How schools and universities are learning from a crisis By Pavani Jayasinghe Munagamage “Statistics show that out of 10,167 schools in Sri Lanka, 3,040 contain less than 100 students in very remote areas. To think about instantly providing e-learning platforms to these schools is a very complicated task. Right now, our main focus lies in assisting the 1,093 schools that have an Advanced Level (A/L) and Ordinary Level (O/L) curriculum, to help establish an e-learning platform for them as soon as possible,” said Minister of Education Dullas Alahapperuma, leading into a conversation with The Sunday Morning. As Covid-19 breaks into its seventh week in Sri Lanka, since strict procedures have been implemented islandwide, a trending topic has surfaced on social media about how our education system will decide to progress further and how it is fairing as of now. How stable and effective are online student-teacher sessions? When and how will schools progress to normalcy? How are salaries and fees being maintained? It is common knowledge that education plays a critical role in any child’s life. And in a never-before-seen scenario where children are restricted to their homes in unaccustomed virtual platforms, are we following the best alternatives we can? Investigating further into the matter, The Sunday Morning spoke to members of the Ministry, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA), and principals of private and public schools to help our readers formulate a better idea on how the situation is progressing. Opening strategies The Minister of Education went on to state: “Ever since the news of Covid-19 surfaced, the Education Ministry and the Health Ministry together have developed three steps to follow in order to recommence school terms. “The first step will be to conduct a thorough clean-up and sanitisation at all schools in Sri Lanka to ensure the highest methods of safety for students and staff returning to the premises. “The second step is to supply sanitisation materials; soap, etc. and to successfully install hand-washing/sanitising stations at the entrance of all educational premises. “The third step is to initially bring only administration and staff into schools during the first week of re-opening, and proposing that they change their time schedules accordingly and arrange the necessary school proceedings for its commencement, following which, steps will be taken to restart schools for A/L and O/L children to return to school. Only as our last and final step will schools be reopened for other grades.” While there was a cloud of uncertainty surrounding the present Government taking immediate decisions to close down all schools in the face of the pandemic, which was also severely interrogated by the Opposition, Minister Alahapperuma said: “I request my fellow politicians, trade unions, print media partners, and social media platforms, to keep aside your political agendas; do not drag our children into the midst of these issues.” The Minister also added that the statement that was made previously by a print media platform that schools will be reopening on 13 May was completely fabricated, made only to unnecessarily rile up the public. “We closed schools and universities not after requesting the public for an opinion, but during the very first hour of news of the pandemic breaking out, which helped us greatly in controlling this situation, and thus, the decision to reopen schools is not a political decision but rather a judgment that the Health Ministry has to advise us on.” He also stated: “Contrary to statements that are being published on social media that we are charging for medical supplies, thermometers, etc., note that we do have implementations in progress to give thermometers to schools but that all of this equipment will be given completely free of charge.” Virtual feasibility and relief measures A more frequent problem that was posed by the public, rather than on inquiries about how a virtual platform functioned, was how families with no access to devices or the internet would join an e-learning programme to recommence their studies in schools and universities with no interruption. Alahapperuma declared that their e-Thaksalawa platform is available for free for any child at any time. He went on to add: “We are unable to conduct e-learning classes in every school for the simple reason that not everyone is able to attend classes the same way due to economic issues. Due to this situation, we are working on new methods, conducting classes on radio and television, and trying our best not to let anyone’s school life be hindered.” Even though regulations seem to be in place to bring schools back to normalcy, another concern to bring attention to is that of local universities and its students. To examine this issue further, we spoke to FUTA President Dr. B.M.H.S.K. Banneheka. “So far, we have successfully identified how to deliver lecture material to students through our virtual LMS (learning management system) platform which is provided free to all university students. E-learning is not an option for the conventional way we teach, but we are trying to identify certain curricula that can be delivered online and are trying our best to project that through our platforms.” When Sri Lanka faces issues such as university students not having the ability to participate in online classrooms due to the lack of a stable internet connection or devices, etc., the problem of granting relief is directed to the UGC. UGC Chairman Senior Prof. Sampath Amaratunge stated: “Even with the difficult circumstances at hand, we wanted to continue our education schemes with as little interruption as possible. After the pandemic, I immediately had a conversation with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and prepared to arrange free-of-charge internet facilities to students who can log into their LMS online, which is functional as of now. “The next concern was whether people had devices to use this facility. A great advantage that came to play here was that our students wanted to learn, and thus always found a way to connect from their smartphones, etc. We are also in the process of establishing a mechanism where students can receive computers with a loan that they can settle after completing their university years.” School evolution since the breakout A vital component in need of looking into was how the public and private schools have been dealing with the news of Covid-19. Investigating this matter, we detailed the progression of the public schools Royal College and Visakha Vidhyalaya and the private schools Lyceum International School, Royal Institute International School, and S. Thomas’ College. As discussed, schools and universities seem to be on par with their advancement since the inception of Covid-19. Sri Lanka’s reaction to the situation and our Government’s response prove that there is still much more progress to be made before the re-opening of educational premises someday and building more safe and secure surroundings for all students and staff. But the question remains, when is this someday? Royal College - Principal B.A. Abeyrathna The first