Teaching Early Years Children during COVID-19 through Digital Technologies

Abstract

COVID 19 has transformed the modes of formal schooling for early
childhood education from physical face to face formations to virtual
interactive arrangements. This sudden outbreak created uncertainty as well
as unknown fear among the masses. This grave situation and unexpected
obligatory closure of early childhood schools has deprived many children
to attend schools. This qualitative study was planned to explore the effect
of modern technologies in engaging early learners during this period.
Twenty early childhood education teachers and head teachers of public
and private schools of a metropolitan city of Pakistan were interviewed.
The results revealed that the education authorities accepted this situation
as a challenge for engaging young children at their homes through latest
technologies and software applications. It helped children to come out
from the psychological melancholy and panic of the pandemic during the
lockdowns. Parents and teachers faced many problems for provision of
digital equipments and access to internet. They also faced quandary of not
being well versed with the use of latest gadgets, software and social media
for the purpose of teaching early years’ children. The practitioners are
supposed to work for using such technologies on regular basis by adopting
the blended learning approach at early childhood education level.