There is lack of public understanding of what teachers went through during school closure - Singh

The Secretary General of the Council of Pacific Education, Govind Singh says there was lack of knowledge and skills amongst teachers to carry out distant assessment of students learning during school closure in the pandemic.

While speaking at the Fiji Teachers Union 92nd Annual Conference and AGM today, Singh says it was also difficult to assess parental support in many circumstances.

He says teachers under the new norm talked about trauma, stress, fear, anxiety and mental health issues of students and of themselves as well.

Singh who is also the Senior Coordinator of Education International says COVID-19 highlighted the need for independent skills from teachers, students and parents.

He further says educational practice in our primary and secondary schools had difficulty in meeting the needs of virtual classroom modalities and schools with poor ICT structures made matters worse where disadvantaged children have been deprived of quality learning.

Singh further says in the absence of holistic research carried out to assess the impact of COVID-19 and all other factors including reforms on teachers and students, there is lack of public understanding of what teachers went through.

He says arguments that teachers have been overpaid or the salaries need to be adjusted has continued to appear in social media and this only demonstrates that the general public, and amongst them many parents, have not clearly understood the significant role teachers continued to play during this most difficult time.

Singh adds the absence of critical, open and free research on how teachers were affected and impacted upon by the crises may have a lasting impact on status of teachers.