The phrase ‘teaching and learning’ is inevitably associated with the term “school”. But due to the development in technology and the trend of using it in education for the present hour need, the online teaching and learning is growing rapidly worldwide. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, many countries around the world have educational institutions to stop the virus from spreading. According to UNESCO data, the peak of school closings was recorded in early April 2020 when around 1.6 billion students were affected in 194 countries, which is more than 90% of all enrolled students UNESCO, 2020. The sudden closure of schools due to COVID-19 meant that all the teachers and students of education are insisted to find alternatives to face-to-face traditional teaching in order to guarantee students’ right to education [1]. Many systems have adopted online teaching and learning many days ago for the sake of demand to an unprecedented level, often with widely used distance learning materials. School lessons are expected to continue to be interrupted. Even if the worst-case scenario of a second wave of the COVID outbreak has not materialized, school closings may still be required for temporary period to resist the transmission of COVID-19.

As in India online teaching and learning is quite a new reality for schools. The outbreak of Covid-19 and the country going under lockdown shifted the whole education system into online mode. The schools in India have been working for normalising the situation ad doing hard to create a comprehensive online infrastructure for the effective and qualitative distance learning for their students. In this situation teachers and students all are also significantly impacted, due to coronavirus. They had to quickly adapt to use advanced technology or become superfluous and in this situation both the teachers’ and students’ perceptions on online teaching and learning is very much necessary to understand to make the online teaching and learning more qualitative.

Emergence of the Problem

A study on Perception of teachers and students toward online classes in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi District by Abhinandan Dhoot [2] have discussed that though students are comfortable with online classes but they don’t think that traditional classroom can ever be replaced. The study also discussed that due to lack of techno pedagogical skills the teachers are facing a lot of problems and network issues become a vital barrier in making online classes effective, have also been emerged in this study with equal importance. The study on Teachers’ Challenges towards online learning in Pandemic Era by Elsa Rosalina and others described that internet connection, quota, the places of home living and the process of online learning like teachers’ lack of technological skills, less communicative, lack of interaction and fostering an effective online learning climate and for the strength it was found that teachers agreed that flexibility in time and place of online learning, which is also revealed by the present study in same manner, where the teachers of secondary level students have same perceptions regarding challenges and difficulty faced. In the study School Students’ perception and challenges towards online classes during COVID-19 Pandemic in India: An Econometric Analysis, Mohammad Arshad Khan and others revealed that by adopting the latest techniques of online classes and in that case government should take necessary measures.

By reviewing studies obtained in the form of thesis, dissertations and articles, it is observed that some studies have explored the strengths and weaknesses of online teaching and learning and some others on the impact of online teaching and learning on students’ health and also a few on online teaching learning quality and challenges. Compared to the studies undertaken in at international level the studies are few in India and it is further less in the state of West Bengal, lesser in Birbhum district and so in Bolpur subdivision. It is also found that compared to studies on online exercises during normal situations, studies on online teaching and learning during COVID-19 pandemic are more of the opinion oriented and less of research oriented. In addition with respect to the areas studies have been conducted on attitudes of students and teachers towards online education and also several studies on the perception of students and teachers towards e-learning. But no studies have been done students’ and teachers’ perception on online teaching and learning at secondary level in Bolpur subdivision during the pandemic. Thus there exist the research gap within the above researches. So the researcher decided to concentrate on the perception of secondary level students and the students’ teachers’ on online teaching and learning at secondary level in Bolpur Subdivision during COVID-19 pandemic to address the research gap in this area.

