For last five months, schools across the State are shut in view of the COVID-19 health pandemic. While students and teachers in urban areas have shifted to online learning in virtual classrooms, their counterparts in rural pockets are a disadvantaged lot as they do not have the luxury of smartphones or internet connectivity.
To bridge the learning gap rising out of the pandemic, a group of teachers of Dhenkanal has come forward voluntarily to teach children by visiting their houses while adhering to social distancing and other COVID- 19 safety norms.
In Dhenkanal town, Dr Anupama Mishra of BB High School has been reaching out to children residing in three km radius of the school. When the first phase lockdown was implemented, the Sanskrit teacher asked the students to call her if they have doubts in the subject.
After the first phase of lockdown was lifted, Mishra began calling up five children a day, gave them assignments and asked for doubts. After interacting with the students over phone in the morning, she sets out to their houses to clear doubts and evaluate their assignments.
"In the lockdown, the only thing these children could do was to play. To keep them connected with the Sanskrit syllabus, I decided to interact with them over phone about the chapters that they studied every day. I visit at least five students daily," she said.
Similarly, Rekha Sahu who is the headmaster of Government Primary School at Paikadahikore visits children residing in the village daily to teach them. "Online teaching is not feasible here because many do not have smartphones. Besides, children are used to classroom teaching," said Sahu, who resides in Dhenkanal town and travels 10 km every day on a two-wheeler to reach the village.
She covers all her students within one week and inquires about what they studied during the period. Besides, the teacher gives them lessons in dos and donts to keep themselves safe from coronavirus.
An assistant teacher of Paikadahikore Government School Babita Nayak accompanies Sahu. Nayak moves around villages adjacent to Paikadahikore and keeps the children of primary standards engaged in basic learning every day. "Children tend to forget easily. The only way to keep them connected with the syllabus is to teach them something everyday," Nayak said.
The three teachers believe that learning should not stop under any circumstances. They also advise other teachers to start helping children in their own areas. "One does not need to wait for the lockdown to end for imparting education to children," Mishra said.
Sabita Behera, a student of Paikadahikore Government School, is grateful to Sahu for lessons in English that she learnt during the lockdown. "She sat outside our house for one hour to clear all my doubts in the subject. She gives us weekly assignments to keep us connected with the syllabus," Sabita said.