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For students, this time of the year used to be all about the smell of freshly printed books, new classrooms, new bench mates and new teachers. But CORONAVIRUS has forced the world to reinvent and reimagine the usual. Online classes have become the new normal. With class schedules for the day arriving on Whatsapp, and students taking classes through the virtual world, the whole education SYSTEM is now just a click away (quite literally).

The way the pandemic bared its fang in our cities, even teachers didn’t get enough time to prepare and were pushed to overhaul everything they KNEW about their jobs. On condition of anonymity, a Class 7 teacher said, “Much contrary to what most parents and children believe, schools are not closed and we are not on a holiday any longer. The teachers are working harder than ever before.”

While we often hear parents complaining about the added pressure of online schooling, in our chaotic mental dialogue, we often forget to listen to the teacher’s side of things. So let’s give them a chance to speak.

According to a class 5 teacher, “Owing to the lockdown, these students are holding so much inside them. They want to know us and talk to us but we don’t have the time for introductions and zero period chit chats. That has blocked a huge channel of communication and comfort with the new batch. We have no choice but to straight away dive into teaching, which many kids are finding hard to adjust to.”

Neha Jain, a class 4 teacher, Ahlcon Public SCHOOL shares, “Online learning may be new and different for the students, but it also allows them to learn in a supportive and convenient atmosphere in these unprecedented times. So, the students should remain persistent and adaptive to grab this opportunity of learning through virtual classes.”

Though teachers are not the frontline corona warriors but they want us to know they are burning the midnight oil to ensure they impart knowledge in the most effective and engaging manner. Priyanka Jha, Lovely Public Sr Sec school, P D Vihar adds, “Teachers are working double shifts, trying to be creative for their children. How I wish my teenage students would understand the situation. It feels really bad when you work on an animated video for such long hours and the children don’t PAY enough attention. To make matters worse, out of the 40 class strength, only 10-15 join, which again is very disheartening.”

Being tech savvy was not a prerequisite for most teaching jobs but with the new online learning system in place, it has become extremely important. A teacher who didn’t want to be named said, “Those who are computer savvy are managing the online classes fine and are also trying to experiment but those who are not computer savvy, are finding it really hard. They were used to the concept of physical teaching and are finding it harder to adapt to the new technology.” And if halfway through the class you hear teachers urging children to mute their microphone, and wait for their turn to speak, you know it is not a typical classroom. Teachers complain of kids scribbling on the screen, or incessantly chat with their friends in the chat window while the class is on or parents zooming past the screen murmuring things in their ears.