Chandigarh
21 May 2020
DIVYA AZAD
A comprehensive & one-of-a-kind E Survey conducted by the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) of Dev Samaj College of Education (DSCE), Sec 36 here has revealed that a staggering, 90.2% teachers are taking online classes for first time. The research based survey was done to study challenges faced by teachers during online teaching amid Covid-19. It is noteworthy that the survey was carried out by Dr. Anita Nangia and Dr. Seema Sareen under the guidance of Dr Agnese Dhillon, Principal, Dev Samaj College of Education.
Dr Agnese Dhillon, Principal (DSCE) said, “A major finding of the intense research based survey is that 90.2% teachers are taking online classes for the first time, while 9.8% teachers mentioned that they were not taking online classes. These conclusions among others came up during the online survey comprising a total sample size of 3550 teachers from different Government, Recognized Private and Government Aided Private Schools of U.T Chandigarh and Punjab. The sample survey consisted of 38.6% Primary Teachers (PTs), 33.9% Trained Graduate Teachers (TGTs) and 27.5% Post Graduate Teachers (PGTs).”
61.66 % of teachers faced problems of lack of teaching materials & resources to some extent & 7.7 % to a great extent and only 33.56% of the teachers did not face the problem. While only 17.30% of the teachers did not face any technical problems, the majority of the group faced this challenge to some extent (64.62%) and 18.08% to a great extent. Similarly, lack of internet facilities to students is not a problem for only 17.27% teachers while for rest of 82.73%, it is a problem to some extent (61.49%) or to great extent (21.24%). Lack of in-service training, is not a challenge for 44.23% of the group, while the rest, perceives it as a challenge in online teaching. 64.68% reported lack of cooperation from parents as a challenge.
The Study has further revealed that the majority of the teachers (32.75%) use What’s App to send notes to the students & videos of the lessons during online teaching. This was followed by Cloud Meet apps (31.94%), other apps like Shisya, Deeksha (19.02 %) and Google Apps(16.08% ).
There are many pitfalls of online classes. For one, there’s no way for doing practical work in subjects like Physics, Chemistry and Biology etc. Secondly, a child’s psychological, social, emotional, and physical aspects of development are totally neglected. Thirdly, Physical education cannot be taught only theoretically. Some teachers complained that not all students have smart-phones due to financial problems and that maintaining discipline was tough as it was not a face-to-face interaction.
It is pertinent to mention here that the survey assumes significance as it is first of its kind and also because it was conducted successfully in very difficult circumstances – amidst the COVID 19 pandemic.
