Parents are ‘less prompt’ with tasks in junior online classes -The school work has been piling up, several mothers say

Teachers said almost a year into online lessons they have noticed there are “waves of periods” of interest and disinterest from parents: Shutterstock

Jhinuk Mazumdar   |   TT   |   Calcutta   |  14.03.21 : Parents of children in junior classes have become “lethargic” and “less prompt” about helping their wards complete or submit the work assigned by the school on time, said both parents and teachers.

Children in the pre-primary and also in primary section have to be monitored by the parents. They cannot do the work on their own but the school work has been piling up, several mothers said.

This is not the case when physical school was on, said a mother.

Several parents said when there was physical school there was an urgency in them to finish the work, but the motivation is lacking for the online lessons.

Priyanka Kar, a working mother of a Class III student, said her son’s assignments “pile up”, which didn’t happen during on-campus classes.

“Earlier, when the school was on at least the classwork was taken care by the teacher. Now, whether it is classwork or homework, I have to be constantly on my toes. The work piles up because I have to go out for work everyday and my tours have also started,” said Kar, who works in a private firm.

“I still try to complete the piled up academic work but it’s difficult to find time for art and craft,” she said.

Teachers said almost a year into online lessons they have noticed there are “waves of periods” of interest and disinterest from parents.

“There are about 20 per cent parents who could not complete assignments on time as against five per cent when there were on-campus classes,” said Minnie Sengupta, the principal of Birla High School, Mukundapur.

“We counsel parents that once normal on-campus classes start children will have to follow a routine and hence, they need to have the right work habit,” said Sengupta.

A year back, a mother said, she would sit down regularly with her son because she would have to know what he did in school but now on many occasions other work takes priority.

“It would be simple colouring activity that he would have to do and I would sit with him because the teacher would write ‘work not done’, but now there is no such urgency and I take it easy and procrastinate,” said the mother, whose son is in nursery.

The procrastination also happens because teachers understand that parents would not be summoned to school and at the most there will be an online meeting with parents that can be avoided because of technical glitches.

“Some parents have become more relaxed in getting their child’s work submitted. Earlier, if there was a delay in work it would go to the coordinators, a note in the diary and it could end up with parents’ call,” said Nupur Ghosh, the vice-principal of Mahadevi Birla World Academy.

But teachers also feel it is difficult to keep the interest sustained in online classes and it is natural for parents to feel stressed out.

“Earlier, children would spend three to four hours in school but now they are constantly at home. We have reduced the homework and have asked teachers to concentrate on classwork during online lessons but not all children have the same pace, so

naturally it has to be later done with mothers at home,” said Meena Kak, the director of Lakshmipat Singhania Academy.

Kak said in school children are in a “healthy competition” and find a motivation but the same activity takes more time at home.

The school conducted counselling sessions for parents for the entire academic year and will do so again next session. “There were mothers of children in junior school who wanted help because the child was throwing tantrums,” said Kak.

Work pressure does build up at home, said a mother who is a school teacher.

“There are days when I have to go to school, my daughter has online class and there is nobody else at home. Ultimately, I have to make adjustments because my husband usually has meetings which he has to attend,” said Barnali Das, whose daughter is five.

The absence of children from classes on most occasions is not because of them but because of adults at home, schools say. “There are days when children are absent from online class and it is because parents are unable to find  time...,” said Sengupta.