Creating inclusive spaces in virtual classroom sessions during the COVID pandemic: An exploratory study of primary class teachers in India

Abstract

The research paper reports insights into the primary class teachers’ experiences and inclusive methodologies in India during virtual class sessions. Teaching online during the COVID pandemic has turned out to be an adaptive and transformative challenge for teachers. Though Indian teachers are used to the chalk-and-talk method, an online setup has compelled them to discover innovative strategies to maintain an inclusive classroom. It was found that teachers are using puppetry, storytelling, energizers, ice-breakers in their sessions to make it engaging. An in-depth study was undertaken to understand the experiences of five primary class teachers from private schools in India. Data thus collected were analyzed qualitatively. The study results demonstrated that the teachers had improved professionally— they have become independent in using the internet and exploring new ways of teaching them per their needs. Nevertheless, it was also found that the schools lack support, fear among the teachers of being asked to quit the job, blocking students from the online class if they fail to pay the fees, and exorbitant salary cuts. The challenges related to young students were - lack of proper resources for online sessions, low attention span, technical distractions, lack of physical development, excessive interference of the parents and lack of socialization. The paper concludes with policy proposals regarding standardized online education platforms and provisions for proper resources for virtual class sessions to marginalized families to minimize India's digital divide.