Transition back to normal routine is up to educators

Pune: Being boisterous, restless, chattering incessantly, incomplete homework, distraction and lack of attention that define every classroom has increased to new levels after the return of students to offline school, teachers and principals across the city have said. Many are experiencing a sea change in the behaviour of students in face-to-face classes that resumed after nearly two years. Teachers have observed that most students don’t pay attention to their teaching or instructions in the classroom, many are distracted, and come to class with incomplete homework.Moreover, they lack tolerance, have irritating attitudes, and have formed a habit of complaining. More children have lost the discipline to be punctual, and do not mind coming late to school. Teachers also observed laziness in pupils.Child psychologists said schools and teaching staff needed to handle this phase in children sensitively because students have lost touch with the school routine for two years and they needed time to come back to the daily grind.Educator

Bhau Chaskar

said many changes have happened in the behaviour and ways of talking in students after the schools reopened. “Not everyone pays attention to what teachers are teaching in the classroom. Many are distracted. Children are not able to maintain focus. They are not happy with their studies. Many students come to class with incomplete homework. The rate of students coming late to school has increased, and many have become lazy.” Manasi Marulkar, principal of

Acharya Shree Vijay Vallabh School

, said that students cannot complete their answer papers in a given time because of lack of writing practice during online learning. “Students are more involved playing games on the cellphone than studying. All educators will have a tough time overcoming these problems in the next academic year. We need to find novel ways and techniques to make education more interesting and lively,” she added.

Amrita Vohra

, principal of

Elpro International School

, said, “We are identifying gaps in both skills and conceptual understanding of students, including social skills and academic learning. All students have a chance to recover from the setbacks and reach full potential.”An in-depth and accurate assessment of the extent of their unfinished learning will help them to move past the pandemic and into a successful future, Vohra said.