Pre-Primary Schools During CovidWith the closure of educational Institutions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers and non-teaching staff of many private schools and colleges are living a hand-to-mouth existence as they have not been paid their salaries for the last four months.There are an estimated 1,000 small and medium budget schools in district. Apart from this, there would be around 50 big schools and several corporate educational institutions with multiple branches in the city.The teachers of the budget schools are the worst-affected of the closure of the institutions and all the classes from Pre-primary to 12th Standards were held in the digital mode last year and the same would happen this time too.No new government guidelines have been updated for pre-primary schools and teachers.
Here is a short review of pre-primary schools and teachers during lockdown:-
Distance learning was hard, working with computers caused pain for eyes and fingers. They could understand the online lessons, but it was easier when they had face-to-face meetings with the teacher. One more thing that they feel is happy about is to see their friends, meet new teachers.They do not have a personal computer and are attending online lessons from a mobile phone. We had to either write the homework in the workbook and then send the photo of it or type it on the keyboard. Sometimes there were technical problems with the internet or electricity and they were missing the lessons.
Children and COVID-19
While fewer children have been sick with COVID-19 compared with adults during the pandemic, children can be infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, can get sick with COVID-19, and can spread the virus to others. Most children with COVID-19 have mild symptoms, and some have no symptoms at all. The symptoms of COVID-19 in children are similar to symptoms of other common illnesses, like colds, strep throat, influenza, or allergies. Like adults, children who have COVID-19 but have no symptoms can still spread the virus to others.
Five Offline Teaching Activities to Help Children Learn at Home:
Educators and students can do certain things to boost themselves up as there are guidelines for formal schools but not for pre-primary schools. So educators, teachers, pre-primary schools and staff are given time to improve themselves and advised to involve children in brain activities and assignments.
- Offline family engagement activities
- Project-based learning
- Growing a garden
- Keeping track of the season
- Nutrition/cooking
- Guided-discovery learning
- Activate creativity and encourage pretend play
- Books, songs and stories
“Play is the highest form of research.” – Albert Einstein
Playing allows children to learn without having to go through pressure. This kind of setup lets themes explore more, and retain information more.