Safety, fun and grit: how rural teachers are tackling Back-to-School

The second wave of COVID-19 at the beginning of 2021 forced schools across India to shut down again. This affected the learning curve of more than 280 million children. Some schools managed to go online, but students without internet connection were cut-off. Anganwadis, the early childhood development centres in rural areas also closed. This left millions of pre-teen children in rural areas without access to education. As the situation is limping back to normal, many of these children and their parents are scared to go back to school, with the number of rural deaths from the second wave augmenting their fear.  

We will talk about some methods today that teachers in these areas have adopted to encourage their students to study again. 

Safety first attitude to re-opening schools 
Many rural teachers are passionate about teaching. They have started their personal door-to-door campaign where they are encouraging parents and educating kids on safety measures. They are demonstrating the hand-wash, mask, and social distancing regimen that kids ought to follow whenever they step out now.  

Reconnecting peer group to make it welcoming 
Many rural kids are very lonely. They are completely cut off from the world as they stay in locations where there is little chance of meeting anyone close to home. Teachers are stressing that they would be able to meet their friends again once they return to school. Meeting peer group and playing again is a serious motivation for many pre-teen kids.  

Encouraging physical activities that don’t require touching  
Most rural kids love to sing and dance, which are activities that can be done very well while maintaining social distancing. Games like hopscotch or carom can be played without touching other students. Teachers are including more activity hours to make school a more participatory and vibrant experience.  

Adopting flexible teaching methods 
Teachers in rural areas are thinking up innovative solutions to making education more flexible. Some of them are translating and creating learning material in local languages to make it easier for kids to study at home. Hyper-local study and play centres for wards and boroughs is another way such example of making learning safe and available.