As the violent sea of COVID-19 that once rattled the entire globe at once begins to subside and break its intensity, educational institutions have started reopening. And with that, students return to their past routines, but will it really be as simple as it sounds?
With schools, colleges and universities gradually reopening, students start to pack their bags and get ready for resumption of on-campus classes and activities. However, this is no ordinary going back to school as research proves that parents and students are anxious and stressed than ever as the threat of coronavirus still lurks.
How students and teachers should be ready for the next pandemic
How many pandemics have you seen in your life? None would be the presumed answer, with COVID-19 being the first one. We all are familiar with the chaos it caused when it spread across the globe and countries started to shut down one after the other, dismantling the entire education system worldwide.
While some countries were lucky that their educational institutes always had a backup plan, Pakistan given its limited resources and haphazard planning failed, leaving each individual in a state of misery as to what will happen next.
However, Pakistan shortly adapted to the online curriculum, but neither the teachers nor the students were having it as none of them are used to this way learning or teaching. With that being said, both the parties learned their lesson fair and square, hence each of them should brace themselves of a similar situation in near future and start preparing and educating the pupils and teachers from day 1 about online curriculum as WHO warns us about possible pandemics in near future, hence, better be safe than sorry.
Hygiene — A top priority
Covid-19 has stapled one thing in our minds, and that is hygiene is a MUST! Carrying a sanitizer, washing hands, and wearing a mask are rightful duties. Schools should ensure proper sanitization facilities in their respectful departments and canteens and not disregard hygiene as a facade because students and teachers are as cautious as ever. This will help earn the trust of students, teachers, and parents back and life can transcend back to the new normal.
Getting used to Technology
Like it or not but this is the need of the hour and this pandemic made our crippling education systems realize how we are lagging in technology.
Educational institutions struggled to find a platform where they could take their databases to the cloud and form a proper chain of command. Whereas some even failed to get the one on one teaching system to remote teaching as our country is the third world and not many people have access to fast internets or even digital devices for that matter.
Hence students and teachers need to adapt to the new normal and include technology in their curriculum where both the parties are trained well enough for better learning and teaching experience.
