Right now, everyone’s focus is on how to hold exams for the students of Class X and XII. But what about those tiny tots whose schooling has never started due to the pandemic. Their first introduction to education is yet to begin with the pre-schools remaining closed for over a year. With the experts predicting yet another wave of Covid-19 which is likely to hit the kids, parents of toddlers in particular are quite worried about their children losing out on learning. In order to ensure continuity in their education, many have enrolled their wards in online classes to get some form of learning. A few such parents told Sunday POST whether making the preschoolers attend online classes was really beneficial for them.
Bangalore-based Master Reevansh’s mother Banita Palai who works in an advertising company, says, “We took up an online format Finto Box in 2020 for our son to avoid a near zero-learning year. We were sure that Reevansh would at least grasp important pre-primary skills such as recognising colours, printed names, alphabets and numbers. However, he didn’t like the online format and got irritated after a while. I don’t disagree that online classes keep the students of higher classes in touch with their studies but they are hardly of any help for the tiny tots. For us, there is no alternative to early childhood education at school.”
A Delhi-based HR Deepti Lata Patra says her daughter’s early childhood education has almost gone. “When a child turns two, we rush to enroll him in pre-schools so that he can learn the art of sharing and caring and open up. But Covid-induced lockdown has almost spoiled my daughter’s early childhood. Naira has been at home since March 2020. In between, we admitted her to Dragon Box to get some online tips to develop her motor skills and things like tracing alphabets, building vocabulary, expressing her before others. But it didn’t work. We feel helpless as we don’t have other choices to keep our child engaged.”
Suprabha Patnaik, mother of three-years-old Swatik says, “Even as learning apps are being promoted aggressively during the pandemic, they are of no use, for the toddlers in particular. When I recite a nursery rhyme with actions in front of my son, he emulates me quite accurately. But such actions online don’t excite him at all. Peer-interaction is very important for all round growth of a kid. Unfortunately, a large number of children are being deprived of this crucial phase of their life due to the pandemic outbreak.”
Sumitra Das Palai, a homemaker from Bhadrak, was under the impression that her daughter Aradhya will take keen interest in studies after being enrolled in an online class. However, that did not happen. She found the online classes boring and started reacting violently when she was made to attend them. “Online classes did not attract her at all. All she wants is to be taught by me. Being a parent I observed that most teachers engaged for online classes fail to make online teaching interesting and amusing for toddlers. So much so that Aradhya often hides herself under a chair and doesn’t come out till the app is closed on mobile. The closure of pre-nursery schools is going to take a heavy toll on her mental growth,” apprehended the worried mother.
Sandipta Rout, Principal of Kids’ Kingdom Playschool, says, “Physical interaction plays an important role in the overall growth of the children. If the toddlers are asked to listen only, after sometime they will lose interest as their attention span is very short. One-to-one interaction is missing for which pre-schoolers don’t show interest in online classes. On the other hand, a bond is created between them and the instructors during physical schooling. A teacher, at a pre-school stage, makes the kids learn things by holding hands, and kisses them when they do something good. This sort of activity builds up a bond between them in the classroom which is not possible in case of online classes. Absence of physical interactions will certainly have some impact on the psyche of the toddlers. But , at the moment we have no choice but to wait till normalcy returns.
Rashmi Rekha Das, OP