steps – We collected information on any affected children from grades 1-13 from all of our class teachers. We took measures to adhere to the standards and instructions given by the Ministry and institutions, and we are still collecting information regarding the pandemic and how it is affecting us. Royal College has a doctor association in place, with whose help we initiated a programme to motivate children at home and keep their spirits high with newly introduced video programmes and posters, etc. We have already started taking precautions and have processes in place to ensure the best methods of safety and hygiene for our student and staff bodies authorised by the Government. E-learning – We have a special computer system that we were hoping to introduce to the college in the near future but since the pandemic took over, we immediately pushed the system forward and implemented it. Our virtual classroom system is already established. A sum of Rs. 300 was to be charged for classes and the parents agreed to pay the sum. We have given an arranged timetable that our students now follow in virtual classrooms. Even the sports section to date has established a very good system where our coaches help students conduct their exercises as often as needed. Fees and salary payments – Regarding payment structures, we have tried to maintain the same salary structure for most teachers, but for some staff members, there have been advised cut-downs implemented. The fee structure remains the same. Visakha Vidyalaya - Principal Sandamali Aviruppola The first steps – We closed our schools on 13 March and in the following week, spoke to our sectional heads and discussed what could be done about the situation. We took full use of our WhatsApp groups that connect us to our parents, staff, and management to come out with a better resolution for what we could do. Our safety procedures and plans are still in discussion. E-learning – We have time tables in place that help us carry out our classes accordingly online. We had an LMS previously and a connection with guru.lk but it was not greatly implemented. Now with this Covid-19 issue, our teachers have gained experience with it and thus, I think we’ve greatly advanced. It is my opinion that the fact that everyone had been delaying our e-learning platforms, thinking about its negative outcomes, is a disadvantage because the internet, if used properly, is a great facility for our children, and issues such as a teacher’s absence could be easily eradicated through online classes. Fees and salary payments – We have not encountered any problems with our fees or salaries yet at all. There have been some advised cut-downs, but apart from that, payments are being done accordingly. Lyceum International School - Chief Visionary Officer Nikitha Grero The first steps – The sectional heads gathered from all Lyceum branches to form a committee to discuss further plans of the school. Government instructions were strictly followed and the schools were closed down immediately. Holiday structures were given according to government procedures. We have already started taking measures to set up hand sanitization spots and have health mechanisms in place for when school does reconvene. E-learning – Thanks to Lyceum’s management staff, an e-learning structure was already in place. We easily released it from early on to students and teachers for them to start working on their usual curricula. Another platform is already in progress which is about to be released to increase efficiency even further. E-learning is not a substitute for our original teaching methods in a classroom, but going forward, our virtual platform will be a ready-to-use platform at any time. Fees and salary payments – We, as the management, released a letter to the parents informing them of relief mechanisms in place for families who are finding it difficult to pay their children’s school fees since Lyceum’s students come from both middle and low-economy families as well. There are also scholarships in place for students who do well in their examinations. As for payment structures in management, there have been cut-downs to some of the staff, while there are also essential staff who are still paid fully. Royal Institute International School - Academic Director Nirodha Bandara The first steps – As soon as we heard the news, we sent a letter out to the parents and staff, about the closure of our school premises. At the same time, we followed the principles of our Chairman, who repeatedly mentioned that we have to continue our education no matter what. Then we grasped at this opportunity to educate our kids via a virtual environment. We don’t know when schools will reopen, but we have taken measures to get the necessary hand wash and sanitiser products in place. First, when we open our offices, we are not going to take any visitors in without face masks, providing them hand sanitiser, etc. outside the premises, and when we figure out whether this method is effective for our academic staff, we will consider letting our children back into the school. E-Learning – We’ve really adapted to the situation in the virtual platform. We’ve been trying to establish e-learning for about two years now; it failed in the beginning, but right now, parents and teachers have no choice but to adapt and that has happened wonderfully. Now, all our parents have their own email addresses and are present in Google Classroom, so we are able to successfully send study packs, etc. Fees and salary payments – We have tried our best to pay everyone their same fee structure and there have been no cut-downs thus far, but there is a regulation in place that if we find a staff member not carrying his/her duties to educate the children, their performance incentive will be deducted. Our fee structure remains the same but we also understand that parents find it difficult to pay the fees, and we have extended our fee deadlines by a month and have become more lenient with the penalty charges in instances where parents are unable to pay their children’s fees. S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia (STC) - Principal Rev. Marc Billimoria We also managed to obtain a brief comment regarding this matter from STC Principal Rev. Marc Billimoria, who said: “STC began online classes in April and we continue to offer our boys whatever support is possible online via remote learning. Our biggest issue is data; as private schools, we don’t qualify for free data and so families with more than one child find that accessing data and a fast internet connection is a costly matter, and we have also found that some of our students don’t have access to the necessary hardware or smart devices. However, through the support of our OBA (Old Boys’ Association) and PTA (Parent-Teacher Association), we have tried to find a way to collect used and new devices that can be given for this purpose to the boys in need. “Even when schools do reopen we plan to offer some form of ‘blended learning’, given the restrictions and safeguards we would need to take to ensure that our staff and especially our children are safe from infection.”   Picture: Inventain