Teaching in a new reality
Teachers from Nepal reflect on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on children’s learning
Dhanusha and Baitadi, Nepal: Top Prasad Adhikari says that the longer the coronavirus crisis goes on, the more worried he gets about his students. Top, a teacher at the Shree Adarsha Secondary School in Mithila Municipality in Dhanusha District in Nepal’s southern plains, recalls how the announcement that schools would be shut down as part of the nation-wide measures to contain the pandemic had sent everyone scrambling.
“We had to rush to get students ready for the exams,” he explains. “It wasn’t ideal, but the alternative would have meant holding everything off until things went back to normal, and we didn’t know when that would be.”
In the short time before the closure came into effect, the staff had done what they could to prepare the students, starting with their personal safety.
Together with the school’s child club – one of many such groups engaged and mobilized by UNICEF across the country under its child-centred disaster risk reduction programme (CCDRR) – Top and the other teachers had handed out pamphlets about COVID-19 prevention around the school and talked to students about what they could do to protect themselves.
“The child club has been doing different hygiene, handwashing and other cleanliness-related activities in the school for a long time as part of their disaster preparedness work,” says Top, who works closely with the members. “So, it was just a matter of refreshing that knowledge.”
Students’ personal safety aside, Top says he was immensely concerned about the disruption to lessons. “The other teachers and I, we told the children repeatedly that just because they are not in school doesn’t mean they should stop learning,” he says. “But right now, it’s difficult for us to make sure they’re actually doing that at home.”
"In the short time before the closure came into effect, the staff had done what they could to prepare the students, starting with their personal safety."
Similarly anxious about how her students are coping is Sabitri Chand, a teacher at the Manilek Secondary School in Dashrathchand Municipality in Baitadi District in western Nepal. Sabitri says that while older students might have a better chance of staying on track, she is especially worried about younger children.
“When they’re that young, they need a lot of guidance,” says Sabitri, who teaches students from grades one to five. “It’s an important time in their lives.”
Both Top and Sabitri agree that while the role of parents and caregivers in children’s education and development is always significant, that role has become all the more crucial in the context of the current crisis.
“It’s up to parents now to help their children keep learning while they are away from school at this time,” Sabitri says.
Although all parents might not have the same resources, the least they can do, she says, is spend a bit more focused time with their children.
“Just give them attention: talk to them, play with them, use whatever you have around you to keep them engaged … a little effort can help a lot.”
“Just give them attention: talk to them, play with them, use whatever you have around you to keep them engaged … a little effort can help a lot.”
