Teachers learnt too during the pandemic

GEORGE TOWN: When faced with adversity, something good is bound to surface if one is earnest and resolute.Schoolteacher Nora (not her real name) will attest to that. During the pandemic, she strived to add “more tools” to her skillset.

She has now emerged as a tech-savvy teacher, armed with hard-earned know-how of how to “connect” with students.

The 42-year-old teacher said it was not just her, as many of her colleagues are now more aware of how important and usable information technology is when it comes to delivering knowledge.

“We learnt how to be multi-skilled and think outside the box when it comes to teaching our students.

“If there was no pandemic, I think we would still have been stuck in the old ways,” she said.

It was nonetheless a challenging time and she feels the government must improve Internet connectivity in schools, especially in rural areas.

Poor students, she said, must be equipped with laptops and computers too.

Nora said during the pandemic, teachers like her who taught at primary schools had problems teaching their pupils simply because they were not equipped with the basic knowledge of how to learn online.

“The school curriculum must be overhauled to include online learning too, not just for students but also for teachers,” she said.

Nora, who has been a teacher for 14 years, said being a teacher was always her number one option after she graduated from university.

She confessed to having her share of bittersweet memories, facing aggressive parents and witnessing how kids from the lower income group had to quit school because their parents could not afford it.

“We are beyond the 21st century but stories like these still exist to this day in rural areas,” she said.

Nora said in conjunction with Teachers Day tomorrow, she hopes parents would be more proactive in school activities that their children are involved in and not give a myriad of reasons to leave the responsibilities to teachers alone.

“Parents should help too. It should be their number one priority to get their children educated. We teachers can only help,” she said.

Another teacher, who wants to remain anonymous, agreed with his colleague that the government must improve facilities and connectivity for online learning.

“We have to get ready. Who knows when another pandemic will hit us? Education for our children must continue no matter what,” said the teacher, who has been in the service for 30 years.

He also advised graduate teachers who are into the teaching profession to appreciate their work and not to just do it for the wages.