Quarantine & Helping Children with School lessons at Home

Written by: Samira Haleemzai

The Afghan government has announced a quarantine to prevent the spread of the coronavirus so that people should stay at homes. During this time, educational institutions and schools are closed, and school children are away from schools.

 If we do not help these children with school lessons at home during quarantine, they might face some problems. AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to some people about this issue.

Leeda, a resident of Laghman province says, “I am a sixth-grade student but the schools are closed due to the announcement of quarantine by the government. I could not study my school lessons at home because there is no one at home to help me with school lessons. I have already forgotten what I had learned in school.”

Hewad, a resident of Kabul city says, “I am a fourth-grade student. As schools are closed due to the spread of coronavirus, no one helps with school lessons at home and I always play with my friends outside the home during quarantine time.”

A pedagogue, Zainullah Salihi talks about this issue, “If children are away from school lessons, they might face problems; they lose their interest in school lessons. If the schools restart, they might not be ready to study the lessons of several months in a short period and they might fail in the exams.”

How could family members help school children with school lessons at home?

Khan Zaman, a resident of Nangarhar province says, “I help my small brothers with school lessons at home during the quarantine period. I have prepared a daily timesheet for their school lessons. My elder brother teaches at the university. He teaches my brothers in the morning for 2 hours and then he allows them to play in the home yard.”

A teacher, Alakozai, a resident of Kabul city says, “I teach school lessons to my children at home during the quarantine period. I teach them mathematics from 9 am to 10 am and want them to solve the problems. I assign them to study Pashto, Dari, History, and Geography without the help of anyone and write down a short note from the above-mentioned subjects and I correct their mistake in front of them. Sometimes, I present them a gift.”

Mr. Salihi says, “The families of the children have to change their homes like education centers. They should prepare a timesheet for teaching their children. They should separate time for studying school lessons and for playing as well. If possible, it would be better to separate a room in the house for teaching and studying and children should study school lessons about 2-3 or more hours.”