The New Norm

I must confess that I was overwhelmed by the almost daily WhatsApp messages from Noah’s register teacher. These started streaming in way before the Easter school holidays, just before the lockdown was announced. From pictures with information and motivational messages to forward to Noah, to videos from the principal and links to fun and educational activities. It got to a point where I avoided WhatsApp for hours, well at least until I had sat down to enjoy my first morning cuppa, my ritual early in the morning while everyone else is still fast asleep…. absolute bliss. A time when the house is so quiet you can hear your heartbeat, and the birds.

On normal school days I wake up at 06:15 so I was very happy to get the extra 45 minutes of sleep. My alarm was set for 7am as Noah’s online class was due to begin at 8am. The MS Teams App had been downloaded for weeks and he had his profile set up too. Matthew tested the headphones and built in microphone. The only thing we hadn’t tested was the laptop camera, we had no reason to believe it could malfunction. Moreover, he had to have his teacher or fellow classmates on the other side to test it. That’s our story and we are sticking to it….

Noah was starting to stress, this was a few minutes before his first ever online class. Mommy, daddy and eventually big brother were surrounding him trying to troubleshoot this camera issue. Fortunately his teacher was patient and understanding and luckily for us we had Plan B. A couple of hours later Noah plonked his body on his bed, he was overwhelmed: “mommy, I don’t think I can manage all that work today”. I did my best to reassure him that we are here for assistance and support. I must be honest, I was also overwhelmed when I saw the main page with 7 subject folders. I looked at his MS Teams files and found he only had to do a total of 3 hours of work on his own today. It took a lot of convincing for him to understand that ‘Week 1’ work was to completed over a week and ‘Week 1 to 4’ could be completed over a month, with Week 3 & 4 being after the lockdown (fingers crossed).  He logged off just after 2pm and the heavy air around our home was lifted.

This e-learning topic brings me to a trending debate on social media, tuition fees, especially where private schools are concerned. It was highlighted and discussed on one of the news channels. It is simple, we stop paying and the teachers stop receiving their salaries. What happens then, they seek employment to offer private lessons to those who can afford? What happens after lockdown? Our kids go back to school without teachers? What about the hours spent on training sessions to enable them to facilitate online classes? These took place during the Easter school holiday break, a time that was meant for exactly that purpose….a break from our brats. What about the hours spent preparing for those online classes?

Our eldest started his Easter school holiday on the same week of the lockdown and he was meant to reopen on 6 April, so he will only miss out 3 weeks of normal school by the time it is lifted, hopefully. Noah was meant to break a couple of days after lockdown and he was meant to return to school today, meaning he will only miss out on 2 weeks and 2 days of schooling. Now I ask, is it fair to expect a tuition rebate or a discount?

My Humble Opinion: We are so privileged and we don’t take that for granted. Imagine the millions of kids without phones, tablets, laptops and PC’s. Imagine the millions without DATA, ADSL and Fibre. Imagine the millions of kids whose parents are clueless about logging into a computer, thus being unable to give assistance and support. Imagine the millions of families who cannot afford private lessons should it become necessary.

Teachers have families too, they have feelings too and they do get overwhelmed at times, just like we do. Imagine a teacher that has to attend to queries and questions from 24 kids (or more), online. Bear in mind the challenges that come with old laptops with malfunctioning cameras, pathetic internet speeds, disconnections and network interruptions. You could not pay me enough to become a teacher, and if anyone made an enticing offer too great, you could, with great confidence, bet all that money that I would be fired on the first day, before the first break.

“We are under lockdown and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. Let us embrace this new norm, there are lessons to be learnt from this”– Sonia Booth