Missing of school..

Dechen among children in her village
watch their lesson on national TV
(courtesy of UNICEF Bhutan)

I read this beautiful heart touching story of a child (age 11) living in rural Bhutan – South Asia. She reminded my childhood at her age going to our neighbor's house to watch television, and the time when I was following lessons on TV at the height of the civil war in Sri Lanka. This is an era before the internet and mobile phones became part of our everyday life.

As mentioned in the article, just published by UNICEF, today children are taught lessons not only in classroom but also online even in rural parts of the world. But as Dechen echoed, going to school is an experience no other can replace – like holding/smelling a textbook or a letter handwritten by your child/sponsor.

Dechen says, “I miss my school, my teachers and my friends. I understand the lessons better in school when our teachers explain; I don’t understand much when I watch it on TV. At school, the teacher explains until we understand the lessons but on television, the lessons go very fast and we can’t catch up.”

I was fortunate to have had teachers like Dechen’s, who were not only eminent scholars but fine human beings. I'm learning what/how the schools and governments in which our sponsored children attend address the educational needs during Covid pandemic. Like the UNICEF is supporting printing of the lessons broadcast on TV.

I'm in contact with UNICEF to try and help support Dechen's needs directly at this time of many challenges she's facing. Needless to say, right now all children must be missing the face-to-face interaction at school as much as many fun activities at CI centers.