Redefining the Parental Role through internet-based learning

COVID – 19 has been the cause for redefining many concepts, ideas, human behaviour, situations and many more. It has brought about a drastic change in the living style of human race, which probably was never imagined by man. This change in many spheres life can also be called as a ‘Paradigm Shift’. The pandemic did not spare the field of Education .

With the one laught of this situation, experts across the globe had to think of an alternative to continue the teaching –learning process of millions of learners. It was the need of the hour, as no one was aware how long this pandemic would last. The policy makers could not let the things drift away from their hands and leave the learners with a vacuum of teaching – learning during this time. The policy makers envisaged that if they let the things drift it would lead the learners in doldrums. The learners would be ignorant on bridging the gap that would be formed during the pandemic.

Education that was once confined to classrooms, playgrounds, administrative blocks and many more. It has now changed a lot and has gone to that level which was never expected by any teacher or taught. People might have read of schools where the teacher and the students interacted over phone or any other similar gadget, and at that time that piece of prose might have been categorized as ‘Fiction’. But today it is no more a fiction, it is a reality. The policy makers shifted to ‘Online’ form of teaching –learning as an innovation in this field. It was a challenge for all i.e the teacher, the taught and the parents to adapt to this situation for the well being of millions of learners across the globe.

There was a time when parents used to enrol their child in a reputed school of the locality and forget that they are also a part of the wellbeing of their child in school . There were parents who would seldom inquire about the wellbeing of their child on occasions given for the same by the institutions. There was also a time when the parents and other social acquaintances of the learner would condemn the teacher and the authorities for poor performance by the learner in any evaluation conducted by the school. They say ^Hkxoku ds ?kj nsj gS vaèksj ugha* I feel that God had pity on teachers, and so he created this pandemic to compel parents to devote their time , money and energy for the wellbeing of their children. In the process of shifting to ‘Online’ mode of teaching – learning the parents had to redefine their role from Condemning to Adapting the new situation. Moreover ‘Education is a shared commitment between dedicated teacher, motivated students and enthusiastic parents with high expectations’, says Bob Beauprez. Here are some of the spheres where the parents had to bring about a change in their roles towards teaching-learning.

Experts across the globe had to think of an alternative to continue the teaching –learning process of millions of learners. It was the need of the hour, as no one was aware how long this pandemic would last. The policy makers could not let the things drift away from their hands and leave the learners with a vacuum of teaching – learning during this time.

1. Expenditure / Finances :

Experts across the globe had to think of an alternative to continue the teaching –learning process of millions of learners. It was the need of the hour, as no one was aware how long this pandemic would last. The policy makers could not let the things drift away from their hands and leave the learners with a vacuum of teaching – learning during this time.

1. The parents had to procure extra devices i.e mobile phone, laptop, notepad or any other gadget in case there were more than one learners in one house. This was so because the timing of the learners would clash and it would be difficult for both learners to use single device.

2. Parents had to update or upgrade the existing internet services on mobile phone or at home so that more than one user could comfortably use their device without getting it ‘hanged’ during the teaching –learning process.

3. Parents had to shell out more money to foot electric bills as the teaching- learning would go on for half a day and later part of the day would be spent on preparation of projects etc.

4. Parents had to foot medical bills of their children, specially the ‘dry eyes’ because of too much exposure to the computer screen.

Policy makers shifted to ‘Online’ form of teaching –learning as an innovation in this field. It was a challenge for all i.e the teacher, the taught and the parents to adapt to this situation for the well being of millions of learners across the globe.

2. Technological Update :

1. Parents who were not ‘Tech-Savvy’ , had to learn the basics of networking, computer operation, attending online meetings and many more in order to match their pace with the teaching-learning process of the institution.
This might have been a challenging task for them .

2. During the ‘Online’ mode of teaching – learning the parents had to ensure that the gadgets they used were in proper condition, the internet connection was uninterrupted, the electric supply too was uninterrupted.

3. Parents would have to learn the ‘social networking etiquettes’ when they had to sit along with their kids for online classes/ meetings on respective online platforms used by their schools. It might have been really cumbersome for parents who were not at all familiar to these gadgets.

3. Time Management :

1. In a situation where both the parents are ‘working’, they might have had a tough task rescheduling their office hours, their own meetings, conferences etc to attend the online classes of their kids. More so because the schools and office timings generally did not match with each other.2. At times it would have been a challenge for the parents to attend a mandatory online meeting in the evening , especially if it was chaired by the Principal or member of the Trust .

3. Sometimes there might have been a revision class in the evening and it would not be possible for the parents to attend the same.

4. Sometimes it would have been too difficult for the parents to spare time for recording a performance of the child for some online ‘Inter School’ or ‘Intra School’ competition .

4. Testing and Evaluation :

1. During this time of online teaching – learning, the testing and evaluation methods too had undergone a change. The teachers had resorted to testing the child using google forms or online performance of the child using audio-visual aids.

2. Here too the parents might have had difficulty in completing the task as the question paper would get ‘time out’ after specific time and it would become non responsive. Hence the learner would not be able to register his/her opinion .

3. In an online assessment class, the parents would have to ensure that the learner is answering the questions on his/her own without a prompt from the parents or any individual nearby.

5. Inference :

1. Parents now probably realised that it is really a challenge for a teacher to handle a big number of students in any given class of any age group.

2. Parents realised that handling a group of children with different IQ, ideologies, upbringing, thought process was really cumbersome yet the teacher was managing the show every day.

3. Parents realised that the teacher is a ‘multi-tasking individual’ and that it is not everyone’s cup of tea. Probably this is the reason the educational institutions insist on ‘trained’ teachers as their faculty members.

4. It was also a challenge for the parents to keep a close watch on their children that they are not misusing the facilities of internet provided to them. There was always a danger lurking around that the child might get drifted to wrong path ending up everything in a mess.

5. Parents of older children had to take care of another risk of the learners getting addicted to watching web series and that too which had adult content.

In short, parents had to bring about a 360 degree change in their lifestyle, thinking, ideologies, attitude towards teaching-learning in order to match their pace with these ‘digital initiatives’. One can say that it is a revolution in this industry too. ‘Online’ was the talk of the town and it was mandatory for all the citizens to adapt to this situation lest they are lost in the mess of pandemic.

6. There have been cases where the ADHD parents have prompted their kids to ask questions to their teacher that were beyond their imagination, aptitude and capacity. This might have made the teacher to flare up and loose temper in the class.

In short, parents had to bring about a 360 degree change in their lifestyle, thinking, ideologies, attitude towards teaching-learning in order to match their pace with these ‘digital initiatives’. One can say that it is a revolution in this industry too. ‘Online’ was the talk of the town and it was mandatory for all the citizens to adapt to this situation lest they are lost in the mess of pandemic. Now that the institutions have started reopening with 100 percent offline attendance, the parents and the learners are trying to adapt to the ‘new normal’ situation that has arisen as a bye-product out of this pandemic. But one thing is sure that in the years to come ,the parents will have a vital role to play as ‘vigilant parents’ of the learners to ensure that the learners do well in academics also along with other extra curricular activities. Summarising the subject , there is an apt quote by Jane D. Hull, ‘At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child’s success is the positive involvement of the parents’.

Ajit P Thosar teaches English at St Joseph ET High School, Bilimora, Gujarat. He has been working as key resource person (KRP) in several workshops on different subjects arranged by different government agencies. He is a writer, reviewer and translator of several projects by Gujarat State School Textbook Board and a member of ELTAI and IATFL. He was awarded Best Teacher Award 2010 by Knowledge Olympiad Society, Hyderabad.