Parents of toddlers try to puzzle out education riddle

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 31

For every parent, admitting their ward to a perfect school is like achieving a milestone. The moment a child turns 2.5 or three, the parents start to look for the school that would provide their kid a good education. But ever since the pandemic started, the parents have been thrown in a great dilemma: What to make of their child’s education?

They say that a child of this age cannot understand the meaning of online education, and they will surely not understand a word if taught online. Kush Aneja will be turning 3 this September. Her mother Mahi Aneja had already thought of admitting him to one of the leading schools in the city, but to date, it is not clear whether the offline classes will start or not, which is why she had to drop the idea and has now thought of teaching him on her own.

“I don’t know what I am going to do next. There is hardly any chance that proper classes will be held in the school. Although admissions are going on, I don’t think it is of any use,” Mahi said.

Deepa, mother of Rihaan, a three-year-old, is also on the same page as Mahi. “I feel that a year will be wasted now. Otherwise, my son would have learned a lot in school. Although I try to teach him, it is very difficult these days to make a kid sit as teachers do in the schools,” she told.

The parents think that the pandemic has played a major spoilsport. They feel that beginning year forms a strong base for the children, but this online education was something they could not approve of.

Aakriti Trikha, mother of twins Pranay and Prayan, said how could a child who is three study online. “Kids this age won’t be able to sit in front of the screen and won’t even get what is happening,” she shared.