Mixed Views On New Academic Session

This week was a bit different from last week. Until last week, all the schools, parents, and students seemed to be confused, worried, and stressed. In contrast, this week, enthusiasm engulfed the social media platforms. There were notices bombarding regarding new admissions, school opening dates, and advertisements of different schools. Although the government initially announced that the new academic school session in 2083 BS will officially begin on Baishakh 15, with student enrollment and admission, and formal classes will start only from Baishakh 21, almost all of the schools could not wait that long to start the classes.

In previous years, the new academic session would commence in the first week of Baishakh, so the schools were prepared accordingly this year as well. And the governmental announcement of delaying the formal class schedule was surprising and completely unexpected. The time gap from Baishakh 2 to 14 gave a headache, particularly to the parents. So, when they heard their children's school was going to start on the 15th of Baishakh, they felt huge relief.

Views on new academic session 

In the meantime, I talked to several teachers, parents, and students to find out their views on the government's decision to delay the academic session. All of them univocally expressed that they would love the school to begin sooner rather than later, like in previous years. However, their reasons for this were different.

The teachers stated that since this break was unexpected, they could not enjoy it at all. This is mainly because they had already holidayed immediately after the final examination to refresh themselves. So, the further days off were quite boring. They complained that their daily routine was disturbed, they became lazy, and their sleeping time was irregular. When they had school, they would spend time looking for teaching and learning materials on the Internet, but during the vacation period, they just scrolled down the reels and videos for hours and hours. Even though they regretted this later, they could not help themselves from getting away from their mobile phones to fill their free time. 

Some of the teachers grumbled that to kill time, they went to the marketplace and spent a lot of money buying things that they did not need urgently. This year's break reminded them of the uncertain lockdown period during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019. The parents had other stories to share. They expected their children to begin the new school session in the first week of Baishakh, but it could not happen. They jokingly added, only they knew how hard it was for them to manage the extra two-week break, handling the children. The main challenge they faced was children's mobile phone addiction; if not the mobile phone, then the television. The parents tried to encourage their children towards reading or other creative activities, but they would snap, "I'll read and do everything when the school opens, not now." The early teenagers' parents were worried about their children's bad company, since these days drug abuse is an acute problem among people. They were scared thinking that their children could be prey of drug abusers or drug dealers if they allowed them to go out of the house. Some parents said that their children would be in safe hands once they started school. The working parents faced the babysitting problem; the spouses needed to take leave from their workplace alternatively. The parents agreed with the teachers on spending money. They complained that more staying home meant more expenditure on outings and entertainment for children.

The children also said that they would prefer going to school over staying home doing nothing but staring at their mobile phones the whole day. In the question, "Why school?" They responded, "We can play with friends at school. We can learn many things from teachers. Our parents will also be happy when we go to school." The older children shared that their parents would always ask them to help with household chores, which they did not like. They also needed to be a babysitter for the younger siblings.

Mental pressure

These views indicate that the unplanned holiday may not be as effective as it should be. Although the government had a good intention behind delaying the new school session for about three weeks, it did not work out perfectly. It seemed like people's mental pressure was much more enormous than saving fuel at this time of crisis. What was lacking on the part of the government was untimely and unclear information. It suddenly announced that formal classes at schools will begin only from Baishakh 21; this created a big "why" among the concerned people. There appeared to be different speculations on an everyday basis, which made the public more worried and impatient. 

Research shows that even one week of school deprivation causes tremendous losses for children. Because of this, their academic, social and emotional well-being will be jeopardised. Other studies point out that if children are out of school for quite a long time, there may increase in physical abuse, sexual abuse, violence or even early pregnancies. Therefore, any decision, especially related to children's education, should be taken more wisely, considering each and every aspect but not abruptly. A quick decision may lead to disasters. After all, school is a safe place for children to learn and grow. This can be a lesson for the government in the future.

(The author is the director of Vidya Shilpa Academy, Damak, Jhapa.)