Three-year-old Amyra walked into a classroom for the first time on Monday. A newly admitted nursery student, the toddler found herself amid a sea of new faces as her parents bid her goodbye. With no preschool experience to fall back on, owing to the pandemic-induced closure of institutions, the toddler had a tough time coping with separation anxiety, said her mother Asma Saeed. The day, needless to say, was an emotional roller-coaster for both mother and daughter.
“Her first day of school was fine. There was a lot of crying involved in the morning, but she was relatively better by afternoon, when the school got over. There was a bit of separation anxiety — school is a new experience for her and the other children as well,” said Saeed, a resident of east Delhi.
Amyra is one among hundreds of children who started their school or playschool life in the virtual world during the two-year long pandemic induced closure of institutions. That meant children like her had no familiarisation with cohort-based learning, away from the home.
With private schools in Delhi resuming the new academic session in person from Monday, children in nursery classes visited schools for the first time in two years. Most schools said they were taking extra measures to ease children into the physical classroom.
While some schools said they allowed parents to stay with children for the duration of the session on Monday, others said they were following flexible timings for the first few weeks to allow a gradual integration of children with the school environment.
Tania Joshi, principal of The Indian School, said new students were having teething troubles in adjusting to the classroom experience. The school is holding smaller sessions with different batches of students, to begin with. “Most students in nursery this year could not join in-person classes in preparatory schools due to the pandemic. A few children were crying today and having trouble adjusting, but we are confident of tackling that. We are relieving children a little earlier than usual so they get used to the class gradually. Also, we are only calling half the students so that children get adequate attention,” said Joshi.
She added that while parents were understandably anxious, the school was not allowing them on the premises unless warranted. “As long as parents are around, children will never settle. We have assured parents that if their presence is needed, the school will reach out to them,” said Joshi.
Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu Public School in Rohini, said the school will hold activities in the first 10 days to familiarise students with the campus.
Lata Vaidyanathan, director, Gyan Bharti School, Saket, which will resume classes from Thursday, said the school was going to conduct activities keeping in mind that children will be undertaking their first institutional interaction. “Any preschool must work towards integrating children into a social system. We need to meet the needs of children instead of driving our own syllabus. Extra attention will be paid to children who have not been to preschool,” said Vaidyanathan.
Attribution-Hindustan Times
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