KUCHING: The Covid-19 pandemic has made the issue of students falling behind worse, with more of them needing extra help.
Lim Boon Yann, who heads the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) division at Batu Lintang Teacher Education Institute (IPBL), said that students lost learning time because the pandemic stopped in-person classes, forcing lessons to be done online.
“Children’s schooling has been heavily affected by the pandemic,” Lim told New Sarawak Tribune.
“In the two years since the virus started, lots of children have fallen behind in their studies. This is particularly true for those in rural places, where internet and other resources for online learning are often unavailable.”
A report by a local human rights commission in Sarawak reveals that the lockdown in 2020, which lasted for three months, made it harder for children to learn.
The time they missed in school cannot be replaced and could even hurt the local economy.
“This group of children will always be known as the ones who missed out on three months of school,” the report said.
To help with this problem, Lim said that IPBL is currently helping the Ministry of Education, Information Technology and Development in a programme to adopt schools with the aim to tackle issues of illiteracy and poor maths skills.
“This programme is a test run, and we’re now working with three schools in Sarawak,” she said.
“In these schools, we’ve found children who have a hard time with reading, writing, and basic maths. We have set up special classes (Literacy and Numerical Screening or LINUS) for them, where we give them the extra help they need.”
She added that they use these special classes to teach children at the level they are at. Once they have improved, they can return to their regular classes.
“It’s important to note that these special classes are indeed helpful because they allow us to give the needed support and help,” Lim said.
She added that struggling with reading and maths was already a problem before the pandemic. But the impact of the pandemic has made this issue worse, with more children now needing help.
However, Lim said that their method of finding the children who need help may not detect everyone.
To fix this, they have started one-on-one meetings where she gets her students to help out. They are provided information on the number of children who have trouble with reading, writing, and basic maths skills, including things like division and multiplication.
Lim talked about these challenges with her students during these one-on-one meetings.
“It’s important to remember that this method is just a short-term measure to help with these issues for the time being,” she said.
A big problem in schools, according to her, is that there are not enough special teachers for these classes, with usually only one per school. This raises worries about whether that teacher can effectively help all the students.
Unfortunately, it’s likely that some children might not be detected and not get the help they need.
To mitigate, the government has created a guide to help parents deal with their children falling behind at home.
However, she said, it’s still not clear whether parents knew about this guide and how it could help them support their children’s maths learning during the pandemic.
