Online learning 2.0 brings new troubles in Mumbai

Day One of "back-to-online" for schools was full of chaos with most schools giving a holiday to the students so the staff could work on a new plan for online mode. Educationists, however, fear that the move will be a major setback for students who had just started getting used to in-person classes. Schools met with a new set of challenges such as reworking the timetable, figuring out modes of assessment in view of the approaching exam season.

With online mode 2.0, there is still no clarity on whether teachers have to work from school or home, especially for teachers who teach Stds VIII to X as they will have to teach in both offline and online mode. Teachers from civic-run schools said it is their students who are likely to be most affected as there may be a drop in the number of students attending online classes due to lack of access.

Students share hand sanitiser before entering their school on December 15, the day schools reopened for all Stds. File pic

"We had to keep school closed today as teachers prepared plans online. Our teachers are now looking at double duty with a first instalment of work early in the morning and second in evening, as these are the times when students' parents are at home so they can have access to online learning through mobile phones," said Ambarsing Magar, principal of BMC School, Ghatkopar. He added that while it was important to stop in-person classes, some students may face academic loss at the same time.

For D S High School in Sion, which had 98 per cent attendance to offline school, it was a major task to inform parents on Monday night that there will be no school on Tuesday. "Only teachers came to school today to prepare a plan for online mode. It is not really the same. Students were just getting used to the new normal with offline school. Now again they have to stay away for some time. This is a major setback," said Rajendra Pradhan, trustee-president of the school.

Surendra Dighe, managing trustee of Saraswati Mandir Trust and Jidnyasa Trust, said, "Irrespective of whether it is the correct decision to close schools, it certainly means major loss for students. Now all schools will work toward getting back to how things were before October 4 when schools reopened for offline classes in Mumbai. But the transition period, especially today, was chaotic."

Meanwhile, teachers are confused as to what they are supposed to do. "The directive does not mention if teachers should come to school or work from home. For higher classes where teachers are the same, managing both online and offline will be difficult, especially now with exam season approaching for almost all classes. The segregation should have been done keeping this in mind. Class VIII and above could have continued as they have since October," said Jaywant Kulkarni, senior teacher.

Dec 15
Day in-person classes resumed for all Stds