Adopting e-learning facilities during COVID-19: Exploring perspectives of teachers working in Indian Public-funded Elementary Schools

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 outbreak has led to an influx of research studies focusing on the new norm of online teaching–learning in higher education. However, much less is known about how this profound shift in pedagogy has impacted school education especially among rural children of India. The present study is an attempt to understand the barriers and challenges that teachers of Public-funded (PF) elementary schools face while teaching online. We developed a semi-structured questionnaire and administered it to teachers of PF elementary schools in rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, India, using the online survey method. Thematic analysis of the responses we received (N = 203) reveals five broad themes, namely physical environmental constraints, socio-environmental limitations, parental support, issues of effective learning and health and well-being hazards. These findings have several implications for developing appropriate online teaching methods and making policy interventions to enhance learners’ as well as educators’ experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• public-funded schools
• online learning
• elementary school teachers
• rural India

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author Contributions

Dr. Arti Singh conceptualised and designed the study; Dr. Arti Singh, Kriti Gupta and Dr. Vivek were involved in data collection. Dr. Arti Singh and Kriti Gupta conducted formal analysis; Dr. Arti Singh prepared original draft; All authors contributed in writing, reviewing, editing and finalising of the manuscript.