The pandemic has posed numerous challenges for teachers. Each day, they are struggling to adapt to new realities of teaching virtually. Despite no knowledge of computers and poor connectivity, they have been trying to ensure that education doesn’t take a backseat. One among them is Manjari Nanda of Sambalpur, who has risen to the challenge!
With colleges and coaching centres shut, she turned a saviour for scores of UG final year students from rural years. She helps them prepare for various entrance exams for higher studies. A significant number of UG students of different colleges join her every year. There are also some students who come from a weak economic background, but they get an open door to her classes.
However, during all these years, she has been using the traditional methods of teaching including classroom participation, oral examination, and frequent written tests to mentor her students.
Prior to the pandemic, Nanda took at least three to four classes of each batch every day with duration of each class being two hours. After coronavirus outbreak, the university and hostels were closed in the last week of March and students went back home. She expected the situation to ease within one or two months but that was not to be.
During this period, UG final year students who while preparing for their PG entrance examinations sought her guidance. “I started addressing their queries over WhatsApp but that was not a feasible approach. Some students advised me to take online classes. But that was not easy for me because I had never tried this before”, she says.
With little proficiency in online teaching, Nanda was initially hesitant but considering the needs of her students, she gave it a shot from June. “The first few classes were difficult. I often goofed up while using the online interface for the first few weeks. I have a habit of looking at the students while teaching, to judge whether they are able to understand or not. But online teaching was a completely new experience for me,” she says.
Eventually, she got used to the new ways. She resumed the classes of other batches too. To keep a check on students, she started shooting questions randomly to the students and is now finding other interactive ways to make the online classes more effective. Currently, she is taking at least three classes every day.
However, she had to become more flexible with timing of the classes for convenience of the students. Sometimes, she even has to take classes till 10:30 pm for students who fail to attend classes during the day. All this while handling all her household chores and looking after her family. However, network is a hurdle. She now has to move all around her house to get the connectivity.
At times she also has to take classes sitting at her porch or even on terrace. Students are facing the same problem. She said her students from the rural areas often join the classes sitting under a tree, hay stacks and on farm lands. But Nanda feels happy about the fact that, though she had to adopt a new way of teaching but she could guide her students with their studies even in this time of worldwide crisis. Her stint as a teacher began soon after she completed her PG in Economics from Sambalpur University in 1992 to join a college as lecturer. Though she got married in 1998, she continued her vocation until she delivered her first child. After having faced some health issues, she quit the full-time job as teacher in 2001. She chose to devote more time for her family and health. As things back home began settling down, she started preparing for OPSC-Mains in 2003.
During this period, one of her friends requested her to guide her child and two other students who had joined GM College to pursue bachelors in economics.
Nanda agreed to guide them to nurture her teaching skills. Despite having to balance her own preparations and household chores, she could manage her tuitions well because of her passion to teach. Eventually, more students approached her to seek guidance and things continued.
However, a major setback came her way following the birth of her second child. While her health gradually deteriorated, a month after she gave birth to a boy, they found the child had Cerebral Palsy. The next few months were absolutely agonising.
But, because of her zeal for teaching, she overcame the ordeal and decided to resume her career by guiding students without having to step out of her home. For the last 15 years, there hasn’t been a day when Nanda has stopped teaching.
With passing years, more students started joining in after being aware of her depth in the subject and her teaching techniques. “There are many students who find the college teaching insufficient and are in need of external guidance. I look at it as an opportunity to share my knowledge to empower them.” Her relentless dedication towards her students is fairly noteworthy. “It was never about money for me. The very realisation that my knowledge is being used to shape up the careers of many gives me the verve to keep going and seeing my students excelling in their lives is my payback,” she says.