Teaching in the pandemic, students of teaching show challenges

The closure of schools has been one of the first decisions to have been made in the function of preventing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. There were still no positive cases of coronaryism when the learning process was interrupted in March of last year, and where it took weeks for students to start attending online instruction.

The second half of the 2019/20 school year, students finished it away from school banks. They returned to schools in September, where the lesson was organised on the basis of three scenarios. Screenplay A has preceded school instruction, school- and online-communication B scenario, while scenario C preceded online learning.

In schools where the learning process was conducted according to scenario A, teachers were obliged to be equipped with masks and keep their distance during their stay in classrooms.

Keeping learning in masks, the frequent change in learning scenarios when cases of COVID-19 were presented at school, are some of the challenges students had during the year we left behind.

Jora Maloku is a 7th-grader at the school “Faik Konica”, in Pristina, which says teaching during 2020 has been very difficult for him.

This year has been a little harder year than others, since we've done everything we can to keep learning in schools. This year has been a little bit more tiring to me than others because we had to double our work as students, since we had to work a little harder to explain ourselves, both parents and educators helped us. So we've all had a slightly different half-year than the others, she says.

And wearing the class in a mask, she says it's been difficult but that they've always respected the measures.

The study process in time with challenges, says Joni Hyseni, an 8th grade student at school “Faik Konica” has also passed. It also shows the challenges he has faced during his instruction online.

We've had challenges since we've always had the internet or it's been powered or we've had a technical problem, but we've overcome them, but it's better to keep them at school that it's even easier with online educators you can for example not to be too interactive”, he says.

The power ban, the lack of Internet are some of the difficulties Emma Kusari, a 6th grade student at school “Faik Konica”, during the time the lesson was maintained online.

Because the lesson has been kept part - time, Emma says that she has been content with the knowledge she has received during 2020, as well as with the appreciation that has been given to her teacher.

And I've been happy over this period because they've given me a second chance to improve my grades, but one of the things I didn't like is that I like it as a child... to take as an example I've learned about three or four subjects and it's been really hard for me because on one of us we've had a test, the other one who doesn't know 5 low-level questions and so it's been very difficult for me to focus on three”, she relates.

Emma's mother, Hope Kusari, who has two other children in elementary school, relates how difficult it has been for her when all three children have had online instruction at the same time.

She says that in 2020, parents had the biggest burden of providing technology equipment for children when instruction was maintained online.

When both children were engaged at the same time to have learning schedules, two children, two environments, two computers, it was a little too much special when they had project duties then you were forced to go out and find different materials with which they were forced to work the project. There were also restrictions on movement... for online learning we had some problems getting access to, but with the labor of all family members, and with the understanding of educators, we were switching the lecture schedules or teaching hours or hours that were added to some”, she says.

As a parent, she says that she is satisfied with her children's estimates during 2020, until she adds that despite the fear of infecting children with COVIDD-19, she prefers school training.

So do teachers who say that despite difficulties, school training is effective.

Donika Xhemajli is teaching history classes at the school “faik Konica”, in Pristina, which says that despite difficulties they have managed to do their best to get the right knowledge.

Distinction of learning and passing of online learning process, Xhemajli says it has been the most challenging time, but says they have already adopted.

It's probably the most challenging time since we've had different difficulties since we've been assigned what online platforms we want to use, until we've locked up our students, until we've been coordinating with e-learning. It was all new circumstances, that school has no idea how far to work, it means kids come to school, they learn from each other, and we've been completely changed, so it's taken us some time to adapt, but this year we've been pretty close to”, she says.

To protect herself and students from infection with COVID-19, she says she has seen to it that she has been wearing a mask all the time, and she points out that she has been constantly sought by her students.

Why, she says, mask talk has been very difficult, she adds that she has already learned to function as a masked educator.

The faithful had to constantly ask for students with the left mask. Hard it has been for educators to talk to and legalize students in a mask, for example, I, for example, is the 10th mask that I've only adapted and now can work as a masked educator... quite recently we try, we never forget the distance, the distance, that children are sometimes surprised, they're affected, but teachers, especially those who work on second level, I think they constantly remind children that they need to keep their distance and during their school exits, and during <x1.

