Author: Mukesh Shelat. Principal, Delhi Public School, Varanasi.
The period from March 2019 to date has been traumatic for all. As educators, our stress levels have touched the pinnacle. Managing the home, school, family, students, parents, and patrons have never been so difficult. But as I look back and look around my faith in the resilience of educators is reinforced. As they work from home they have adapted well to the long working hours. If I may say they are working 24 x 7. As an educational administrator for over 30 years, I have encountered several educators who are not only passionate about their work but love their foster children even more than their biological ones. I still remember my little girl telling her teacher that her dad has ‘two wives. The first is his school & the second one is her mother! As my children grew up they began to get the notion that I cared less for them when compared to my children in the boarding school. I am sure most teachers reading this will resonate with this. I know of teachers who have sacrificed much for their students. ‘Students before self’ is the mantra most educators faithfully follow. My experience says that while educators enjoy the classroom process they do get tired by mindless testing, corrections, record keeping, and above all parents who have an opinion on how a school ought to run.
If the virtual school extends to another year & beyond as some experts opine then the virtual fatigue that educators are experiencing will most likely turn into burnout.
Over the years I have handled educators who have been through stress due to professional or personal reasons and had felt they no longer make a difference in the classroom. Some of the suggestions given to such educators to address their burnout then may well be recounting in the present situation.
- Check your ‘oxy-meter’.
- Bond with the best.
- Time telling to clock building.
- Diversify.
- Why? Rather than when?
Educators who were low on the oxy-meter were asked to weigh the good and bad aspects of their work. An SW analysis helped them identify the negatives, the triggers that made work challenging, stumbling blocks and so on. The use the fish bone technique to identify the root cause and find a solution resulted in many recharges!
We are known by the company we keep. Many who were under stress realized during reflection that they were in the company of colleagues who were less optimistic, or had a negative attitude. When they began to spend less time with them & more time with positive people (unfortunately COVID has given another connotation to ‘positive’!) things gradually changed. With time they gained control over whom they could choose to be with. Many moved out of the staff rooms to avoid negative natter.
As part of my reflection process during phases of stress, I realized how I used to spend time on things that did not require that amount of involvement. This led me to clock building rather than time-telling. The time saved was thus spent with family, yoga, or an occasional Chitrahar on DD.
At this juncture, I can’t help recount how a disaster, both for the school & for the educator was averted. A result of out-of-the-box thinking! An excellent Hindi educator teaching higher classes was increasingly dejected when the numbers in the higher classes were opting for Hindi was dropping. The state government had made the local language mandatory till the secondary level. Dejection led to depression and gradually thoughts about leaving the profession. The senior leadership team after some brain storming identified her competencies and curated a role that brought out the hither to lesser know side of the educator. She not only bloomed but lives of many children were transformed by this classroom alchemist.
During these years as an educator my success rate at handing educator’s blocks has not been hundred percent.
When none of the aforementioned strategies worked we let the educators go, but not before trying to identify what they would do in place of teaching. Some of them became tour operators. Operators with a difference! They mapped the school syllabus and came up with ‘real educational tours’. These tours varied from visits to the local museum to national & international tours. The Pre-tour, in-tour activities, were well planned. The post-tour presentation before the parents was a thumping success.
One educator who was known for his mouth-watering food was encouraged to start a tuck shop for the boarders. Over the years he went on to write a cookbook in the vernacular language. Had he been there in these times he may have become a YouTube sensation.
Finally let me end with how a group of possible burnout candidates from different schools in one city got together to prepare innovative lesson plans, quality question papers, and resource material that they initially shared gratis and as their work gained the traction they began to charge a small fee. I hope to see this group transform into a publishing house soon.
Educators’ stress or burnout is amplified if changes are not made. Changes can range from simple fixes to long-term changes. It is important for stressed educators not to continue in that state. It is not only detrimental to their health but to the children in their care. If an educator feels frustrated even after giving his best remember that the children also feel the same way.
It’s time for such educators to wake up on Monday & smell the coffee instead of going to work.
Let me part with a chilling story! One principal who was not able to sustain the school during covid has started an Ice cream parlor.
What a way to chill!
