siliconindia | | October 20209and teachers could not maintain discipline when the student chose to simply ignore the screen or was not in front of the camera. As the sessions intensified and tests started following, the seriousness dawned over both the kids and the parents. Due to the lockdown the physical books were unavailable in the beginning as the distribution system took time to adjust and the e-books were a pain to download and refer to. One involuntary touch on screen, and you lost the page! Parent also worried about the repercussion on eyes with prolonged screen use. Kids had to attend sessions for as long as 4-5 hours, when collective citizen campaigns and court verdicts brought the school e-sessions to less than 1.5 hours daily for class 1 to 8 and less than 3 hours daily for 9 to 12 and around 30 minutes daily for preschool. Result ­ less screen time! Now the lingering issue became ­ how to effectively learn and prepare for ever looming tests?Most parents, whether working from home, house managers, or currently seeking fresh employment, have shared that the lockdown has been the busiest period of their lives. And the children command the maximum space in their busy-ness! The preschool kids have another set of issues as their ability to sit still for more than ten minutes and understand the mechanics of online video conferencing is a severe challenge.Households with two or more kids have the additional issue of having the computing infrastructure of parents work plus children schooling, and all in non-interfering sections of the house. Sharing of resources like printers and ensuring enough supply of ink and papers too has become a significant headache and logistical challenge for parents.Parents have also been forced to hunt for worksheets / help exercises that strengthen specific academic deficiencies ­ these could range from handwriting practice to geometry concepts to physics experiments.In the case of children with specific learning disorders, these problems have become even more acute. Crumbling of Collaborative LearningWith children receiving little guidance, stimulation, and opportunity to share, discuss, and extract solutions through conventional academic setup, the parents had to adorn multiple hats. All kids are unique and thus the variance in their levels of grasping concepts and their capabilities to self-learn. While parents were keen to invest time with kids and their learning, there was a paucity of ideas and stimulants. As the lockdown started lifting, physical sets of books, worksheets, workbooks, learning videos, activity books, and others came to rescue. Subjects like social science and science are being taught without lab assistance. After every concept, the child's mind craves to experiment and see it for real. My kid retorts that axis, latitudes, and longitudes on a globe are all imaginary lines, why can't I give imaginary answers in case I forget an answer? School set up had a meaning. Besides the closeness with family, the children craved for social bonding and collaborative learning. The competition and the comradeship; the anxiety and the motivation; and the fears and exhilaration, all coexisted, and provided that critical fuel for the overall growth and development of children. Hence, it can be concluded that children have suffered the most during this era of forced e-learning, where the exposure is limited, and the wings clipped! Most parents, whether working from home, house managers, or currently seeking fresh employment, have shared that the lockdown has been the busiest period of their lives
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