Parents’ Challenges to support Elementary Students in online and in-person learning
(Peak and post peak pandemic in Indonesia Big Cities Context)
Covid-19 has changed the way of life of people around the world. Like other countries, Indonesia has been adapting new model of learning and teaching. Online learning and teaching are applied by teachers and learners. During the implementation, they encountered some challenges. At primary school level (Sekolah Dasar), thorough participation of parents in online learning is required. Primary level learners have higher dependency on their parents than the secondary and university level learners. However, lower secondary level learners sometimes still need parent’s participation to help in learning.
Challenges faced by parents in supporting their kids during online learning vary. The challenges are unique among parents. The challenges differ among those living in big cities and those in smaller cities, and also differ from those in remote areas. In big cities like Jakarta, as well as supporting areas such as Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi, some parents who work formal office hours undergo some challenges in their time supporting the kids during office hours, although during Covid-19 they may sometimes worked from home. There were times when the need for kid’s support during online learning occurred concurrently with the parent’s online online office meeting. In general, primary level learners in big cities are more computer-literate than those in small cities. However, they still need help such as during internet connections problems, subjects related to materials given by the teachers, limited online discussion time, etc.
Another challenge occurred when the duration of learning in front of a computer or laptop monitor is quite long, e.g. during a zoom meeting or doing exercises through a google form. Kids’ eyes are stressed more than when they are in normal classroom learning setup. Resting eyes away from a monitor after every 20 minutes is commonly advisable. However, this advise is often ignored by students and teachers. They spent time for about 60-80 minutes continuously staring at the screen for one or two school subjects during the teaching and learning activity. Most parents could not warned their kids regularly to rest their eyes. Worse, the students even preferred chatting or playing online game to having snack during break time.
Parents participation in WhatsApp chat group created by the class teacher has increased compared to pre-pandemic. The group spread information about the teaching and learning parents have to pay attention to. While it is easier for those who work in an office to know the information earlier, scrolling too long for text chat can still make them miss some information. Therefore, they need to scrutinize the messages.
What about post peak pandemic condition for in-person class?. Do parents still have challenges to support kids on learning?. Online learning in big cities in Indonesia was run for almost two years. In new academic year in 2022 in-person class has gradually started. As before pandemic, the parents who drop their kids to the school must make early preparation in the morning. During online learning the kids learned at home and did not have to deal with traffic jam. Now parents have the challenge to motivate their kids that to pay attention to the information given by the teachers in school directly to the students rather than through a Whatsapp group chat. Parents also need to remind their kids to go to bed earlier because they have to be fit for the next morning class. Another challenge deals with other class activities beside using textbook in the class. Sometimes the students do some projects which need simple equipment they have to bring from home. Elementary students still need support from parents to do it. This means parents need to spend their time to prepare the equipment and buy them if needed.
Both online and in-person class have challenges for parents. Parents have to adapt with any situations that change so fast. It is even more crucial for the students who must also make similar adaptation. Support for the elementary students from their parents in a study effect their success in school and their future life. This support aims to make them independent in study not merely as a service help.