When school goes online

 On Teachers’ Day, we speak to teachers to find out about the challenges that e-teaching is posing for them

Like work-from-home, study-from-home is the new normal- Illustration: Pratik Chakrabarti

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Brinda Sarkar   |  TT   |   11.09.20  :  Who would have thought class would one day be disrupted by pets? “This student has five pet dogs and they climb over and under her whenever she performs asanas,” laughs Mousumi Mukherjee, an FE Block resident who teaches yoga and history to students of Our Lady Queen of the Missions, Salt Lake. “The dogs’ wagging tails have knocked the student’s phone off the table too.”

Indira Mukherjee, a CD Block resident and tutor of arts subjects, has to compete with TV stars to vie for her students’ attention. “What else to do if their grannies sit next to them watching Star Jalsha all evening?” she asks.

Another English tutor from Salt Lake Sector I says she can hear a maths tutor teaching when her student “unmutes” herself to ask a question over Zoom. “Two sisters share the room at home and both have tuitions simultaneously. What can they to do?”

Like work-from-home, study-from-home is the new normal. Living rooms have replaced classrooms, phones have replaced blackboards and teachers no longer shout: “Stop talking!” They now say: “Mute yourselves!” The world of teachers has undergone a sea change since the lockdown.

Speaking to a black screen

The most obvious problem is that of not being able to see the students. “It’s odd addressing a screen without faces. One can neither judge from their expressions nor hear their response. So sometimes I have to tell them to switch on their video and audio feed but when the microphones are on for too many students, it creates an echo,” complains Madhurima Sen, who teaches English at Bidhannagar Government High School.

Then there is the deluge of scanned documents sent on her WhatsApp. “My phone is ready to crash every day as students send their home tasks,” adds Sen, a resident of CE Block.

The appeal of chemistry is in watching the chemicals change colour, says Purnendu Chakraborty, chemistry teacher at St

Francis Xavier school. “Students used to wait for practical sessions. So now along with theory, I’m showing them YouTube videos of the reactions,” he says.

Indira has a trying time teaching geography students maps and topography. “I’m sharing my screen and asking them to do as I do and to send me their scanned copies to check,” she says.

Ditto with biology teacher Rima Mitra Ghosh, who used to draw diagrams extensively on the board. “I’m now drawing on a notebook and holding it up before the phone,” says the BK Block resident.

Not to mention the strain teachers are undergoing. “My eyes start watering after reading the answers sent by students over WhatsApp. The glare is too much,” says Sagarika Ghosh of AC Block, who has retired from a school and now imparts tuition.

Sumana Bagchi of BF Block is taking print-outs of her students’ answers, marking them with red ink pen and mailing them back. “I’m deducting marks for poor handwriting and encouraging them to send typed out answers as this is clearly the future,” says the English tutor.

Perhaps no teachers have it tougher than those dealing with pre-school students, who refuse to sit still. “To teach A for apple, we are asking parents beforehand to hide an apple somewhere around the house and the kids are to go find that apple,” says Sneha Mukherjee of Little Laureates in Kestopur.

“While the kids are happy at home now they may have separation anxiety once the lockdown is over. Maybe we’ll ask parents to sit outside class for a few days and reduce the duration of classes initially,” says Sneha.

Eurokids in BB Block has been grooming tots for online admission tests into primary schools. “It’s not easy but we are using props, colourful videos, story-telling techniques. Initially the kids would eat or lie down during class but now they look forward to class, even asking to put on hairbands and deodorant,” says Soma Chandra.

Then there is of course the ultimate challenge this season — Covid. “The mother of one of my students got infected while for another both his parents were infected. The situation was tough at home yet they tried their best to attend classes,” said a Bangur Avenue resident who teaches at a south Calcutta school.

Some guardians agitate in front of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Education in July demanding revocation of all fees except tuition fees. The merits of and remuneration for online teaching have been a bone of contention in some cases.

Picture by Saradindu Chaudhury

Mischief managed

As if technology wasn’t enough, teachers now have to deal with students determined to stir trouble even during online classes.

Puloma Sen of Hariyana Vidya Mandir removes anyone chatting on the chatbox during class. “Remove” is the digital equivalent of asking a student to leave a classroom.

Teachers mention how some students log in during roll call and then walk off, of how they share their screen, thereby distracting others. Mousumi once had to remove a Class X student who was being fed by her mother during class!

“Another time I removed a primary school girl from yoga class as she would just not respond. She wouldn’t turn on her audio or video feed either. Later the child confessed she had dozed off on her yoga mat before class began,” laughed Mousumi.

Madhurima says that while using the “white board” feature on Zoom once, a student scribbled and drew pictures on it while she spoke. “And it was not possible to make out who did it,” she says.

When parents attend class

Pompa Banerjee, a primary school teacher at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, has found parents prompting or even doing classwork for the kids. “It’s evident when I see the child looking around aimlessly. And when I ask to see his work he drags his copy from outside the frame and shows me,” says the GC Block resident. “I ask the parents to let the kids be independent.

