In-person interaction offers big relief for students

Dr Priti Swarup

The increasing vaccination rate in the country is a silver lining in the cloud, and it seems that after a long hiatus of 18 months, things are finally returning on track.

Following the decision to allow 100 per cent physical attendance, more students in classes from 5 to 11 will be returning to schools for in-person education from Sunday.

“Being away from schools is a missed opportunity for students to engage in social learning processes. The opening of schools should explicitly be used to nurture responsibility, caring and social commitment. Schools must start operating in a staggered manner ensuring that the on-campus experience contributes to the overall mental well-being of all stakeholders” says Dr Kiran G R, Dean Middle East College.

For most of us adults, our lives have returned to normal in many ways. We have been able to socialise and at least some amount of interactions in different forms has been there, be it going out to purchase groceries and being able to meet a ‘human being’ in the form of hypermarket personnel at the cash counter, fueling station, or workplace.

For children, this has not been the case. Amidst the strict restrictions at malls & public places, the younger ones particularly have been glued to their screens & gadgets for most of the time, be it academic or extracurricular. They have not had the opportunity to interact, feel, or see their teachers, peers or friends in ‘flesh’. This realisation had struck me when at my son’s recent birthday celebration, ‘real’ and not virtual kids were invited, of course within the prescribed norms. When the birthday boy was asked how he felt, he had only a simple straight answer “I am happy just to see my friends in person today”.

As educators and parents, the reopening of the schools brings in mixed feelings to many. “The joy of face-to-face, proper guidance from teachers, children getting opportunity to breathe in open space, sharing things, laughter with their friends, peer learning etc. has been missing since long. On the other hand, there is a fear of exposure to the outer environment and concern for the safety of children in the absence of vaccination’’, feels Vandana, a Salalah based educator.

Across the country, the school management and staff have been exhilarated on receiving the go-ahead from the MoE regarding the reopening of schools.

“We as a school are excited to have the premises come alive once again with the chatter, laughter and pitter-patter of the shoes of the students, and with their eyes twinkling with excitement and joy. The parents have been appropriately briefed about the expectations and support from them by the school as well as rules to be followed on the premises to safeguard our students”, says Amita Sharma, Director, Al Injaz Private School.

Reshma Sheikh, a teacher at an international school in Muscat mentions that “In addition to following all the Covid-19 safety protocols, we have noticed that the learners are more excited and enthusiastic to be in the physical classroom, interact with the teachers and have fun with their friends during the breaks. As a parent, I feel each child should be vaccinated and physical school be made mandatory as it is affecting their eyesight adversely and causing other health issues, apart from the concern that they are not watching or indulging in inappropriate websites or gaming”.

With so much going on at a much faster pace these days, for now, it is better to go step-by-step, the feelings of apprehension regarding re-entry are valid and shall take some time to neutralize. Till then, keeping fingers crossed!

The author is an HR expert, speaker and columnist. drpritiswarup@gmail.com