The Impact of Online Education on Parents

The pandemic took all of us by storm and also had a lasting impact on children’s education. From being moved out of the classroom in mid of the pandemic and transitioning to online learning, COVID-19 has significantly affected the learning process. While many older students could easily transition and take care of themselves while online learning, many younger students need aid from their parents simply to log onto the Zoom classes.  

Students from kindergarten to 12th grade are attending classes online, and parents have to act as their teachers. For many parents, this is an obstacle in their work to ensure their child is attentive in the online class, for the parents whose children are in kindergarten have to sit through the classes and make them study. Other obstacles include sacrificing their own work time, finding an appropriate space, an appropriate setup for their child to attend school, and helping them to understand new concepts. 

The pandemic has made parenting tough. Parents are juggling between online classes and managing their own work. Read more to know about the impact of online education on parents in the pandemic.

Challenges Faced by the Parents In Online Education Era

Impact of Virtual Learning Or Online education on Parents 

When schools were shutting down worldwide, parents hastily adopted online learning and transformed their rooms into classrooms. One child may work at the desk in the bedroom and the other at the dining table for online classes. And the parents were also trying to work remotely from home. 

Parents not only shifted their homes into classrooms but were assigned new roles as learning leaders or teachers. According to a survey, parents devoted more than 2.5 hours each day to a child’s learning, which may vary based on the child’s age. Some parents had to leave jobs to support their children in online classes or supplementing school-provided lessons. 

These drastic changes in the learning process stressed parents and frazzled their health and financial security. Here are other factors that parents are concerned about on online education:

• Their children possibly falling behind academically due to school disruptions and online learning.
• Their children not being able to maintain social connections.
• Children’s emotional well-being.
• Their children having too much screen time.

Challenges Faced in Executing Virtual Learning 

It is understandable that this wave of innovations in learning is not very convenient for many parents, especially when the transition has been abrupt rather than gradual. Hence, parents are concerned about the challenges that virtual learning has brought for them and their children.

Online education requires the availability of computers supported with a decent internet facility 24/7. Any technical issues related to the requirements could result in the child missing out on learning. If more than one child has to attend the class at a specific time, it results in a problem as then they require two systems or mobile phones with internet connections.

Parents also have to take care of their child’s homework more than ever, including explaining worksheets and other projects. During live classes, some students shy away from asking questions, or internet lag disallows asking questions, leading to all queries being diverted to parents, some of whom have their own work to complete.

Difficulty in Keeping Children Busy

Although parents are trying their best to keep their children engaged in meaningful activities, they face some challenges as well.

Many children consider this time as a vacation from school; hence, they don’t wish to do anything related to school. Instead, they want to sleep according to their wish, wake up late, and spend the rest of their time playing video games and watching Television. This is a potential threat to their physical, social, and educational development. Their lifestyle is becoming sedentary with limited outdoor access. 

Parents have major concerns as their kids are not getting serious about their studies. Rather they are wasting their time playing video games, and sleeping and waking up late has become a habit. There aren’t many physical activities to be performed at home, which will impact their physical development. 

Parents have to devote their maximum time and help them complete their worksheets, workbooks, reading and learning tasks. It is especially challenging for parents who are working from home or offices and have their own schedules to follow. Keeping their children in check all the time and managing the office with the household work, now that the house help is also not available, has become cumbersome. 

The Last Word

Indeed it is a difficult situation for all, but schools are also playing their best roles during these times. At the start of the pandemic, no one knew where to begin, but we all have come a long way since then. Parents have to keep themselves motivated to create a healthy and constructive environment at home, so their children flourish and grow even in this challenging situation. 

Also read –

Best Ways To Help Your Child Learn During Quarantine

How to make online education more effective for primary kids?