On the other hand, Ibe Gashi-Demolli, a math teacher at the school “Faik Konica”, says wearing a mask and respecting distance is very difficult in scientific subjects, however, says she has taken care that in no case not to endanger her students.

It speaks of the challenges that they have had as teaching to evaluate students during 2020, when the class has been kept part - time, online, and sometimes with physical presence in class.

It's a very big challenge, but since we've already had students at school, it's a little easier from last year's school, when students have completed their grades and students have not been around. But it's challenging, but we're giving the students all the time the opportunity that they always try to prove themselves even if they ever failed in any assessment, then next time we're giving them the opportunity to present their knowledge and try to improve my marks”, she says.

In 2020 for the educational system, Nundman Jashar, chairman of the United Trade Union of Education, Science and Culture, calls it the worst since the war. Despite all difficulties, he says that teachers have done their work in the best possible way.

He commends the Ministry of Education and Science for engagement during the pandemic, but has criticism of municipal education directors, which says they have not implemented the education ministry's decisions.

There have been sufficient protective conditions for students and educators in all educational institutions. The worst part is that the DKA has not carried out its task in addition to Kosovo's teachers, because with the insistence of the SBASK and the commitment of the KASI government had set aside sufficient means for two key issues, so that there would be enough budgetary means for our colleagues who replaced colleagues affected with COVID, so those who work with standards to compensate, this was not done properly in any municipality. What's to be criticised by more institutions, and separately the DKA is because with our insistence and the commitment of the KAS back to the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, enough budget was set aside to have regular salaries of our seriously ill colleagues with cancer and other diseases, but this issue has not gone well, and I'm saying it's only to blame. DOKs that did not work long ago did not free all seriously ill teachers from the” teaching process, he says.

During pandemic-time learning, Youth Qehaja from the Edgood Institute says the emotional aspect of students and teachers has been put aside. He says he has nothing to do with this until there is criticism of online learning as well.

“The online and remote learning scenario has also highlighted a substantial failure to realise this process, which is not community preparation, and the failure to get the same to include in online learning and inevitable not to engage them, then turn us into an ill-mannered performance and in a poor assessment of the same”, he said.

During pandemia education, both Arian Musliu, psychologist from the Center for Psychic and Medical Research, says that institutions have not given attention to the mental health of students and educators.

When we're talking about mental health, we know that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an increase in anxiety, depression and stress, and especially in the two major teaching and teaching actors, so students and educators. Given that government measures, respectively, have been focused on physical health, the mental health of teachers and students has been put aside. Scientific evidence in Kosovo shows the growth of these three factors -- stress, anxiety, and depression -- is not showing that there are any measures taken or manuals on how to deal with them in our education system. Moreover, this system of education has changed several teaching patterns in this time, so we started with it in a total break, then with an online lesson, then we've moved into a hybrid system in an online teaching and a physical teaching. Then it probably went through if a teacher or something was infected with the whole school and the change of these models without a scientific evidence has definitely caused a problem in mental health and teaching even in students”, he says.

Despite all difficulties in organising teaching in pandemic times, Minister of Education and Science Rame Likaj says they have managed to do their best.

He says the first half anniversary of the 2020/2021 school year has been successful, until he mentions that teaching through three scenarios has been the right one.

Because of the circumstances under which we're not lost year, we've been following them. I went to school, all the visits I've made have been without the media.. I went by chance and found them applying 100 percent of the instructions they had, and I found schools that didn't even respect the master plan, but they kept learning 40-45 minutes and always in scenario A, are municipalities that have never moved from A” scenario, he says.

Since the beginning of the 2020/2021 school year, the Health Ministry has announced that for COVID-19, 10 thousand and 823 teachers from whom positive ones have resulted 1,000 and 615. Meanwhile, 6 thousand and 792, students and positive ones have resulted in 1 000 and 173.

On the basis of the school calendar in Kosovo, it has had to be completed on December 24, 2020 and started on January 8, 2021, but due to the non-proliferation of COVID-19, the first half anniversary has ended on December 18th and will begin on January 18th.