days.

“We are expecting that children will be more introverted, socially reclusive and may also have separation anxiety from their parents. This is why we had a five-day ice-breaking session with the young ones, their parents and their teachers before the academic session,” said Anita Paul, educational advisor at Apeejay School in Sector 16A, Noida.

In this session, the school allowed the parents to be on the campus while their kids got familiar with the teachers and their peers. “The parents were asked to be in another room and if a child missed their parents and became cranky, they were taken back to them. We understand that after being around their parents 24x7 over the last two years because of the pandemic, these children will take a longer time to adjust to a new environment,” said Paul.

At Amity School in Noida, counsellors have organised ice-breaking sessions. “Teachers and counsellors are well aware that they will have to work harder on this batch of nursery students as they will be. Apart from having an orientation day for parents on March 30, we also have ice-breaking sessions organised for children on the first day of school on April 4, so that children can have a smooth transition from being at home to coming to school,” said Renu Singh, principal of Amity School.

Teachers also say that during the pre-pandemic days, by the time a student reached nursery, they had already gone through a classroom set-up in a playschool. However, that stage has been almost eliminated with the advent of the pandemic.

“Since the children have not been to a playschool and have only stayed at their respective homes, the cognitive and social development traits are missing in them. During informal interaction with the children before starting the new session, we noticed that many were more comfortable among adults than their own peers as this is the first time that they got to interact with other children of their age,” said Aditi Basu Roy, principal at Grads International School in Greater Noida West.

Medical experts have observed that speech delays are being noticed in many children. “Compared to the pre-pandemic days, the queries from parents worried about their child’s speech delay have more than doubled. Due to lack of social interaction, a three-year-old child who should be able to form full sentences is unable to do so and instead only speaks some words incoherently. This has made parents worried for their child’s future,” said Dr Pradeepti Nayak, associate professor and ENT specialist at Sharda Hospital.

However, Nayak said that parents need not worry over this. “Three-year-old children are perfectly capable of catching up. Hence, parents should not worry about delay in the development of the child’s behaviour but should instead encourage sending their children to school,” she added.