Remote teaching-learning processes during the school closure of Covid-19 outbreak in some selected primary schools in Dhaka city

Abstract

The highly contagious nature of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) forced the Bangladeshi government to shut down all the educational institutions since March 18, 2020. This prolonged closure not only caused interruption of in-person schooling but also increased anxiety and uncertainty among them. The present study aimed to explore the perception of the teachers, students and parents regarding remote teaching-learning process as an emergency response to reduce the study gap during COVID-19 pandemic. With a semistructured interview guide, data for this qualitative study were collected from 12 purposively selected participants (teachers, students and parents) who are associated with government primary schools, using telephone and Zoom interviews. Result suggested that participants are satisfied with the ongoing remote teaching-learning process considering the practices as an emergency response to the sudden school closure. However, participants (teachers, students and parents) also expressed their dissatisfaction based on the challenges they have faced due to scarcity of the resources, and unequal accesses and opportunities for all. Participants shared their views on Zoom platform as the best modality in remote teaching-learning process due to the opportunity of video interaction. Very few teachers were found to take short examination remotely; instead they are assessing the students through the given home works and home assignments. The paper concludes with few recommendations such as providing digital devices to the teachers and students to participate in remote class; facilitate rigorous training to enhance technology-based skills and capacities of the teachers and students; inclusion of a robust monitoring and evaluation system for the successful implementation of remote teaching-learning initiatives and development of the blended teaching-learning framework in the education system according to the context and the socioeconomic status of the beneficiaries to get the expected outcome in terms of designing effective remote teaching-learning programs and strategies during any emergency situation.