Rationale of the Study

Online teaching learning options to new levels as evidenced by increased popularity and involvement in online teaching and learning. Moreover, increase in the COVID pandemic worldwide has also added to the importance of online teaching and learning [3]. In India there are more than 370 m users are on the internet and helping online teaching learning to grow at a fast pace. Even though there is a rapid progress in online teaching and learning still it remains at an early stage of development. In this scenario, the role played by the teachers and students gains due importance as all the teachers and students actively participate in online teaching and learning to ensure quality learning outcome So it becomes relevant to know the opinion, views, feelings, understanding of the teachers and students like students, teachers perception on online teaching and learning on the basis of their experiences and to know what types of problem and difficulties they are facing during online teaching and learning. In case of India, especially in West Bengal the online teaching and learning at the secondary level of education is a very new concept, so in Bolpur subdivision under Birbhum district. It started during the pandemic lockdown period when all the schools are closed and the teaching and learning process made a switch to online mode. In that situation teachers and students are having prominent role in the online teaching learning process hence the study is an attempt to understand the teachers and students perception on online teaching and learning by keeping in mind their concerns [4,5]. The study has endeavoured to analyse the students and teachers perceptions on online teaching and learning at secondary level of education to improve the quality of online teaching and learning and make the process more successful for the benefits of the secondary level students.

Objectives of the Study

• To study the perceptions on online teaching and learning of the Secondary level students during COVID-19 pandemic

• To explore the perceptions on online teaching and learning of the teachers of the secondary level students during the pandemic

Population and Sample of the Study

In the present study the secondary level students and teachers of secondary level of Bolpur subdivision was considered as the population of the study [6].

In the present study only Bolpur Sriniketan block from Bolpur subdivision was selected purposively and from that block 5 schools imparting secondary level of education were chosen randomly and from those 5 schools 40 secondary level teachers, 40 secondary level students studying at those 5 schools were selected purposively as the sample of the study [7]. The demographic profiles of the samples are shown below in the tabular form.

Demographic profiles of the student respondents (Table 1).

Demographic profiles of the teacher respondents (Table 2).

Sampling Technique

In the following chart selection of samples is shown (Figure 1):

Tools Used in the Study

The present study has been designed with the descriptive survey method, To conduct the study it is very important to design the methods and required tool which will be used for the study. From this perspective for which following tools were used.

Questionnaires for the students and teachers were made by the researcher and distributed to the participants by using Google form.

Figure 1: Sampling Technique

Table 1: Representing demographic profile of the student respondents

Table 2: Representing demographic profile of the teacher respondents

Analysis And Interpretation of Data

This is the most important part of the study where researcher analysed the collected and systematized data to fulfil the objectives of the study and find the facts regarding the interpretation of the data. In the following section the collected data has been analysed according to the objectives of the present study [8-10].

Analysis and Interpretation of Data Pertaining to ObjectivE-1

To study the perceptions on online teaching and learning of the Secondary level students during COVID-19 pandemic.

• Dimension 1: Secondary level Students’ perceptions related to use and access of technological resources for online teaching and learning

• Use and access of resources for online teaching and learning of the respondents

Interpretation and Discussion

From the above (Table 3) it can be said that almost all the students having no experience of online teaching and learning before and maximum students are quite new at using internet though they have quite a good access of resources mainly of smart phones and know the basic use of technological resources which are required for continuing online teaching and learning. All have cellular data connection for online teaching and learning purpose. Whatsapp is mostly used app for study purpose and online teaching and learning has a quite long span involvement in terms of screen time. In this lockdown situation online teaching and learning is the only mode of imparting education. So, the better facilities and good knowledge of uses of resources increases the pace of learning and have a direct effect on the better perception of online teaching and learning processes of secondary level students:

• Dimension 2: Secondary level Students’ perceptions related to impact of online teaching and learning 

• Impact of online teaching and learning on the quality of learning of the respondents

Interpretation and Discussion of Table 4

From the above Table 4 it can be said that more than average students have positive impact on the basis of quality of online teaching and learning regarding various factors [11,12]. Maximum Students has positive impact on their increased technological literacy and below average number of students have positive impact on increased confidence involve in online teaching and learning.

Table 3: Table representing Use and access of resources for online teaching and learning of the student respondents

Table 4: Representing Impact of online teaching and learning on the quality of learning of the respondents

The impact of various factors on online teaching and learning help in building perceptions on online teaching and learning. On the basis of increased technological skills students are having quite a good perception on the impact of online teaching and learning at Secondary level.

