A mom’s take on life in the time of lockdown – Schooling from home
My daughter, Urvika, often asks if she will complete her class VII session online. Just after she completed class VI, the pandemic started and her new session began on the laptop. Her room turned into the classroom, her school dress was now the school t-shirt teamed with bermudas of her choice and my goodbyes turned to shutting the door of her bedroom as soon as her online classes started. At first, it seemed it would be just a matter of a few months and we kind of enjoyed it. Even my husband was home during lock down days and we relished the rare family time we chanced upon accidentally.
But then the pandemic situation worsened. The school moved from Google Meet sessions to Google Classrooms. It is no doubt an excellent platform for a structured online routine but for most of us, including teachers, it was uncharted waters. For almost a month, we all struggled to follow it, learning to download and upload HW. However, we somehow managed, but then the internet connections started playing truant. As a mother, I now had to be on my toes, depending on the moods of the wi-fi speed and connection. Hotspots came to our rescue, and once again, things started settling down into a smoother, regular, new-normal.
And then came the exams...
The biggest problem with online classes is the attention span. The classroom environment can never be replicated in a household room. I would find my daughter getting easily distracted by the ring of the doorbell, our pet dog’s Fluffy’s bark, the pressure cooker’s whistle or the mixie’s whirring. Even when any of these distracting noises were absent, a boring topic would make her look around the room and yawn. This largely affected her lessons. Lack of activity, too, had made her cranky and lazy. And then the advent of exams brought a new burden. Of course, I totally understand that it is important. Normally during exams, once the kid leaves home for school, you can relax after the hectic revision schedules. But now during exam hours too, we had to be alert for any technical glitch.
So, the list is endless. But yes, we learnt a lot of new things and so did my daughter. I don’t know how long this will go on, but we have no option but to accept the changes and mould ourselves accordingly, till we are out of the clutches of this pandemic.
Nita Bajoria
A budding author and mother of a twelve year old daughter, Nita has published a novel "The Leap" and a graphic novel "Urban Chronicles" so far. She runs a project called "Gift a Library" where she has actively created libraries at schools for underprivileged children. She loves travelling and reading.
