Challenges in teaching during the Movement Control Order (MCO)

As the first Movement Control Order (MCO) coincided with the school holiday, to many of the
school students, it was the most unexpected but most welcomed news as it was going to be a
long school holiday. The original one week holiday had then turned into a so-called ‘prolonged’
vacation.

At first, every single day was filled with joy by watching tv programmes, engrossing in PUBG
games, making slimes, getting to bed and waking up late, and many others. The same activities
went on again and again like the old record playing the same song all day long.

In ensuring the teaching and learning process continues, the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin
Muhammad Yassin, has requested the Ministry of Education to implement home-based learning
initiatives during the duration of the MCO until schools are safe to be reopened.

Since then, school teachers have started to form online classes using platforms including
WhatsApp, Telegram, Google Classroom, Zoom and others. Regardless of which platform they
have chosen, the teachers’ main intention is all the same – to support the government’s
initiatives, to continue teaching and to always keep track of the progress of their students. It was
ridiculous for some teachers who don’t know how to use the apps in smart phone.

Teachers are busy preparing notes and task for students. Each day, more and more school notes
are posted in the group and homework given to ensure teaching and learning progresses well.
And we also must identify the notes reach the students.

To ensure the notes and homework reach the students, Parents are repeatedly reminded not to
leave the group as teachers can only communicate with the students through their parents’
phone number. It was, however, a real heartbreaking seeing some parents leaving the group.
“They may have more important business or simply do not want their children to borrow their
mobile phones.

The online teaching more time consuming as it required them to prepare ppt and extra
materials for the classes. online mode seemed too formal and lacked personal touch
and did not seem lively. Difficulty in assessing concept clarity by students and to know if
they are understanding what is being taught was another challange. Inability to
monitor and control students behavior, lack of work satisfaction, background distractions,
time restraints in using online apps, delay in starting the class due to students taking a lot of
time to join, inability to assess if students are mentally present in the class or have just
logged in were the other challenges that we are facing.

Another major challanges was the problem of taking practical subjects online. As per the
teacher’s theoretical subjects were easier to take but when it comes to practical subjects like
design, accounts, math, and others, they found it difficult to take the class.

Being at home makes online classes really burdening for teachers as they are
The impact of online learning during COVID-19: students' and teachers’ perspective

© The International Journal of Indian Psychology, ISSN 2348-5396 (e)| ISSN: 2349-3429 (p)
| 791
unable to manage both house work and teaching at the same time. Some of them even
having lack of supportive home environment and family issues makes it harder
for them to fully involve themselves during online classes. There are many distraction,
when conducting the online classes.

Adjusting to the new normal may not be an easy task but is possible. Teachers have to adapt to
new teaching mediums. Many, however, enjoy learning new things such as online teaching, apps,
and etc.

In other hand, We felt that online classes were flexible and convenient,
could be easily accessed, can be scheduled as per our convenience and made evaluation
and grading work easier. Infact, online teaching has helped teachers to upgrade
their skills as a teacher, they have become technically more skilled, has helped them to learn
innovative teaching methods and has boosted their confidence.

online teaching saved time, can be taken from the comfort of their homes which in turn saved
travel time. online classes seemed more structured in approach, lesser disturbance,
innovative tools like screen share can be used, promotes using
more graphs, charts and videos, can preserve the content of the classes for future reference
and use, rather than taking the class again for students who missed the class the classes can be
recorded, makes teaching more systematic

Lack of student interest and involvement is another challenges for teachers. during online
classes the main issue they faced were that students made a lot of
excuses about not being able to attend classes, for e.g., network issue, dysconnectivity, poor
audio and video quality, etc. and it is difficult for them to know if they are giving genuine
reasons or just escaping from attending the classes. They also made a lot of excuses and
showed lack of seriousness. This in turn tends to make the
teachers feel demotivated. The poor attendance due to reasons like some
students being in their hometown where connectivity issues are there, followed by lack of
motivation from students’ side to attend classes was another issue faced

More over, Only a few students seem to participate actively by submitting their work, the same
students, not even one fifth of the total number of the class. Teachers are seen begging for
responses, whilst some even posted on their WhatsApp status expressing their feelings and
frustration.

some Students claimed that it is a bit difficult adjusting to the new normal; that is home-based
schooling. However, to some it is enjoyable as they are exposed to various online resources such
as PowerPoint, YouTube videos, Quizizz and Google Form. Students can feel the closeness and
enjoy receiving answers from their teachers about their work entry.

Many parents also look at this from a positive side. They enjoy assisting their children, besides,
being able to know the names of the teachers teaching each particular subject. There is always a
blessing in disguise.

To all the teachers out there, no matter where they are, we have you in our prayers. Let’s keep
fighting this invincible enemy, the COVID-19, together; as united we stand, divided we fall.
 

motivation from students’ side to attend classes was another issue faced. Some of the other