Enakshi empathises with her students and tries to understand the problems that lockdown had on the students. An exclusive for Different Truths.
It has been quite rightly said that the grass always looks greener on the other side. You only realise the difference when you step onto that other side and watch the scene from that point. All this while when the world was talking about how things are turning out for teachers during the pandemic, almost no one put themselves out there on the students’ side and explained their part.
Since I am a teacher, I, too, was carried away by the idea of bragging about the extended working hours, prolonged exposure to the screen, uncomfortable online corrections and see, I am doing that again! What I didn’t realise all this while was the plight of the students who are equally suffering because of the online method of education.
Just recently, the examinations in my school got over and I had to spend nights correcting papers as the deadlines neared. Upon analysing the marks, it didn’t take rocket science for me to deduce that most of the students had written answers that weren’t even discussed or spoken about in the class. Since I teach English, listening becomes even more important in my classes. But sadly, only 50% of the students (all sections combined) had written (just enough) correctly. Their marks were horrible. Since they didn’t perform well in the previous tests also, this time I decided not to scold them for their marks rather talk to them about their problems and the reasons that led to that bad score. On the first Monday after the exams were over, when I emailed the papers, none of the students was even excited for the class.
‘What’s wrong? Are you all upset because of the marks?’ I asked.
No one spoke for a while. Upon probing further, one student said, ‘Yes, mam. It is just disappointing that the ones who are not cheating are not scoring and the ones who are cheating are scoring so well. The system isn’t fair. I feel I should have cheated too.’
No one spoke for a while. Upon probing further, one student said, ‘Yes, mam. It is just disappointing that the ones who are not cheating are not scoring and the ones who are cheating are scoring so well. The system isn’t fair. I feel I should have cheated too.’
‘But I have deducted marks if the children have copied in English,’ I tried to make an argument.
‘That’s because you can identify the text that has been copied, ma’am. How can the teachers make out that the numbers or answers have been copied in Mathematics or Physics?’
The child’s argument made complete sense.
‘Do you think you lost marks only because you didn’t cheat?’ I asked.
‘No, ma’am. I know I had prepared well. It is just that I forgot to write some points. Last year, you would check me if I made a punctuation error in the notebook. This year, since you are not there to keep a check, I forgot that if the apostrophe goes wrong, you deduct half a mark. And like that, all silly mistakes combined, I lost most of the marks.’
‘No, ma’am. I know I had prepared well. It is just that I forgot to write some points. Last year, you would check me if I made a punctuation error in the notebook. This year, since you are not there to keep a check, I forgot that if the apostrophe goes wrong, you deduct half a mark. And like that, all silly mistakes combined, I lost most of the marks.’
His words pinched me hard. I didn’t scold the class regarding their marks that day. I decided to take an alternate route. After talking to them about some fun news and updates, I asked them for their general feedback on online teaching. What they said, brought the twist in the wind! Most of them were frustrated about sitting in their homes; they cannot play, cannot go out nor talk to their friends. Because of the connectivity issue and the restriction in the transmission of knowledge, most of the parents have enrolled their children for tuitions. Practically, there is no time left for these kids to relax because every other day either they have homework (as all teachers are hell-bent on finishing the syllabus) or tests (because, you know, internals!) Loaded with work and trying to keep up with the pace of back-to-back classes, these little ones are not even able to enjoy studying. That’s one of the chief reasons why they do not feel like going that extra mile and scoring in the subjects.
It pained my heart to realise that I (and several other teachers) was so lost in abiding by the rules of the book that I forgot what it means to talk, chat, live and enjoy! Ironically, even though I teach Literature, it took me such a long time to understand the lesson that life was trying to teach me through my students.
It pained my heart to realise that I (and several other teachers) was so lost in abiding by the rules of the book that I forgot what it means to talk, chat, live and enjoy! Ironically, even though I teach Literature, it took me such a long time to understand the lesson that life was trying to teach me through my students. I cannot say if the situation is going to improve or if the schools are going to reopen.
What I can do on my part is to lighten the burden of my children so that they take away the good memories from 2020. I think as teachers we ought to make our students’ lives better and ‘better’ in this scenario can only be when ‘tension and anxiety’ is less and love is immense.
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