Private schools in and around the city where the students are predominantly from a higher socio-economic background are apparently banking heavily on the virtual platform for keeping pace with the portions for this academic year.
But, teachers don't seem to have a definite answer to the question whether they have a sense of job satisfaction. Teachers of very many private schools who have been handling classes online for students for more than a month now are not able to say with a sense of certainty about the effectiveness of the virtual mode of teaching. There are more reasons than one.
Technology compatibility of devices utilised at the teaching and learning ends is one major factor that has been glossed over by the institutions, teachers observe. For instance, the the poor receptivity with devices supported by 3G connectivity is a distracting factor, according to a teacher who
says that it would be a wishful thinking to believe that the intended teaching-learning impact has been created through the virtual platform.
“At the most, the online platform of teaching suits not more than 20 % of the students. Unlike in the classroom situation, there is no way to know if the students are really following the concepts,” a teacher handling Physics in a private school said.
The teachers say they feel frustrated, especially in the light of indications that most number of students pay lip-service to their responsibilities, and turn their devices in the mute mode.
The school heads are not entirely oblivious of the state of affairs. “It is plain knowledge that there cannot be a substitute for the classroom atmosphere. But, there is no alternative. We need to go by the adage that 'something is better than nothing'. We simply cannot afford to be idle. We have been asking parents to prevail upon their wards not to shirk their learning responsibilities,” a school head, said.
Some of the schools say they find a via-media approach workable. For instance, the method of uploading downloadable video lessons in the school website is working well for some schools in Karaikal.
“The method works better since there is no need for the students to feel bothered about the time factor. We make sure that our children download and view the video lessons and complete the daily assignments in the evening hours under our monitoring,” Mahalakshmi, a parent, said.
