Education experts say just sending learning materials doesn’t work until schools can monitor the progress of their students.

In a bid to keep students who have been staying home for over four months due to Covid-19 pandemic engaged in learning, Lalitpur Metropolitan City has started sending them “home learning materials”.

The city started the campaign to keep primary-level students from community schools who don’t have access to the internet engaged in learning, said Mayor Chiri Babu Maharjan. Officials said the city received around Rs 150,000 from the Education Ministry to print the learning materials.

“At this time we are mainly focusing on students under grade three who attend community schools in the city,” said Maharjan.

The materials, designed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, tech students to draw and learn alphabets, among others.

Of the 40 community schools in the city, 25 run classes up to grade 12, ten till class eight and five till the fifth grade.

“This is a great means of learning for children who are confined to their homes due to pandemic,” said Kadam Baba Pradhan, principal at Tri Padma Vidyashram Secondary School, Pulchowk. “Our school received all the printed materials from the city, but we haven’t been able to send it to the students’ households because of the restrictions. As soon as these restrictions are relaxed, we will send them to the students,” said Pradhan.

Schools and colleges all across the country have been closed since March 18. The government is yet to come up with a roadmap to reopen schools.

Most people from lower economic backgrounds enroll their children in community schools. Majority of them do not have access to the internet or laptops to attend online classes. This trend is not only limited to Lalitpur, children from working class families across the country are being deprived of learning although virtual classes have roped in children from middle and upper class families.

Nava Raj Rijal, the city’s education officer, said the city has sent the learning materials to all schools. “Students above class five can learn from the internet, and there have been online classes going on via different FM radios and televisions, but primary level kids can’t comprehend those things,” said Rijal.

Education experts have welcomed the move but have raised questions about its effectiveness. “Just sending materials to students does not work, the school concerned should have a mechanism to monitor if children are learning or not,” said Binay Kusiyat, a professor at the Tribhuvan University.

Rijal from the education office said with the learning materials, even partially literate parents can guide their children. The 176-page material has tasks for students for 45 days, which they can perform with the help of their parents. And at the end of each task, parents can test their own kids’ knowledge.

“These tasks help children to have better relationships with their parents because these tasks are interactive. For example children are told to write their parent’s biography. This helps them to learn about their parent’s time,” said Rijal. Apart from that, they are taught how to perform daily activities from morning to the evening. It also includes different games, drawings, and information on coronavirus.

source: the kathmandu post, 30 august 2020

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