Covid 19: How parents in Pakistan can support children's learning and care at home, some tips.
By
Ahmadyar
Parents have key responsibility in the education of their children. The wide closure of school in Pakistan and world has increased the responsibilities of parents for educating their children to an enormous extent. Parents in Pakistan are put into a real test for education and care of their children. Because there is no parental guidance available from government and organizations, and moreover, there is also lack of opportunities for distance learning. Although parents have numerous problems regarding the care of their children during these critical times, therefore, the responsibilities of parents have increased manifold. So, they are compelled to shoulder the responsibilities of children in these critical timings. There are some tips which can greatly help parents in educating and caring their children amid this crisis.
Establishing a Routine
The current crisis has badly affected the routine of families. And parents should serve as role model, so they should establish a routine for themselves and children. This routine should be made with the help of mutual consultation with their children — which should be flexible. The routine for children should include study hours, play/leisure time, prayer time, sleep time etc. The study time should include the educational programs on television, online learning or any E-learning.
The parents should become part of all these activities of their children and tap these everyday activities as learning opportunities for the children. We should appreciate children if they do something good or follow the routine. In the current grim scenario of pandemic, motivation is a great gift amid this crisis.
Those parents whose children are more socially isolated should ensure more recreational activities in and outside homes. These activities should be more physical in nature such as playing games, cycling, exercise, swimming etc.
Knowing the Available Online Resources
The countries and organizations around the world have developed a number of resources to ensure learning at home. Parents should aware themselves of these resources and get benefit from them.
UNESCO has identified a number of such useful resources for parents and educators. These resources are the following:
Digital learning management systems
Systems built for use on basic mobile phones
Systems with strong offline functionality
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Platforms
Self-directed learning content
Mobile reading applications
Tools for teachers to create of digital learning content.
We can find this material on following link
https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse/solutions
Moreover, there are apps like, MUSE, E.learn, Taleemabad which offer content according to Pakistan’s curriculum. This content includes videos, games and assessment of different lessons. We can easily download these apps for our children.
Online Safety
The use of internet has increased to a great proportion during this crisis. In Pakistan, the online time has especially increased for teens. In our country, particularly this is a great paradigm shift as earlier our teens were less exposed to internet and social media. Parents are compelled to adjust themselves to this situation because internet has become the primary source of learning during this crisis. The excessive use of internet has led to many ethical and medical issues. Similarly, online time can have adverse impacts on young brains; therefore, we can reduce the effects by taking the following tips:
We should talk and guide them about the use of internet and social media; we should spend together some time online. Parents should be careful especially about the screen time of our little ones. For our little ones, parents should encourage the use of books, magazines, and printed materials. Such materials will greatly help to minimize the screen time. And most importantly, there should be a proper schedule for screen time.
Stay in Touch with your Children’s Educational Institutions
Schools assign homework and other activities to students for the new session, which is the only way to ensure the implementation of their homework. Parents should stay in touch and stay informed about their children, and they also get more guidance from school authorities. School can also ensure the progress of students’ study while continuously monitoring them through contacting parents via different convenient ways. For supporting children’s learning at home, ongoing close collaboration between schools and parents is essentially important and pertinent.
Parents as Teachers
Parents are also the teachers of their kids. The recent crisis has greatly highlighted this fact. God forbids, if we may face such crisis in future, so it is important that parents should also learn some pedagogical skills, national curriculum, assessment techniques and study skills which can play an important role in students’ learning. They do not need expertise in this respect, but they need necessary knowledge for academic support of their children. There are books and online materials from which parents can get maximum benefit.
Health Safety
As the time passes, we are becoming more careless about the disease. When the first case of corona was reported in Pakistan, there was storm in the media; consequently, lock down was imposed after 100 cases. At the beginning, we became more conscious about our safety, so we started taking different safety measures. But now more than thousand cases are reported almost every day, yet we act more carelessly. In such situation where the virulent disease is spreading, parents should be very vigilant and cautious about the health of their children. They should ensure all the safety measures for children including washing hands for 20 seconds, using sanitizers, wearing masks and social distancing.
When the crises started and the schools closed the whole focus was concentrated on deploying distance learning solutions. But with the passage of time now there is a realization: the government, educational institutions and organizations should come together and help families for providing education and care to the children during this crisis at homes.
CS Lewis says: “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”
The writer is Associate Zonal Head at AFAQ Mardan Zone.
