Educational Dilemma during COVID!

Since COVID, we may be at a loss of what education is best for our children. But we will need to remind ourselves that while education aims to teach, the evidence of impactful teaching is in effective learning. Education is not about marks scored in tests and exams as these do not reflect intelligence. Education is a life-long learning journey in which the student learns to be confident, self-reliant, and communicates effectively.

Two wrongs do not make a right! 

Yes, the situation we are all in because of COVID is wrong from every angle. And with confinement, our anxieties are getting magnified many folds. The biggest anxiety parents are experiencing is the concern they have about their child’s access to school. Schools are closed and when they will restart is unknown to you or me or anyone, from India to America to Argentina! When schools do reopen, what the situation will be like and how children will stay safe, is another question, with no answer!

Now comes the question of what should be done about the curriculum during this lockdown period. There are so many different ideas and plans and thoughts being shared. Parents are trying to understand home-schooling as an option, be it short term or for the long haul. All schools have started the academic session as per the regular time-line, with on-line classes for the students. Some parents have chosen to calmly withdraw from all this and not take the curriculum so seriously and will wait to see what happens. And to add to the many ingredients in this soup is the New Education Program!

• Yes, we are all in a dilemma. 
• Yes, we are all worried we will make a choice that will do more harm than good for our children. 
• Yes, we are scared our children will come out of this situation as the looser, all because of the choices we, the parents, made. 

Let us remember that two wrongs don’t make a right, but two rights make it even more right. So as parents, let us calm down and stay focused for the sake of our children. Let us ask ourselves these questions.

1. Is it important for my child to learn or pass exams?
2. Are long screen times recommended for children of my child’s age?
3. Do I not know of people who have succeeded in life because they are smart and not because they passed exams with high marks?
4. Do I not know of people who topped their class all through school and college and are not the most successful today?
5. Is it more important for my child to get marks or to learn to be confident in what they know?
6. Is teaching my child, with anger and frustration, worth the education he/she gets?
7. My child has only one set of parents and will have many educators in his life. Isn’t my relationship with my child more important than staying in the rat race of the curriculum?

When confused, seek to understand. When troubled, ask for help. When calm makes the best choices.

‘We don’t need our kids to know more but know it superficially. We need kids who know a great deal about a handful of topics that they will use to build careers that change the world for the better. These are the sorts of careers that are fulfilling and that solve the world’s biggest problems. You know, like pandemics.’

Read more about "Why weeks home from school may benefit students."

Anita Eipe is a special educator by profession and the Managing Trustee of Samatha Learning Center, Bangalore. Anita has been working at making inclusion a possibility. She offers school support to make inclusion possible for them. Anita believes in being the change she wants to see.

^{The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of Eblity or its team members.}