With everything shifting to the digital arena in the education sector, 79 per cent of parents across the country feel teachers are still struggling to cope with online classes and 28 per cent have also flagged their concerns about teachers not receiving proper training prior to or during the switch. The data was collected for a nation-wide survey launched by the parenting website, MomJunction, which took into account the efficiency of teacher-student interaction in virtual learning sessions. This survey was conducted across states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Punjab, Bihar, Haryana, West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Telangana among others. A total of 500 mothers participated in the survey — 15 per cent of whom were parents of high schoolers, 39 per cent were guardians to kindergarteners, and 46 per cent were parents to primary school students.

The education sector is one of the numerous industries that suffered a massive setback due to the ongoing Coronavirus crisis. Ever since the pandemic was declared, educational institutions were shut down to protect students and teachers. Like many other sectors, teaching shifted online and at the time, it seemed to be an effective solution. However, as time passes on and the pandemic refuses to make its exit, there are a variety of issues cropping up as students, teachers are yet to adapt to the modern virtual classrooms.

According to the results of the survey conducted by MomJunction, many teachers are not used to conducting classes online — as a lot of the educators in our country neither have the necessary skills nor are properly trained to conduct online classes. "It might help to provide teachers with a crash course that will improve their digital literacy and therefore, make it easier for them to teach more efficiently online," the report suggests.

Around 48 per cent of parents who took the MomJunction survey admitted to supervising their kids to ensure their proper participation in online classrooms, while 85 per cent also said that they are spending more time helping their children with school-work as opposed to offline classes. "Spotting and managing a distracted student in a virtual classroom can be quite a task, therefore online classes should ideally be more interactive than a traditional classroom. Educators should revise their methodology to make students actively participate in the lessons," the report suggests.

Around 41 per cent of the parents observed that students have trouble grasping the lessons despite the best efforts of their teachers. They also agreed that teachers have been putting in their best efforts and explaining concepts multiple times for their students to comprehend. The survey also revealed that 82 per cent of parents found the teachers very knowledgeable, which then quite aptly points out that technological difficulties, incomplete training, and the inability to provide individual attention are the main reasons for poor comprehension.

In conclusion, the report suggests that we should focus on fixing the shortcomings of online classrooms instead of waiting for schools to reopen so that children can continue their education successfully without putting their health at risk.