By
Ahmadyar
Parents have key responsibility in the education of their children. The wide closure of school in Pakistan and world has increased the responsibilities of parents for educating their children to an enormous extent. Parents in Pakistan are put into a real test for education and care of their children. Because there is no parental guidance available from government and organizations, and moreover, there is also lack of opportunities for distance learning. Although parents have numerous problems regarding the care of their children during these critical times, therefore, the responsibilities of parents have increased manifold. So, they are compelled to shoulder the responsibilities of children in these critical timings. There are some tips which can greatly help parents in educating and caring their children amid this crisis.
Establishing a Routine
The current crisis has badly affected the routine of families. And parents should serve as role model, so they should establish a routine for themselves and children. This routine should be made with the help of mutual consultation with their children — which should be flexible. The routine for children should include study hours, play/leisure time, prayer time, sleep time etc. The study time should include the educational programs on television, online learning or any E-learning.
The parents should become part of all these activities of their children and tap these everyday activities as learning opportunities for the children. We should appreciate children if they do something good or follow the routine. In the current grim scenario of pandemic, motivation is a great gift amid this crisis.
Those parents whose children are more socially isolated should ensure more recreational activities in and outside homes. These activities should be more physical in nature such as playing games, cycling, exercise, swimming etc.
Knowing the Available Online Resources
The countries and organizations around the world have developed a number of resources to ensure learning at home. Parents should aware themselves of these resources and get benefit from them.
UNESCO has identified a number of such useful resources for parents and educators. These resources are the following:
Digital learning management systems
Systems built for use on basic mobile phones
Systems with strong offline functionality
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Platforms
Self-directed learning content
Mobile reading applications
Tools for teachers to create of digital learning content.
We can find this material on following link
https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse/solutions
Moreover, there are apps like, MUSE, E.learn, Taleemabad which offer content according to Pakistan’s curriculum. This content includes videos, games and assessment of different lessons. We can easily download these apps for our children.
Online Safety
The use of internet has increased to a great proportion during this crisis. In Pakistan, the online time has especially increased for teens. In our country, particularly this is a great paradigm shift as earlier our teens were less exposed to internet and social media. Parents are compelled to adjust themselves to this situation because internet has become the primary source of learning during this crisis. The excessive use of internet has led to many ethical and medical issues. Similarly, online time can have adverse impacts on young brains; therefore, we can reduce the effects by taking the following tips:
We should talk and guide them about the use of internet and social media; we should spend together some time online. Parents should be careful especially about the screen time of our little ones. For our little ones, parents should encourage the use of books, magazines, and printed materials. Such materials will greatly help to minimize the screen time. And most importantly, there should be a proper schedule for screen time.
Stay in Touch with your Children’s Educational Institutions
Schools assign homework and other activities to students for the new session, which is the only way to ensure the implementation of their homework. Parents should stay in touch and stay informed about their children, and they also get more guidance from school authorities. School can also ensure the progress of students’ study while continuously monitoring them through contacting parents via different convenient ways. For supporting children’s learning at home, ongoing close collaboration between schools and parents is essentially important and pertinent.
Parents as Teachers
Parents are also the teachers of their kids. The recent crisis has greatly highlighted this fact. God forbids, if we may face such crisis in future, so it is important that parents should also learn some pedagogical skills, national curriculum, assessment techniques and study skills which can play an important role in students’ learning. They do not need expertise in this respect, but they need necessary knowledge for academic support of their children. There are books and online materials from which parents can get maximum benefit.
Health Safety
As the time passes, we are becoming more careless about the disease. When the first case of corona was reported in Pakistan, there was storm in the media; consequently, lock down was imposed after 100 cases. At the beginning, we became more conscious about our safety, so we started taking different safety measures. But now more than thousand cases are reported almost every day, yet we act more carelessly. In such situation where the virulent disease is spreading, parents should be very vigilant and cautious about the health of their children. They should ensure all the safety measures for children including washing hands for 20 seconds, using sanitizers, wearing masks and social distancing.
When the crises started and the schools closed the whole focus was concentrated on deploying distance learning solutions. But with the passage of time now there is a realization: the government, educational institutions and organizations should come together and help families for providing education and care to the children during this crisis at homes.
CS Lewis says: “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”
The writer is Associate Zonal Head at AFAQ Mardan Zone.
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