Impact of online teaching and learning on the health of the Class wise respondents.

Interpretation and Discussion of Table 5

Increasing headaches with frequent eyesight problems are attributed to prolonged screen time. In addition, increasing fatigue due to home confinement are also on the rise. Students are suffering from anxiety, stress and depression with sleeping disorders (17.5%). They are not bound to have classroom professionalism in their home, hence their physical health is deteriorating too in many aspects. Due to lack of outdoor physical activities, eating junk food at home obesity is one rise. Unavailabity of good ergonomics one of the recent rise is spondylitis, back pain etc. So in this regard students have a pessimistic outlook towards online teaching and learning and hence a negative perception on online teaching and learning.

Dimension 3: Secondary level Students’ perceptions related to contact with students and supports from teachers on online teaching and learning.

Interpretation and Discussion of Table 6

From the above table it can be easily seen that all the items are reflecting some negative factors. It is easily verifiable that less than average number of students are telling that they have problem and lacking in class interaction and support from teachers. But students have also shared that they have less social interaction which often results into boredom.

Here the noticeable characteristics is that the private school students have better interaction and support than the govt schools students. In only one aspect “The single classmate dominating the class interaction process” the govt school students have shown their better perception (21%) than pvt. School students (25%). As may be the Govt School students do their class in whatsapp so there is less scope to dominate the interaction process by a single student.

Table 5: Table representing Impact of online teaching and learning on the health of the Class wise student respondents

Table 6: Representing Contact with students and supports from teachers during online teaching and learning in Pvt. And Govt. schools

In average 38.5% students have higher complains in “low or no participation in class activities” than other aspects. May they the students don’t get classroom like environment in their home is one of the reason for that.

Another fact is that govt school students get less feedback (42%) from teachers than the private school students (12.5%). So in this case govt. school teachers should take more care for making the teaching environment active which has direct influence on the students’ perception on online teaching and learning.

Besides the above mentioned aspects some student also shared that among all the students only 50 to 60% students regularly join so they don’t come under regular class interaction process. So less class attendance is another problem in online teaching and learning.

Interaction among students and teachers is vital to develop students’ problem solving skills and critical thinking skills. It also supports productive and satisfying learning, which have impact on students’ achievement and satisfaction. Students also shared that in comparison with the period when lockdown began, this year they are getting more supports from the teachers. May be after 1 year’s teachers are being more tech savvy and using various approach to make the classroom interaction process fruitful. So in this case from the above discussion it can be seen that students have quite a average type of perception regarding their class interaction and support from teachers irrespective of from which type of school they belong to, private or government but for private its better:

• Dimension 4: Secondary level Students’ perceptions related to comfortability of online teaching and learning

• Comfortability of online teaching and learning

Interpretation and Discussion of Table 7

From the above Table 5.6 it can be said that students feel online teaching and learning more comfortable in terms of there is no impact to psychological stress (50%) and they can access information and learn from anywhere and at any moment (60%). In the other aspect very less people feel online teaching and learning comfortable.

So it can easily follow that students do not think that online teaching and learning can ever replace the traditional classroom teaching and they also feel that online teaching and learning can ever be as comfortable as the traditional classroom teaching. This is because online teaching and learning are in its infancy in a school. So in terms of comfortability maximum students have a pessimistic outlook and dissatisfaction hence a negative perception on online teaching and learning:

• Dimension 5: Secondary level Students’ perceptions related to effectiveness of online teaching and learning

• Effectiveness of online teaching and learning

Interpretation and Discussion of Table 8

From the Table 8 it can be said that only 25% students said that their online teaching and learning is going effectively where as 75% students said that according to them online teaching and learning is less effective.

Table 7: Representing Comfortability of the students of online teaching and learning

Table 8: Representing effectiveness for the students of online teaching and learning

Among those 25% almost 50% students said they have better communication process. It can be seen that mainly more achievement in studies, online access of materials, learning from anywhere which is cost effective, are some factors on the basis of which students think that online teaching and learning is effective as each 40% students have said about these 3 factors.

