In March 2020, the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic hit the country and the State forcing a nation-wide lockdown till May, and since then the academic schedules of both schools and colleges have gone for a toss, and the managements of educational institutions are still grappling with the situation.
On the one hand they have the issues of admission and on the other they are facing problems over completing the syllabus and holding examinations.
Post lockdown, classes were held online from June to September in 2020. But numerous problems cropped as both institutions and students were not ready for the new teaching method. Many institutions did not have the studio space to air the teaching content live and teachers and students had to innovate using personal computers and mobile phones. Many students and teachers also had to face the issue of bandwidth and this slowed down the pace of syllabus completion, which resulted in backlogs for many, says the principal of a reputed college in the city.
When classes started by the end of the year, the student strength per college was restricted and many students could physically attend just three or four classes for the entire syllabus period. This resulted in rushing the syllabus, and teaching and explanation of concepts took a hit. Many concepts had to be given a pass, says a student of a private college.
Meanwhile, the admission for the 2020-21 batch took place during Jan-Feb-2021, which was supposed to have been completed by June 2020. The examinations for senior batches were delayed by over four months.
“With all these delays due to the pandemic, the situation turned chaotic and even before we could settle down sometime in March this year, we were hit by the COVID second wave which brought things back to square one, as another lockdown was imposed,” says the principal of Dr. Lankapalli Bullayya College, G.S.K. Chakravarthi.
The syllabus in many colleges is incomplete and the teachers and students are forced to walk that extra mile. “After the classes in the college, we rush back home and hold online classes till late in the night to complete the syllabus,” says a mathematics teacher.
