Municipal school teachers get trained in new teaching tools

Even as most private schools have switched to the online mode of teaching in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, municipal schools in the city are facing a series

Even as most private schools have switched to the online mode of teaching in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, municipal schools in the city are facing a series of challenges as nearly 50% students do not have access to smartphones or the internet.

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On Monday, nearly 7,000 teachers from various municipal schools across the city were trained to tackle challenges that await them in the days to come. They were trained in new teaching tools online to ensure that students who have no access to computers or the internet get guidance on their phones.

“In a 3-day-long training, we are helping teachers foresee the challenges that have arisen from the crisis, considering that the students who come to civic schools are from poor socio-economic backgrounds with low means. They have been trained to use the online mode of instruction along with offline exercises that can be assigned to students who do not have smartphones and the internet. The goal is to ensure not a single child is left behind,” said Mahesh Palkar, education officer at BMC.

As per the data available with the civic body, nearly 50% students do not have access to smartphones or the internet which makes it a challenge for teachers to reach them during the current situation. “We have decided to send textbooks and other learning material to such student’s homes by the second week of June. Teachers would then stay in touch with them and their parents through the phone and would make sure that their learning does not stop,” added Palkar. The civic body would begin online classes for the academic year 2020-21 from June 15.

Sainath Durge, member of BMC’s education committee said that while the penetration of smartphones and the internet is a real challenge, schools have to start some learning to ensure that confidence is instilled in the minds of students and their parents. “In many households, parents go out to work, and with this, children might find it difficult to cope without schools. Hence, if learning starts, they would be occupied and their parents would also not have to worry,” he added.

Nearly three lakh students’ study in about 1,100 schools under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). After the exodus of migrant workers and their families from the city, nearly 71,000 students enrolled in these schools have migrated, as per the civic body officials. This has also resulted in poor enrolments for the upcoming academic year, which makes things worse for the civic body as it already struggled to get students to BMC schools with enrolments having fallen by 50% in the last decade, as per the data shared by Praja Foundation.

Principals said that they are trying their best to reach out to students. “We are calling to check on them and ensuring that the parents get all the instructions from time to time. Many calls, however, are going unattended as students are not in town or have no network in their hometown,” said the principal of a BMC school in Goregaon.