Education challanges during a pandemic
Education challanges during a pandemic
Early Childhood Education Articles 
Ultimately during a serious pandemic, the current most effective tactic to reduce the spread of infection is to enforce a state of quarantine. In a Malaysian context, this was experienced for the first time in March 2020 during the COVID19 outbreak. Certainly, it was a challenging time for all, and it potentially heralds a major change in the way we approach the delivery of education.
Based on the experiences of enforced quarantine, the reports coming from other corners of the planet and initial reviews of student development, we remain confident that curriculum demands are met, and learning has progressed better than anticipated; certainly in an elc context it has. However, the biggest concern remains the personal, social and emotional development of students. The isolation that quarantine brings is a serious concern to educators and parents alike.
Moving forward, especially given that pandemic outbreaks are possibly going to become a part of all our lives, we will continue to develop methods to address these concerns. Rest assured that in our “global village” there are teams of educators all working to find new ways to digitally address personal, social and emotional development in students. Our Student Welfare team is working with all teachers to make sure that whilst academic requirements continue to be delivered, we never lose sight of all the other areas that make a student “whole”. We will continue to practise a value-based education and seek to embed this into our e-Learning platforms, as we believe, at the very least, blended learning is here to stay.
There is no doubt that in light of what COVID19 has shown us, educators face some significant challenges in the coming years as we adjust, refine and improve educational delivery, in all its facets, to meet the challenges of any potential pandemic. At elc, we will seek to implement improvements whilst not losing that which make us unique, namely a tradition-based ethos, with an environment (both physically and online) that is conducive to learning and character building. We will always seek to prepare students for the responsibilities, opportunities, and challenges of adulthood.
To that end, we will always seek the support and assistance of parents, in navigating these new waters. Parental involvement is key to our success, and thus we will engage with the Parents’ Association in order to further develop the foundations being laid with each and every one of our students. Together we will continue the proud and successful history of elc and face any pandemic with confidence.
