Workload increases for teachers due to school closures

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10.01.2022

The transition to online-offline-online classes during the pandemic has created an additional strain on teachers. Educators are back to facing challenges including increased working hours, parental interference in online classes, and distraction from other non-academic activities that they have to carry out at the behest of government departments.

Many teachers feel that it is important for children and teachers to return to physical schools as the teaching-learning process in hybrid mode can be taxing for both teachers as well as students. “The productivity is being affected and the environment is not conducive at home and many students also don’t take online classes seriously. Sometimes parents and grandparents interfere and disrupt the teaching-learning process. At times, teachers can hear cooker whistles in the background and they have to put students on force mute. It’s a bumpy terrain for both the students and teachers and but we don’t have any choice,” says Alka Kapur, principal, Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh, New Delhi.

Some state governments have asked teachers to take online classes from school premises even as the students study from home. “Teachers are expected to dispense classes from the school untilt he circumstances change. We understand that teachers too are going through a tough time due to changing modes of learning at regular intervals. Schools have to abide by government rules and regulations and carry out academic tasks accordingly,” says Aloysius D'mello, principal, Greenwood High International School, Bengaluru.

As schools begin to shut across the city, students, teachers, and parents have to again adapt to remote learning. “It is a difficult transition for families who were just getting used to a different routine and enjoying the pre-Covid normalcy of attending school and work in person. Teachers as well, are once again impacted and will have to adapt to teaching remotely. We have learnt a lot in the past two years as educators, and schools are oftensafer environments than public places that children continue to visit,” says Shweta Sastri, managing director, Canadian International School, Bengaluru.