Bagchi knows of colleagues who have parents sitting in during class, as if testing the teachers. “It’s counter-productive,” she says.

Mousumi talks about bare-chested, pot-bellied fathers, walking into the frame and pulling off underwear from clotheslines behind students. “In other homes, mothers shout at younger siblings while the elder one is attending class. Some dads have even tried to click photos of young teachers! Many parents are uncouth and it is they who need training before their kids,” the lady shakes her head.

Full attendance

If there’s one upside to online classes it’s attendance. “Never before have I had 100 per cent attendance for such a long stretch of time. No

one is late for class and new students have joined from south and north Calcutta and even Mumbai for my English tuitions! One student was travelling during class one day and he attended the session sitting in his car,” says Sumana. The irony is that even Sumana, a BF Block resident, is in Delhi at the moment but most of her students don’t even know it. “While lazy students can while away their time on online classes, this is a fantastic set up for sincere students.”

Puloma is delighted with attendance too. “I’ve even had ill students attending class lying in bed, dressed in uniform,” she says.

Mousumi feels students who were timid in school have blossomed during online classes as they are in their own lair now.

“They are more interactive, showing me their pets, plants, balconies and even baby brothers and sisters,” she says.

Honesty test

“When students cheat in broad daylight under the noses of their teachers at school, how will we stop them from doing so in the sanctuary of their homes?” asks Sagarika, who feels open-book exams may be the only way out.  

Puloma has been holding oral tests for primary school kids, ensuring they look straight into the camera while answering and straining her ears to ensure there is no prompting from behind.

When Purnendu sat to check online chemistry test papers he found the answers rather bookish. “They must have been Googled,” he says. “Henceforth I asked parents to invigilate during tests.”

But Rahul Mojumder, primary school teacher of St. Francis Xavier School, has had unbelievable response. “I told the kids these questions were a test  of honesty. And I was overwhelmed to see many had left questions blank instead of copying them off. I praised their integrity and they loved it. Now when I mention their upcoming half-yearly exams, they tell me it’s not ‘half-yearly’ but ‘honesty’ exams,” he laughs.

Neither online nor off

Network issues seem like First World problems compared to the hardships faced by certain students. “Parents of our students are coming to school once a month to pick up their mid-day meal ration of rice and lentils. It’s ridiculous to expect them to have smartphones,” says Bipasa Das Biswas, head teacher of Bidyadhari Vidyalaya in Duttabad.

The school has been distributing worksheets to the parents when they come for rations but after Amphan many of families left for the Sundarbans to salvage what they could of their ancestral homes there. “When their roofs have blown away can we expect them to retain their homework?” asks the resident of Karunamoyee. “Besides, the chief minister has announced that this year all students will be promoted and so they are laid back.”

Despite this order, Suparna Bose and other teachers of Krishnapur Chanchal Kumari Balika Vidyalay between Sector V and New Town, have been telling students they must hand in assignments to get promoted.

Why pay for online class

While teachers felt appreciated when showered with cards and videos of songs and dances on Teachers’ Day last week, they have mixed feelings for parents.

“Many parents have not paid me in months,” says Indira. “All my tutor friends are facing the same problem. I find it demeaning to ask payment for a vocation that is sacred to me but parents are taking advantage of the situation and simply ignoring the issue. It cannot be financial constraints either since these families are celebrating birthdays and anniversaries without a worry amidst lockdown.”

Purnendu’s colleagues in other schools are suffering too. “Many parents feel fees are to be paid for sending children to school. They don’t regard online classes as education,” he says.

This when the teachers say they are slogging harder than ever before. “It has taken hours of technical assistance and training sessions, topped with continuous pressure to prepare online teaching aids, an area of expertise we were expected to master overnight. We have been working 12 to 14 hours a day to help keep kids engaged,” says the teacher of Bangur Avenue.

Suparna has been working as hard as she had to in the initial years of her career. “If it wasn’t hard enough teaching Anton Chekhov to first generation learners, I’m doing it over the phone now, sending them word meaning and notes over voice message. I’m calling each of my 52 students and urging them to do their assignments,” says the resident of Eastern High in New Town.

“Some parents are claiming that since only one teacher teaches their child online they should not have to pay for the school’s operational costs. It’s painful,” says Soma of Eurokids.  

Rima, however, feels for both sides. “I’m working very hard for the students but I wish I could do more. In school, I’d haul them up and discipline them for putting a toe out of line but now I can’t even see them. The students’ motivation and dedication have fallen and we have to push them harder than ever to work.”

The Sector I tutor however shares how some of her colleagues are taking it easy now. “They are sending video links instead of slogging it out one-on-one, they are feigning network problems whenever it rains and cutting short their classes. It’s a sham!”

The teacher from Bangur Avenue, who teaches in Class II, feels most classes are being held to justify salaries. “The children probably don’t need an online class or an online test as much as their teacher needs it to keep receiving his or her salary at the end of the month,” she says.