As soon as the government ordered the closure of all educational facilities, both teachers and parents started to panic. It turns out that for many parents, the study material of their children is too difficult. Moreover, most parents have to work during the day, feed their children and study with them. At the end of the first week of quarantine, parents are on the brink of their strength. But so are the teachers, who initially fell into hysteria and overloaded the kids with a ton of assigments.
Many parents were freaking out during the first few days when schoolchildren stayed at home.
"I have two daughters who go to high school, and when they showed me what they had to manage in a week, I couldn't believe my eyes. I feel like it's too much and I wonder if they'll make it,"
Hynek Svoboda from Prague confided to LP-life.cz, adding that he is trying to help his daughters as much as possible, but that he often has look things up on the Internet himself, because he has forgotten a lot.
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"I spend about five hours a day studying. The teachers give us assignments using a shared online system and I must say that it's crazy. There's so much to be done that I have no idea how I'll manage. I find that we have more work now than when we used to go to school,"
says twelve-year-old Vendula, a student at an Italian high school.
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Schoolchildren must master new curriculum from home.Source: Pixabay
We have to start compromising
Teachers admit that the initial shock of school closure and fear that the children won't be able to learn the study material that needs to be covered in time led them to giving too many assignments. But by doing so, they overloaded themselves with work as well.
"Many people think that teachers have holidays, but that's not the case. I have more work than if I were teaching the same material in the classroom. In addition to the preparation, everything needs to be uploaded into the system, where the children upload the assigned homework. Every child uploads several documents a day, which are often misnamed, and I have to go through it all and check it..."
says Jana Srbová, educator at the Postupická Grammar School, adding that she herself realized it was really challenging for the students and that she was already starting to compromise on the original amount of assignments. Moreover, according to her experience, the children aren't slacking at home - everyone is doing working dilligently on the assigned tasks.
"These are difficult times, but we have to get through it together. There is no doubt that it is challenging for everyone involved,"
says Srbová.
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Teachers give children a lot of learning.Source: Pixabay
The question remains, what decision the government will make in the coming days. How long will the children be home? Will they have to go back to school during the summer holidays? Politicians need to consider all this. Until then, the whole family has to be involved in the education process.
