Everyone was happy that 2020 was finally over. People had to readjust their lives in a manner, which they had never imagined. The hope was on the next year, 2021, which looked good and promising. But the beginning of the year was not so great, at least in Europe and Germany. Germany is in lockdown since 10th December 2020, and the lockdown is still going on. The politicians are very well aware that if they had announced the lockdown in December till Easter, people would have revolted. But they tactfully did it phase-wise, for a month, every time. And people are hopeful that after 22nd February, the country and people's lives will slowly limp back to normalcy. But that's just a projection. I am sure this will go on till Easter, and even after Easter. By then, the temperatures will slowly start rising, and many people would have taken injections by then.
The Covid vaccine campaign in Europe did not take off well. There were initial hiccups, and people are waiting for the vaccine to arrive from the manufacturing countries to make an appointment and get themselves vaccinated. The people in the age group 70 and above are the ones in the high-risk group, and they need to be vaccinated immediately. Right now, it is just the "wait and watch" phase. Countries like India, Russia, Israel have far more outreach in a shorter period than the European nations.
The children are home-schooled from December. The parents have to work from home, do all the household things, clean the house, cook, and take care of the homework assigned to them every week in the form of 100's of worksheets. It amazes me to see the number of worksheets that my son has got in Class 3 as homework was a total of what I did in my entire school life! Being a developed country, why can't the German primary schools switch to online classes and online learning? Countries like India, Turkey, Russia are conducting online studies from the time Covid 19 struck, and why is it not possible for Germany to do that? I think the problem lies in bureaucracy and the time wasted in only discussions and no fruitful actions! Enormous paperwork for every small thing, permissions, approvals, rounds of debate for months together make matters worse.
The kids lack motivation, the atmosphere to study together with friends and the teacher. They somehow finish the homework, but not with a good understanding and practice. They do not realize how much they are missing by not going to school. They can't do much about it anyways. The higher authorities will also agree that this and the previous academic year really couldn't foster proper learning in German primary school. When they finish with the homework, kids spend a lot of time on video games talking to their virtual friends instead of real friends. They hardly read nowadays; screens only surround their world. Parents who work from home can't spend time with them, and the kids are left on their own to do whatever they can. The easiest way is to sit before a screen and watch a series or play a game. I know many families, including mine who have daily conflicts with their kids while making them sit for doing their homework and asking them to concentrate. I am praying for myself and other mothers to give us more strength to endure this stage and for the kids to return to their everyday lives with friends and spend more time outdoors!
I teach English and Hindi at an adult education center as a freelancer. I almost had no work from March 2020 till September 2020 because that center was not prepared to switch the presence classes to online classes. They didn't have this situation earlier, and they didn't know how to deal with it. The participants were also hesitant to switch to online platforms like Zoom or others. I sat jobless and hopeless all this time and again after teaching for two months online, I don't have any presence courses from 10th December. I tried to offer online classes in many language schools all over Germany, but didn't get any favorable response and wondered if this really happened in a progressed country? When will people and authorities realize that "online is the future" and when will they be easily able to switch to online learning and online methods? The change is happening, but it is prolonged—something unimaginable in Germany.
I hope Germany learns something from this pandemic and prepares itself better for the future. And I think this is just the beginning. Humanity has to face a lot of such things in the future now. Nature will also take revenge against the mindless damage that we as humans have inflicted on it. It will try to seek a balance in some way, and it was evident in 2020 how life can come to a standstill due to a small tiny virus.
I wish you all a safe, happy, and healthy 2021.
May we collectively grow, learn from our mistakes, and avoid making them in the future.
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