PHOTOS: How a pandemic changed everything for these students

Ahmedabad: Vansh Pathak, 7

Every evening, Vansh Pathak would look forward to his yoga sessions. During the pandemic, when everyone has been taking online classes, he is one of the lucky ones getting in-person yoga training from his mother, Niharika. “I love doing yoga and playing outdoor games with mumma,” he says. “I like that I wake up at 11 am and sleep by midnight. When I had school, I had to wake up by 5 am and go to bed by 9 pm.” He now has worksheets to complete, and no online classes.

Niharika is the founder of RhythmRumble, a mother-toddler education programme, and has been finding new ways to keep him engaged. Balancing her work—which requires teaching toddlers online—and keeping Vansh engaged has become a challenge, and she often asks him to watch something on Netflix. “I feel guilty, but I have no choice. How many activities can you come up with?”

Mumbai: Meena and her grandchildren

Meena has been a street dweller for a couple of years now. When she was a child, her mother left the family, and they began living on the streets. Her father, however, ensured that she got a decent education. Meena now lives with her husband Rustom, son and three grandchildren on Chowpatty Beach. A hawker and the sole breadwinner of the family, she ensures her grandchildren go to school. But as schools close because of the pandemic, and with no access to online learning, Meena has taken it upon herself to educate her grandchildren. She sits with them for a couple of hours every evening, without fail, and teaches them as much as she knows.

Gurgaon: Lakshay and Prachi Narang, ages 26 and 24

For the Narang siblings, the pandemic dramatically changed what their future would look like. Lakshay completed his Master’s degree in Public Policy from NLSIU, Bengaluru and Prachi enrolled for a Master’s in Education programme at Harvard University. Right now, Lakshay is looking for a job, while Prachi will be starting online classes at Harvard soon.

In June, Lakshay graduated, sitting at home. “We had a two-week graduation trip planned and I was supposed to have a convocation.” Instead, Prachi baked him a cake and he had a quiet celebration at home. Prachi would have quit her job as a school teacher by now and been on a flight. With classes going online, she had the choice to either defer her admission for a year or drop out of the course. With her deferral application being rejected, she took the tough call of continuing classes online for a year. “It's not easy to get into Harvard,” she smiles.

Jharkhand: Students of Bankathi Upgraded Middle School

When affluent urban schools and colleges have moved classes online, for some students even accessing a smartphone is a dream. To ensure that the lack of technology didn't affect their education, Shyam Kishore Singh Gandhi, the headmaster of Bankathi Upgraded Middle School in Jharkhand's Dumka district, came up with the idea of teaching children over loudspeakers. Gandhi put up several loudspeakers across the Bankathi village, so that children in their homes could hear them. As per reports, five teachers and two para teachers read out lessons over microphones, while sitting in empty classrooms for two hours every day. Since April 16, close to 200 students are being taught their school lessons every day through this model.

Ahmedabad: Ananya and Aditya Abraham, Age 6

For Ananya and Aditya, six-year-old twins, everything changed as soon as the pandemic hit. Their doctor parents would leave them under the supervision of domestic help or another family member in normal times. But as the pandemic spread, their mother, Aarti Vazirani, a gynaecologist, and father Joy Abraham, a gastro-cancer surgeon, were left with no choice but to leave the children home alone.

“It was one of the toughest decisions we had to make,” recalls Vazirani. "I spoke to them and explained that they had to take care of each other.” The first day was tough, second one was fun, and by the third day, they were looking forward to being home alone. Now they are left alone for around 3 to 4 hours daily, with a list of things to do, including tasks and breaks. “The tasks always get done,” says the proud mother.

Ajmer: Shivani (who goes by her first name only), age 20

Twenty-year-old Shivani runs up to the terrace with her phone and notebook. She is in the middle of an online class conducted by NGO Quest Alliance, but is facing a lag in the video. It is blistering hot, but she finds a corner with some shade, and continues taking copious notes. “If you think it’s hot, then you will feel hot. I try to focus on my classes,” says the ITI student who has almost completed her course and is waiting for exam dates to be announced.

The terrace, the stairs leading up to it, and a tree outside are her favourite spots for online classes, since they have the best mobile network coverage. Shivani's mother works at the local medical centre, and leaves soon after making breakfast for the family. Shivani takes care of the other chores, including her younger siblings’ education. When her mother’s working hours increased due to Covid-19, Shivani sacrificed a couple of her classes so that her siblings could take theirs. The data pack is expensive, but she says, “I manage”. In the same way that she manages house work and studies. “Even if I wanted to, I barely have time to watch TV."

Delhi: A Guruvardhan, 16

Every morning by 7.50 am, Guruvardhan would be ready for his school bus to pick him up from Shankar Vihar in Delhi. By 1.15 pm, he would be back home. After finishing his homework, exercise and dinner, it was bedtime. A fixed routine is necessary for the student of Tamanna Special School, who has cerebral palsy with an intellectual disability. “Any change in his busy routine, and he would get behavioural issues,” says his mother A Sumathi.

When the pandemic hit, his routine was completely disrupted. “He would start throwing things, bang his head against the wall, and tell us he wants to go to school. So we set up a timetable for him,” she says. The dining table was converted into his study table to attend online classes. “He loves candles, so we made some at home. He was so happy!” The upside of the pandemic is that he has started engaging more in physical activities, like playing throw-ball and football in their backyard.

Chennai: Miraya and Keahn Dadabhoy, aged 10 and 8

The Dadabhoy children took up teaching origami via Instagram during the lockdown. I’m teaching origami to my primary school principal,” says Miraya, proudly. “She wants to try making some tougher models. But sometimes when she doesn't get a hang of it, I tell her to learn something else till she gets a hang of those folds.”

The duo has also been experimenting in the kitchen with their mother, Shefalii, a home chef. “I made sorbet the other day,” says an excited Miraya, but they do miss school. “With online classes there are always technical problems,” says Keahn, who has been learning to play bridge during the lockdown. Miraya is working on self-publishing a book on positive thoughts.