Among the remaining 75% students, who have said that online teaching and learning is not that effective mainly they have the reasons that classroom environment them to learn more and 70% students respond that. Apart from this issue few people are also facing the poor learning condition at home.

From the above table it can be said that maximum students are saying that traditional teaching and learning is more effective rather than online teaching and learning. A few students also are being exceptional as they are preferring online teaching and learning in terms of its effectiveness. Here the teachers’ role play an important role for making the online teaching learning more effective [13]. With their skills they can make the process enjoyable and that has a direct effect on the effectiveness of the online teaching and learning. Here it is clearly visible that moreover students have quite a negative perceptions on online teaching and learning regarding its effectiveness and the main reason is that traditional face to face classroom environment help them to learn more and here among many one of the issue, the failure of teachers’ skills in taking online teaching and learning may be identified [14-18].

• Dimension 6: Secondary level Students’ perceptions related to difficulty and challenges of online teaching and learning

• Difficulty and challenges of online teaching and learning on the basis of subjects

Interpretation and Discussion of Table 9

From the above Table 9 it can be seen that students are facing highest difficulty in learning Mathematics during online teaching and learning. A lot of students (50%) face difficulties in learning mathematics. Here the abstractness become the barrier in learning and whenever it is through online then the abstractness get higher. If the students do not follow the instructions properly then they will have problems in solving math and this will result into lack of interest in that subject and will stand as a challenge to their learning.

Apart from Mathematics students also face difficulties in learning natural science (20%) and fine and performing arts (18%). In natural science they cannot do the practical application in the laboratory, though there are lots of digital lab but school students of Bolpur Sriniketan block are not that much aware regarding this which is occurring as challenges to them in connecting the theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge. And the learning remains incomplete. Also, computer science is among those subjects in which students are facing difficulties. Students are facing difficulty in fine and performing arts too. May be here the lack of skills of teachers and unavailability of proper environment are becoming the main hindrances. Students are facing difficulties in learning grammar during online teaching and learning process [19].

Students have shared that mainly the lack of board work, lack of attention and unavailability of practical experience they are facing difficulties in learning the subject, which will result into their negative perceptions on online teaching and learning.

Types of challenges faced by the students during online teaching learning process.

Table 9: Representing difficulty and challenges faced by the students during online teaching on the basis of subjects

Table 10: Types of challenges faced by the students during online teaching learning process

Interpretation and Discussion of Table 10 

From the above table it is clearly visible that 70% students are facing distractions during their online classes and 50% students are having unequal access during online teaching and learning. Just having hands on devices like phones, computers are not sufficient for the success of online teaching and learning, they are many more requirements for effective teaching like headphones, digital pen, speaker etc. 62.5% students said they face technological challenges, like accidental breakdown of the devices, network issues, lack of knowledge and skills of using technological resources from both the parties teachers and students. These types of challenges are faced by the maximum students during online teaching and learning. Lack of family environment is also another vital reason. Lack of infrastructure in home, maximum screen time results into head ache and eye irritation, others health impact are becoming barriers to their learning. Internet connectivity issue is one the major challenges faced by the students. So, these are some perceived challenges by the students on which their perceptions on online teaching and learning depends and it is found that students perceptions regarding this is not quite satisfactory.

Overall Perceptions of students on online teaching and learning.

Interpretation of Table 11

The researcher studied that, among 40 secondary level students 82% students said that they prefer traditional classroom teaching over online teaching and learning and from the remaining 18% students, 94% students said they prefer synchronous mode of communication. Among these 40 students, 70% students said that their needs are not fulfilled by online teaching and learning and 84% student said that they do not want to continue the online teaching and learning as the only mode of learning when the pandemic is over. 
 

Table 11: Overall Perceptions of students on online teaching and learning

Table 12: Representing Use and access of resources for online teaching and learning of the respondents

So from the above analysis it can be seen that though in some aspects some students prefer the online teaching and learning over the traditional classroom teaching and their responses were like to adapt and accept the new learning environment with an open mind still maximum number of students perceive that the online teaching and learning cannot take place of face to face traditional classroom which is the new normal have negative perceptions on the overall process of online teaching and learning.

