Hyderabad: With government shutting down educational institutions following the outbreak of Covid-19 many schools and colleges in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have begun to online coaching.
With the academic year entering mid of May and no sign of when the educational institutions will be allowed to reopen, the managements are worried about the completion of syllabi. Though the government has asked the school managements to pass over the students to the next level up to ninth standard, the parents think that the students would face extreme difficulty in comprehending and completing the syllabi for the next year.
Thanks to apps like Zoom, Skype and WhatsApp that these online classes are being conducted through video and audio means. In these classes the students are taught their courses. The teachers are also giving homework to students and correcting the next or the same day.
C. Gopal Reddy, Vice chancellor, Osmania University said, “Online classes is the only means to compensate the loss of time and incomplete syllabus.”
According to parents of school going children the students have taken to the idea of online coaching. Though they are not kept engaged for five or six hours, they love to see the teacher and ask her/him questions.
For almost two months online classes are been taken across the city. The teachers are not only explaining the lessons but also providing the notes. They are trying to complete the syllabus.
A professor from Maulana Azad National Urdu University said, “The students are having a good time. Those students who are not interested in learning and practicing new lessons are trying to hoodwink the teachers through various excuses. The most common excuses are of power cuts and non-connectivity. Some even go to the extent of saying they do not have a mobile or it is not working.”
“Things have become easier for students as they are being given notes by the teachers now. Earlier, they had to write their own notes,” said Sujatha, Lecturer at Mythri Junior College.
When siasat.com spoke to a few students they said that, most of them are having a good time.
“Earlier classes were all about waking up early and getting ready and reaching schools on time. But now we just have plug in our earphones sit in front of the camera or even lie down on bed during audio calls,” said Santosh, a student Gayathri college.
“It is easy to escape from classes now. We can easily lie that there is no internet or mike is not working or some other excuse,” Nida, a student from Amjad Ullah Law college, felt.
The rural students face issues.
The students from the rural parts of the city are seen lamenting that there is no proper internet connections and many of them find it difficult to grasp the explanation through these digital means.
“Those students who do not have their own rooms face privacy and concentration problems,” said a professor from Osmania University.
“Though universities are providing them with notes for reference still many are not able to benefit,” she added.
Though these online means have made completing syllabus possible but that the joy of going to classes and meeting with friends and teacher are being missed, several students admitted.