Lockdowns in India have impacted the education of little kids greatly. Lack of interactions with their peers, limited physical activities and lack of learning resources are some of the challenges they have faced.
India went into a total lockdown on Match 25th to curb the rising cases of the virus. The economy and schools were shut down, workers were directed to work at home, and students’ mode of learning changed to virtual learning.
60 days later, the impact of the lockdown has started to emerge in the education sector. The lack of resources to learn a successful online learning program from school and students with no access to laptops has become a challenge.
However, the impact the lockdown has had on little kids is devastating. The migration to online learning in India did not have consideration for young kids.
Little interactions for little kids
The lockdown and the migration to online learning meant little to no interaction with their peers. The online learning methodology of learning has not been effective in helping these students.
Senior students have already adapted to learning through Zoom using laptops and smartphones. Teachers are also finding it easy to interact with senior students through online platforms.
However, for little kids, they are yet to understand why such measures are being taken. There is no enthusiasm from them about learning online and they would rather interact on a physical level with their peers.
Attention span
They also do not have a high attention span. Therefore, they cannot be able to concentrate on long online classes. A Gurgaon-based HR manager and a parent to a little kid said during online classes, her child was only excited to see the faces of her classmates during the first few minutes, then the excitement faded away. She continued by saying online education was missing something the regular classes was providing for her daughter.
Creative ways teachers are bridging the divide
Parents and teachers noted that children required playing time, which virtual learning was not providing. To make online classes more interesting for these little kids, teachers have now introduced storytelling, Yoga and playtime in their virtual classes.
Priya Krishnan, founder and CEO of KLAY said parents had started complaining of their children not getting enough physical activities. Therefore, they decided to add such activities in their classes to help these students.
Parents were also asked to take an active role in their kids’ learning life during the lockdown period by Manu Gulati, teacher and education expert. He also cautioned on the overreliance of technology in helping little kids during the lockdown period.
Featured image by Pixabay
