By Dr AK Srivastava
COVID-19 was one of the most fatal and devastating pandemics experienced by humanity in modern times. It was strange, shocking, demoralising and brought havoc to the social and professional lives of people and introduced them to many new terms like social distance, living in quarantine, and online education. Lockdown was introduced in more than 132 countries to save human lives. This caused immense mental anguish, frustration and a deep sense of insecurity. It bothered all members of the family right from the bread earner to the school-going children. It left a negative impact on the social, physical, mental, emotional, occupational, intellectual and spiritual aspects of school and university-going students.
Now this pandemic is over by the grace of God. But it has left deep scars in the minds of humanity. Its effects still bother every section of society. Professionals, students and housewives are witnessing changes in their respective fields. Above all, the apprehension of its repetition continues to bother governments, health professionals and even the common person.
We can perceive the impact of COVID 19 on our students in all sorts of educational institutions. Disrespect and apathy towards teachers, mobile phone and social media addiction, lack of interest in academic performance, aversion to physical exercises and disruptive attitude in classes are some of the problems that both government and public schools are experiencing.
During COVID time, all educational institutions were closed for a long time and online teaching was the only way to complete courses. Now these online classes and the habit of studying in the comfort of home have made students too lazy. They prefer to stay at home and take online lessons ignoring the importance of real classroom teaching. They fail to understand that real teaching is not only bookish knowledge, it is also transfer of a mentor or teacher’s personality. Online teaching can never be a substitute for the social interaction and liveliness of fellow students in real classrooms. The tendency to remain absent from schools and colleges has taken away the warmth and cheerfulness of students’ lives.
It has been noticed that students are showing disrespectful and defiant behaviour towards teachers. Respect and reverence towards teachers are missing and students show exceptional arrogance. The reason for such behaviour is that they have become mobile phone and internet addicts. They think that they can learn their lessons and attain all knowledge through from YouTube and the teacher’s role is very limited in their opinion.
During COVID 19, almost all institutions were forced to promote students to the next class without tough exams and proper screening. Such a situation has developed the tendency to take things easy. The traditional spirit of competition and motivation is missing from classrooms. In the last two years, even the Board exams have been quite lenient, and authorities preferred to promote most of the students in the hope that things would normalise and they would catch up with the loss. Such a policy has made the foundation of students weak, and they are not working diligently to come out of this vicious cycle.
Online coaching classes motivate students to ignore real classroom learning and they focus only on their success in competitive entrance exams. Hence, the concept of ‘Dummy students’ is becoming increasingly popular among youngsters. Students take admission to regular schools, but they abstain from regular classes. The rule of 75 percent compulsory attendance is vanishing fast. This attitude leads to many complications. The only mission of life is not to get admission to professional colleges. It is to develop many traits of character by observing teachers and fellow students. The qualities of professors and classmates are slowly and unknowingly instilled in the personality of young and tender students. Teacher-student relationship is a major charm of student life.
During the COVID 19 period, students did not get any exposure to outdoor activities. Social media and mobile phones were prominent means of entertainment. Hence, too much exposure to such activities made them addicted to twenty-four hours in the comfort of home. Now they avoid games and sports and other outdoor activities which are an indispensable ingredient in the development of personality and physical health. They remain glued to mobile phones all the time and are exposed to many such sites and films which are not suitable for them. These leave a very bad and negative impact on their personality.
Now the question arises: how to undo or reverse this unpleasant scenario? All parents, teachers and society have to make conscious efforts to help students to get back to their old lifestyle. First of all, well-planned and comprehensive counselling by professional psychologists can do a lot of good. Learned and experienced teachers should be engaged in handling misguided and fun-loving students. Group activities, games and sports will help them to regain their good health and balanced state of mind. It has to be ensured that the excess use of the internet and mobile time is reduced to a reasonable limit. Classroom teaching should focus on better prospects for employment and financial freedom. Students’ attention to real classroom teaching will enhance when they find it more interesting and lively than online classes.
All rules regarding attendance necessary for promotion are vital and educational institutions should not ignore them. This will also end the problem of ‘Dummy’ students on the rolls. It should be made clear that ‘Dummy’ students would not be given any leniency in promotion. It is also parents’ responsibility to send their wards to schools regularly and punctually.
The government should make strict rules regarding access to various types of websites and apps according to the age of students. Indiscriminate access to all sorts of websites and apps is spoiling them. They are being exposed to many sites which are not suitable for their tender minds, and they fail to distinguish between facts and fiction. Screen time of children should be judiciously monitored by parents at home.
In conclusion, we can say that all stake holders-parents, teachers, society and students should cooperate to change the present scenario as educational institutions play a very vital and significant role in the progress of our nation.
(Dr AK Srivastava is Principal, DAV Inter College, Dehradun)