Analysis and Interpretation of Data Pertaining to Objective 2

To explore the perceptions on online teaching and learning of the teachers of the secondary level students during the pandemic:

• Dimension 1: Secondary level teachers’ perceptions related to use and access of resources for online teaching and learning

• Use and access of resources for online teaching and learning of the respondents

Interpretation

With the above Table 12 it can be shown that-

Among the 40 respondents all the teachers have quite a good number of their own device.

About 100% teachers have smartphones this is the highest used device by the teachers. Besides that 60% of teachers use and access of laptops. Tablet is used by 10% of the teachers. So it can be said that as they all have devices, so they never face any problem regarding lack of devices during online teaching and learning.

From the Table 12 it can be seen that 100% teachers use smartphones at the school. About 50% teachers use laptops and 30% use school desktop at the school campus at the time of online teaching and learning during the pandemic. So On the whole they teachers don’t face lack of device at the school too [20].

It is visible that among the respondents 80% teachers are new at their profession they have less than 5 years of experience. Among the respondents 80% have excellent internet skills so they are not facing any problem regarding using internet for online teaching and learning. As maximum teachers are young so they are efficient in using technology and that is why internet skills among respondents are also excellent (80%).

All the teachers have cellular data and some have Broadband/WI-FI as well. So they don’t face any problem regarding the unavailability of network connection. Whenever there is a compulsion to take class from the school during the pandemic 82% got internet connectivity from the school though 18% of the respondents told that they don’t get internet connectivity from the school, they use their own internet connectivity [21,22].

So from the Table 12 it can be seen that 100% teachers use whatsapp for teaching and learning purpose. Apart from that Google meet is also a highly used app for teaching learning purpose in the online mode. Some more apps like zoom (45%), Google classroom (35%) and a few more are also use for online teaching and learning purpose.

From the Table 12 it can be seen that 70% teachers are involved in online teaching and learning purpose for less than 3 hours, which means they are not in that much stress and not going under a long screen time, 30% people among the teachers respondents shared they are involved for more than 3 hours in online teaching and learning purpose. Almost 83% teachers shared that teaching through online is quite a new experience under which they are going through during this pandemic, though 27% teachers shared that they have some kind of online teaching and learning experience in the past [23,24].

Discussion: From the above Table 12 it can be said that though maximum teachers did not have any experience of online teaching and learning before the pandemic though they have quite a good access of resources and know the basic use of technological resources which are required for making online teaching and learning more effective and which have direct effect on the perception on online teaching and learning of the secondary level teachers as online teaching and learning is honestly an evaluation of technological resources also. Whatsapp is the mostly used app for teaching purpose. In this lockdown situation online teaching and learning is the only mode of imparting education. So, the better facilities and good knowledge of uses of resources increases the easiness in teaching through online and making the process effective so it eventually has a direct effect on the better perception of online teaching and learning processes of secondary level teachers:

• Dimension 2: Secondary level teachers’ perceptions related to impact of online teaching and learning

• Impact of online teaching and learning on the teachers’ own self and teaching process

Interpretation and Discussion of Table 13

From the above table and figure it can be seen that 95% teachers said that technological skills have increased during online teaching and learning. About 70% teachers said they can provide more encouragement in students’ participation. According to 75% teachers they can provide more time to themselves. Half of the respondents said they can provide more support in resources to the students.

So according to this items the maximum teachers have positive impact of online teaching and learning, which is followed by their positive perception on online teaching and learning.

On the other hand maximum teachers have negative impact on their study schedule maintaining, effective teaching etc. They (70%) also feel lack of confidence in online teaching and learning. Almost 60% teachers said their academic pressure has increased. 55% teachers shared their facing management problem of academic administrative load online. So all these impacts influence the teachers’ perception in a negative way. They also shared that as the impact of online teaching and learning there is creating a barrier between the privileged and less privileged one. Where the privileged one won’t complain and the hegemony will continue to propagate capitalism by creating and maximizing the digital divide and the teachers and students are blind to practicality.

