Challenges to Remote Instruction During the Pandemic: A Qualitative Study with Primary Grade Teachers in India

The COVID-19 pandemic has profound implications for education of young children worldwide and especially for children in developing economies like India. This article presents a qualitative study that explored the challenges that private school teachers in low budget, mid-ranged, and high fee charging private schools faced in two cities in India. All the private schools in this study also followed the government mandate to reserve 25% of seats for children from low-income families. During the school closure, remote instruction was employed in schools where participating teachers taught. Teachers faced challenges related to parental involvement and children’s participation in remote instruction. Parental involvement challenges included parental lack of access to technological devices and no or minimal access to internet for their children to participate in remote instruction activities. Parental lack of support due to their low technological literacy and literacy in general, lack of fluency in the English Language, as well as lack of time also contributed to their children’s low participation in remote instruction. Teachers faced challenges in implementing remote instruction with children from different socio-economic backgrounds; however, the challenges were greater with families from low-income backgrounds. The study’s findings suggest that governments around the world need to ensure children’s access to digital tools and internet services which are essential elements in children’s participation in remote instruction. For children in families where parents are unable to support their children’s education at home, other support services may be instituted to take the pressure off of parents. Future studies may explore the ‘learning loss’ that may have resulted from the long school closure during the pandemic.