Bhubaneswar: Being a teacher is incredibly challenging in the best of times. But with the coronavirus pandemic ravaging Odisha, many teachers of the state have raised their helping hands in order to provide various facilities in educational fields during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Here OrissaPost present the stories of some dedicated teachers who play a role of COVID warrior for their students during the pandemic:
Amid the COVID-19 lockdown, schools across Odisha have been closed since the month of March. Students from Class I to IX were promoted to the next classes without giving examinations of some subjects. However, after getting promotion, they needed text books of that particular class to complete their courses even though the schools were closed.
For this the state government had decided to distribute text books to the students from Class I to VII at their door steps. So the teachers across the state were assigned the job to successfully handle the work of distributing text books to the students.
However, the decision seemed to be a herculean task due to restrictions on public transport as well as private vehicles.
Some dedicated teachers didn’t forget their responsibilities for their students and went an extra mile to perform their duties.
At a time when students were forced to sit in their homes for the lockdown in COVID-19 prone Ganjam district, a school headmaster of the district had won many hearts by distributing school books at the homes of students on a trolley rickshaw.
Sadashiv Padhi who is a headmaster of the Government Primary School at Podamari in Sanakhemundi block of the district had taken a unique step to provide text books to the students of his school when he found it was impossible for the other female teachers of his school to do the same job in view of the nationwide lockdown.
Padhi distributed books at the doorsteps of no less than 140 students from Podamari, Gulasahi, Mohantysahi, Dasasahi, Madhunagar and Dimbirasahi villages by pulling the trolley rickshaw loaded with books. Some other male teachers of the school also helped him in his work.
Ganjam district collector Vijay Amruta Kulange took to Twitter and praised the team for their work.
Similarly, teachers of Puri, Sundargarh and Jagatsinghpur and various other districts had distributed the text books to their students at their door steps by risking their own lives.
As the schools have been closed, students and teachers in urban areas have shifted to online learning in virtual classrooms while their counterparts in rural pockets are a disadvantaged lot as they do not have the luxury of smartphones or internet connectivity.
To bridge the learning gap rising out of the pandemic, a group of teachers of Dhenkanal has come forward voluntarily to teach children by visiting their houses while adhering to social distancing and other COVID- 19 safety norms.
Dr Anupama Mishra of BB High School in Dhenkanal town, has been reaching out to children residing in three km radius of the school. When the first phase lockdown was implemented, the Sanskrit teacher asked the students to call her if they have doubts in the subject.
After the first phase of lockdown was lifted, Mishra began calling up five children a day, gave them assignments and asked for doubts. After interacting with the students over phone in the morning, she sets out to their houses to teach and evaluate their assignments.
Similarly, Rekha Sahu who is the headmaster of Government Primary School at Paikadahikore visits children residing in the village daily to teach them.
She covers all her students within one week and inquires about what they studied during the period. Besides, the teacher gives them lessons in do’s and don’ts to keep themselves safe from coronavirus.
An assistant teacher of Paikadahikore Government School, Babita Nayak, accompanies Sahu. Nayak moves around villages adjacent to Paikadahikore and keeps the children of primary standards engaged in basic learning every day
OrissaPOST salutes the efforts of these teachers for their dedication towards their work, love and affection for their students.
PNN
