A Simple solution to 9 Burning issues of Schools Post Pandemic

Schools came to a Stand Still for over 2 Years

Post-Pandemic Tips for Schools

Restarting schools was a challenge, many teachers changed their professions to tide the situation.

Parents were absolutely scared to send their children to school, and recovering the fees of the last 2 years was a major challenge for most schools.

Schools are limping back to normalcy now, yet they face numerous challenges.

A. The Challenges faced by Schools

Parents have been reluctant to pay fees.
Teachers have lost touch with their teaching skills.
Admissions are dwindling in some cases.
Students have forgotten the fundamentals and have low attention spans.
Many schools lack teaching staff.
Cleaning up of the school campus.
There is a delay in the distribution of books, uniforms, stationery, and other requirements.
Fixing of the school buildings.
Updating all necessary systems .

B. What are the implications of these challenges?

Schools do not have enough funds to meet their expenses. Many schools have tried reaching out to the parents but in vain!
Two years is quite a long time for teachers to be in touch with their offline teaching skills. Online or virtual teaching has not been all that effective. Now, back in school, teachers are facing a challenge in teaching in class. They are unable to deal with the students in a proper way.
Due to the pandemic, students stayed away from school, and now, parents have opted for homeschooling in many cases. Some parents withdrew their children from school, willing to let them stay home for one more academic year. Admissions to schools are affected thus.
Staying at home for almost two years, having the liberty to take it easy, and not wanting to learn online are a few factors that have brought down the attention span of children in general. There is a lack of concentration, interest, and focus seen among them. They are unable to cope with their current academics.
Many teachers lost their jobs during the pandemic. Some of them decided to return to their hometowns and start small businesses. Today, they are unwilling to come back and take up teaching at school. Schools are unable to manage with a limited staff.
Hygiene and safety measures are of utmost importance now. Since most workers are away still, the school campus is not up to the mark as far as keeping it clean goes. Thus, precaution and hygiene pose a big problem!
Students have lost touch with the subjects and concepts. Since every industry was affected by the lockdown, publishers and school requirement dealers suffered. They are unable to cope with delivering the requirements on time. This leads to a slowdown in teaching lessons in class.
Many school buildings have been affected also. The infrastructure, if damaged, has to be repaired which is an unavoidable expense for the school owner/management.
Along with the school infrastructure, the systems used two years back are also affected. Now, these systems need to be either updated or replaced – computers, LMS, and smartboards are a few of them.

How can these challenges and their implications be overcome?

A few Solutions :

To win back the parents’ trust and confidence may seem like a Herculean task right now! Holding Parent Connect Programs (PCP) is one way of addressing this challenge. Regular meetings with them will also help.
Teachers need to improve their skill-sets. Continuous training, coaching, and handholding are definitely needed to do so. Teachers are the backbone of a school and they need to be well-trained and well-equipped to face the harsh reality of the current scenario in school.
Not being too particular about entrance tests, and allowing students to undergo the bare minimum of an interview could bring in admissions to the schools again. Changing a few strategies in the day-to-day functioning could also help since people would start advertising the school by word of mouth.
Teachers will have to do proper lesson planning, and recap the fundamentals before proceeding to the main lesson. Teachers should make the students feel at home, be patient, make them learn through play, and engage them in various social activities that will help in making them confident and interested in learning.
Advertising in the right way, being more empathetic towards teachers (even the new candidates), and providing them with the best amenities possible would help the school to employ the right teachers.
A regular cleanliness drive, teaching students to maintain hygiene, and making them follow safety rules at school are good ways to keep the school campus safe and healthy.
Providing students with printouts or soft copies of lesson summaries, important notes, and basic stationery to start off the academic year becomes necessary for the school to arrange for. As and when the requirements are available, the same could be distributed among them.
All necessary repairs and modifications to the school infrastructure should happen after school hours so that the students are not disturbed or affected.
Follow periodic updating of systems to avoid any lapse in performance. Even the labs, should have the necessary apparatus/computers to facilitate smooth learning for students.

To conclude, some of the factors are in our control, and some we can influence. The most important factor for any school is the ‘word of mouth’ of the students and parents with regard to the teachers and their teaching abilities. So constantly focusing on a teacher’s mindset, skillset, and toolset, and reinforcing them through teacher training workshops periodically is the way to go!

If you wish to conduct any teacher workshops in your institution, visit the link below which will tell you:

1. Why you should consult me,

2. What I can offer,

3. What short-term and long-term transformations I can bring about in your school.

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Categories :

School Management

Teachers