By Renuka Dhakal
Kathmandu, Sept. 19: As a result of COVID-19, schools around the world have closed and millions of students have been directly affected by the rise of the coronavirus.As a consequence, the teaching method has changed dramatically and shifted to digital one.
E-learning where teaching is undertaken remotely and on various digital platforms has been rising across the world.
Numerous schools in Nepal, especially in Kathmandu, have been running online classes through zoom, Google meet and several other software.
When the school shot down suddenly due to COVID–19, a 12–year-old, seven grader (she didn’t like to disclose her name) had to go to hospital due to stress and anxiety as she couldn’t cope up with the abrupt changes in the method of teaching and learning.
The existing method of education was totally changed and she is obliged to stay home and continue online classes without even playing with friends, which has increased her stress level.
Talking to The Rising Nepal she said, “As a hostel student, I used to play and study together with friends. We never got bored playing and studying together in school and could easily understand what the teacher was teaching us.”
She further said, “With lockdown we are forced to stay indoors without meeting our friends. I feel board when I take regular online classes and I don't understand much through online classes, unlike face-to–face class with teachers at school.”
Her mother also said that both her children, another eight-year-old daughter studying at grade two and the eldest daughter suddenly became angry even over small issues and started showing anger , they would be only busy with gadgets.
Seeing an abrupt change in her children’s behaviour, she took them to hospital with the fear of anxiety disorder.
She said according to doctor the change in the teaching method due to the coronavirus had affected many students, who are obliged to stay home, take online classes and spend extra time in gadgets. And the doctor has been receiving such cases more these days due to the closure of schools, she added.
Manashbi Poudel, 9, studying in the grade five, has a mixed reaction about reading online and in the classroom. She said that online classes were effective because she could study at home with her family. However, she thinks that face-to-face learning in the classroom is more effective because classroom learning can help her to understand the texts easily and immediately.
“It takes more time to understand in the online classroom as we are not allowed to ask questions like in physical classroom,” she added. She desperately wants to go to school, meet her friends and play with them.
Likewise, Aadhyashree Baskota, 9, grade four student, is accustomed to online classes but she also wishes to go to school to meet her friends. On the other hand, her mother, Manika Baskota said that her daughter was not curious and attentive to study in online class.
During the conduct of online class, her daughter doesn't pay attention to the class, but she chats with friends or plays games. She said that online classes are not much effective in the context of Nepal. Now online class has become the means of charging fees for schools, she added.
Pranit Phuyal, 10, studying in grade four also has the same experience. He wants to go to school to meet friends and play with them. He is also feeling bored with online classes. He said that in online class, no one notices him like in school so he doesn’t need to be more attentive.
Students' education is severely hampered by prolonged lockdown.Many students are frustrated when they study at home through digital classrooms, and parents fear that they would be addicted to gadgets and technology.