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Research Article

Inside Online Classrooms: Teachers’ Online Teaching
Experiences during
COVID-19 Pandemic

Pavitra Rana Sarita Kumari 2
1
1 Junior Research Fellow, Department of Educational Studies,
Jamia Millia Islamia,New Delhi,India
Email:pavitrarana18@gmail.com
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia
New Delhi, India

Abstract

As a preventive measure to control the spread of the novel coronavirus nationwide
lockdown was imposed in India in March. Since then schools in Delhi have been closed
and online teaching is being done to prevent academic losses. Teachers went through
a sudden shift from classroom teaching to online teaching. Online teaching is new to
teachers. In the absence of any standard protocol or a structured approach, it is being
delivered in varied ways. The current study explores the experiences of teachers and the
opportunities and challenges felt during online teaching. This qualitative study was done
using an online questionnaire and telephonic interviews with eight teachers working in
different private and government schools in Delhi. Teachers mainly relied on WhatsApp
to connect with students and found online teaching interesting and interactive. Major
challenges highlighted were the non-availability of smartphones and the internet, the
speed of the internet, and the lack of student motivation.

Keywords: Online teaching, Teachers, Schools, COVID-19, Pandemic
Introduction of Corona positive cases rose to 28,
including 12 Indian citizens and 16 Italian
On 31 December 2019, a cluster of
cases of pneumonia caused by novel tourists (Outlook Web Bureau, 2020).
coronavirus was identified in Wuhan As the cases of Coronavirus disease
City of Hubei province, China and began to rise in India, on 24 March 2020
within a few months, there was a 13- nationwide lockdown was imposed.
fold increase in outside China cases Almost all sectors including industries,
of COVID-19 as a result of which WHO aviation, banking, retail, education,
declared COVID-19 a global pandemic etc. stopped working with immediate
on 11 March 2020 (Prasad, 2020). On effect. The education of students across
30 January, India had its first case in the country got adversely affected due
Kerala.3 new cases came by February 3, to the closure of schools. Disrupted
2020 with no significant rise till March classrooms raised concerns amongst the
(Rawat, 2020). 4 March 2020 became state authorities and in no time schools
the tipping point when the number switched to online teaching (Asian

Indian Journal of Educational Technology 77
Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021