Covid-19 impact on students’ academic performance and mental health.
Still, I remember it was the month of November 2019. It is the month when parents who want to put their kids in school rush here and there in search of a good school for their little munchkins. My husband and I were both busy searching for a good school for our kid too. At last, he got admission in a good school of Bangalore. My child was going to be shifted from a playgroup to a main stream school. I was excited thinking now he will see an actual school with lots of students and teachers, playground, library, laboratory etc. Alas! Everything went into vein due to the corona virus.
Schools were not allowed to open and children were not allowed to step out of their home. It was utter chaos, but slowly everything was managed, and online classes started. For the first few days it was ok, but later my child started getting irritated to attend the classes as they were overloaded with class work and homework. There was no enthusiasm towards attending the class or doing their homework. It became very hard to make him sit for studies, as he was always at home. If I asked him to study, he used to say that he studied with his Mam. For him, there was no difference between class work and homework.
All these things led me to think why was he not interested in studies now? The answer was he was not able to meet his friends, not able to sit and study with them, share his lunch with them, and last but not least, he was not able to have fun with them. He loves to chat with his teachers as he holds much extra knowledge than other kids of his age do, this was another thing which he was missing.
School-going children not only learn to read and write, but they also learn to socialise with others, which cannot be fulfilled by the online classes. They learn to write a lot as while at school teachers keep an eye on them if they are writing down the notes or not and at home parents. But here everything needs to be checked by parents, and sometimes some kids don’t like to do the same activity again and again.
Covid-19 has not only impacted their academic performance but their mental health too. They have become more fussy and irritating nowadays. It has really become hard for parents where both of them are working to entertain them or keep them happy.
Now both the parents and students ask the same question—when are our schools going to open?