So in this case we can see the teachers have mixed perception regarding the impact of online teaching and learning.

Impact of online teaching and learning on the health of the secondary level teachers.

Table 13: Table representing Impact of online teaching and learning on the Secondary level teachers’ own self and teaching process

Table 14: Representing Impact of online teaching and learning on the health of the Secondary level teachers

Interpretation and Discussion of Table 14

From the Table 14 it can be said that a large number of people having health issues as the result of online teaching and learning. About 70% of teachers said they are suffering from eye problem due to at a stretch screen time. Though many are using ultraviolet glass for minimising the suffering. Online teaching presents a major risk on headache too. About 52% teachers are suffering from that too. On the basis of the survey it can be seen that it has accelerated the emotional health problem, psychological health problem like anxiety, stress, anger, loneliness, depression and, apart from boredom, fatigue etc. Due to work from home, the physical movement is restricted and as a result obesity, back pain, High BP, High sugar, heart problem have increased. So, it is clearly visible that teachers have quite a bad impact of online teaching and learning on their health and as a consequence a negative perception on online teaching and learning regarding its impact on health:

Dimension 3: Secondary level teachers’ perceptions related to contact with students and teachers during online teaching and learning.

Interpretation and discussion of Table 15

Here in the above table, it is seen that the data is categorised into two types of school, one is private school and another is government school. From the above figure 60.71%) and low participation of students (43.45%). In the government schools the 71% teachers said about low attendance of the students wherein the 50% private school teachers shared about the low and medium attendance of the students. The economical factor may be one of the reasons for the above aspects because generally the rich people study in the private schools they have available resources for class but many poor children from govt. /govt. aided schools are involving in other works and not attending classes, as other reasons the interest of the students also matter which up to some extent depends upon the teachers capability to make the class attractive so the students come and join the class in online mode.

Table 15: Representing Contact with students and teachers during online teaching and learning teaching and learning

From the data it is visible that in the Gov. School students’ low participation is much higher (53.57%) and in private schools it is 33%. The govt. /govt. aided schools teachers are taking their class through WhatsApp and during the instruction teacher changes the setting and don’t allow the students to talk to, would may be a possible reason. Apart from this govt./govt. aided school teachers are using asynchronous platform more for the teaching purpose so it may hamper the contact and interaction environment. In this case Private school teachers are using zoom, Google meet to conduct classes. The synchronous platform may facilitate the contact and interaction among students and the teachers.

Apart from these three aspects a few teachers have complained about the other aspects of contact with students and teachers during online teaching and learning. Few teachers also said that online classes are encouraging participation from students who may not actively participate in traditional classroom settings. In this mode of teaching the teachers also have a wealth of technology at their fingertips to make classes more interesting and engaging. So moreover, it can be said that teachers have average contact with students and teachers during online teaching and learning, which result into moreover moderate to positive perceptions regarding this aspect [25].

It is well-known to all that the interaction part is one of the most vital part of the teaching learning process. The teacher student interaction in online leaching and learning must be a two -way street to be effective. That is through the teachers’ teaching styles and knowledge in online platform they will develop their social presence virtually and for the interactive atmosphere trusted presence for all parties. If the teacher contact information is readily available, regular and structured feedback via email, etc. occurs regularly then a student feels a greater connection to the environment and leads to better retention and engagement. Better engagement is no doubt important because it leads to clear expectations for both teachers and students, worthwhile discussion, needed support and encouragement and instructive feedback from both of the parties.

Online Teaching and Learning

Comfortability during online teaching and learning.

