-Reshma Ravishanker
Thus far confined indoors due to the 19-month-long pandemic induced closure of schools across the country, preschoolers are now bringing to school baggage of behavioural issues for teachers to address.
Unwillingness to share a toy with a peer or refusing to make eye contact with anyone – toddlers with nil social interaction are now beginning learning from scratch as in-person classes commence in most preschools across the country.
Ranjana (name changed), an administration in charge at a Hyderabad-based proprietary pre-school said “Learning loss is evident. But it is different among toddlers. It is not the academic aspect that is worrisome. Socio-emotional development is missing. These children are scared to open up. The sandpit usually draws children in large numbers. But children who are not used to stepping out are even refusing to play here. We have hired a counsellor as we understand that this is a crucial year for children to start socializing and for that, their emotional and psychological issues must be addressed,” she said.
Even at the fun gathering in schools, students are not outgoing like the previous batches, teachers compare. “As a pre-school educator, the aspect that bothers me is that there was no social interaction for these children in the past. Children are very shy. Even in birthday parties, most of these children are clinging only to the parents,” explained Shirley Madhavan Kutty, founder principal, The Magic Years, a Shiv Nadar School, Vasant Vihar.
Little exposure to the outside world has also left a void in the children with regard to their social interaction. “With the experience of a peer interaction missing, something as simple as waiting for their turn to play is an aspect they are unable to comprehend. Similarly, the concept of ‘sharing’ is unknown to them. Hence, adaptability is the challenge we are facing in the initial days,” explained Sujatha Vijay, director, Bamboola Playschool, Chennai.
Cared either by babysitters or helps at home while parents have been away to work or working from home, language learning has been limited over the past year, said Vijayachitra Kamalesh, director, Firstcry Intellitots. “Their interaction has been limited to caretakers or house helps with whom their routine communication happened. The dialect the child picked up is different from the one the parents aspire. Language learning loss is immense. Some children who previously learnt words and long phrases pre-pandemic forgot them over the time they were not in a preschool,” she said.
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