Interpretation and Discussion of Table 16

From the Table 16 it can be seen that 65% teachers find that online teaching and learning as a comfortable job because here the teachers enjoy the flexibility and convenience of the medium. They can teach from the comfort of their own homes and do not need to be at a specific time to teach or to interact with their students. Almost 40% teachers which is though less than the half of the sample, said that, this online teaching and learning provide them with greater flexibility to address varying learning styles and use different technologies. So here to make the teaching more comfortable technology skills are required and 50% teachers accepted this. So for few it would be like a challenge and result into discomfort. 50% teachers said that they are not trained with techno pedagogical skill during their B.Ed. course and not even during the pandemic for the sake of situation, so they are more comfortable in taking offline classes. Some teachers also said that when they are taking online classes from school they lack of techno friendly infrastructure and environment are making them more uncomfortable. Especially the govt. school teachers are facing this issue. Few teachers also have complained about the psychological stress (35%), more time consuming (37%) and communication problem (17.50%). So, the negative feedback on this aspect are from less than half of the sample. So here it can be said that while few Teachers are quite comfortable in taking online classes regarding these mentioned aspects and some are not. So moreover it can be said that teachers have mixed perceptions on the online teaching learning’s comfortability:

• Dimension 5: Secondary level teachers’ perceptions related to effectiveness of online teaching and learning

• Effectiveness of online teaching and learning

Interpretation and Discussion of Table 17

From the Table 17 it can be said that only 37% teachers said that their online teaching and learning is going effectively where as 63% teachers said that according to them online teaching and learning is less effective.

Among those 37% teachers 67% said about its affordability, 60% says about their improvement in skills, 53% told about their increasing focus in lectures. Almost 46% teachers among these 37% found it effective in terms of anytime, anywhere learning and comfortable surroundings. Also a few more teachers on the basis of interaction, ease of access of information, quality of learning found online teaching and learning effective.

On the other hand among the remaining 63% teachers 70% said that classroom environment is more effective as it helps the students to learn more. 
 

Table 16: Teachers’ Comfortability during online teaching and learning

Table 17: Representing effectiveness of online teaching and learning according to teachers

About 52% said in online mode communication barrier occurs and technical skills create challenges. Also the availability of resources create digital divide which hinders in making the teaching and learning process effective.

About 44% said they face network issues. Social isolation make the teachers depressed and results into psychological stress which prevents to make the online teaching and learning process effective. Few more teachers also said about facing problems in managing screen time, expensive as because of owning technological devices and other resources. Lack of self-discipline is also another issue shared by some teachers which make the teaching process ineffective. Few teachers also said that online teaching and learning may be effective for students from higher education level but it creates blunder for school going children. They may be become mobile addicted and this adolescent period is very crucial time and continuous involvement in gadgets may be risky for their safety and security purpose.

Table 18: Representing Difficulty and challenges faced by teachers of online teaching and learning on the basis of the standard

So moreover it can be said that though some degree of agreement in effectiveness of online teaching and learning regarding focus in lectures, interactions and summative online assessments was found among teachers. Internet and technical issues, less supportive environment etc. were revealed to be the main constraints of this format whereas flexibility, availability of content for revision and fewer distractions were the positive features which make the. But it is found that the majority of the teachers felt that online teaching and learning could not replace traditional face-to-face teaching in terms of its effectiveness. Hence it can be said that majority of the teachers have negative perceptions on online teaching and learning when question comes about its effectiveness.

• Dimension 6: Secondary level teachers’ perceptions related to difficulties and challenges of online teaching and learning

• Difficulty and challenges of online teaching and learning on the basis of the standard

Interpretation and Discussion of Table 18

From the above table it can be seen that the maximum teachers are facing problem in taking online classes of junior children. The junior children have less maturity and they are also difficult to control. So taking their class through online is challenging. In this case some teachers also shared that the challenging situation occurs on the basis of subject not on the basis of classes. Like few mathematics, art craft teachers and the teachers of practical oriented subject shared they are facing problem in taking classes through online as they are not skilled enough or not that trained to take classes online effectively.

Types of challenges faced by the teachers during online teaching learning process.

Interpretation and Discussion of Table 19

From the above table it is clearly visible that 70% teachers have faced continuous technological challenges, 60% of teachers are depressed due to social isolation, Safety security issue, lack of home environment for taking online classes, issues during taking specific subject classes are some other challenges through which the more than half of the teachers are undergoing. Apart from these, distractions, unequal attention to students, LMS imperfection, lack of IT support, problems in instructional strategy are few other challenges which the teachers have to cope up to make the online teaching and learning successful. Majority of teachers encounter challenges that can cause hindrance in their effective teaching and the quality of successfully reaching out the teaching to the students are getting suppressed by the challenges during their teaching process and resulting into negative perceptions on online teaching and learning of the maximum teachers.

Table 19: Types of challenges faced by the teachers during online teaching learning process

Table 20: Overall Perceptions of teachers on online teaching and learning

Overall Perceptions of teachers on online teaching and learning.

Interpretation and Discussion of Table 20

The researcher studied that, among 40 secondary level teachers 81% teachers said that they prefer traditional classroom teaching over online teaching and learning and from the remaining 19% teachers, 90% teachers said they prefer synchronous mode of communication. Among these 40 teachers, 69% teachers said that success of teaching through online mode teaching and learning is not getting and 71% teachers said that they do not want to continue the online teaching and learning as the only mode of teaching after the pandemic, may be the remaining 29% would prefer the blended form of teaching and learning.

When the teachers were surveyed many of them shared their own experiences. Like one teacher said, “After teaching a topic getting no question and query from the side of the students and during the time of teaching most of them are turning their mic and videos off and doing something else.”, another teacher had similar experience, he said, “The lazy students just join the class and do other childish work, being addicted with playing games and I have no control over it.”. One math teacher said that many students having basic weakness about mathematics which could be solved in offline classes more easily. One among the 40 teachers shared an important fact that during online teaching and learning, being at home the students are surrounded by their parents and that causes pressure on themselves, like this soften leads moment where they cannot freely express themselves. The teachers also shared that due to network fluctuations student cannot hear properly and become inattentive. Less attendance of students is also shared by many teachers. One teacher shared a vital point, she said, “We, the teacher are failed to organise proper evaluation process. Each and every students are getting too much marks, that’s the worst part in online teaching and learning”.

A few teachers shared that though online teaching and learning would make the students and teachers competent for the changing environment, where everyone should have the knowledge about technological resources and should be tech pro in order to pace up with the world full of technology, still they do not want the online teaching and learning (as the only mode of education) to be continued at least for the school going children even after pandemic because this have a lot of drawbacks and no doubt the classroom is fun and they are missing that enjoyment which make the teaching and learning process successful.

So from the above analysis it can be seen that though in some aspects some teachers prefer the online teaching and learning over the traditional classroom teaching still maximum number of teachers are not liking online teaching and learning and having negative perceptions on the overall process of online teaching and learning.

The purpose of the study was to gain knowledge of the teachers’ and students’ perceptions on online teaching and learning at secondary level in Bolpur subdivision during COVID-19. Descriptive survey method used in this study were well suited to achieve this goal [26].

While involving in online teaching and learning the teachers and students gained both positive and negative experiences, although their experiences tended to be more negative. As due to the pandemic all the schools are closed and the online teaching and learning is going on so to make the process successful it is evident to know the teachers’ and students’ perceptions. This study only tried to provide an overview of their experiences of online teaching and learning which contribute to their perceptions on that so that it can pave the path for the teachers and students to rethink about process they are going through during online teaching and learning.

The present study has found that moreover all the students and teachers don’t like the online reaching and learning and facing various types of difficulties. So to make the online teaching and learning more enjoyable and effective, continuous training with technological skills to both students and teachers and adopting new technology is very necessary [27].

In sum, this piece of research could have a positive impact on the field of educational research in India and subsequently may contribute to the literature of online teaching and learning and enable the teachers and students who are involved in online teaching and learning to evaluate their practices based on the findings and recommendations of the study. The result of the study may be considered by the school and the government to take necessary steps to make the online teaching and learning more successful during the pandemic.

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