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STEMGuyana has decided to directly impact one source of pandemic stress for Guyanese parents by investing in the creation of more than 1000 lesson plans covering explanations of Maths, Science and English topics for grade 1 to grade 10 students in Guyana. Over the past 4 months, the organization worked with high performing and creative local talents to write lesson plans, integrated with Scratch and Arduino coding technology, a release from the organization said.
These lesson plans were reviewed by curriculum specialists and are targeted to parents. The goal is to help parents to better understand and explain concepts to their children. According to StemGuyans, the lesson plans will be delivered via a web and mobile app or via flash drive and will track and reward student performance with points which students will be able to use to purchase school supplies. The lesson plans and app are part of a larger national program sponsored by both Exxon Mobil and Tullow Oil. The goal is to target every struggling parent in Guyana and deliver these lesson plans via app, virtual pods in 22 locations or on flash drives which can be viewed on computers and televisions. The organisation also plans to conduct weekly Zoom classes to help parents to navigate and reinforce the concepts with their children.
The organisation recently analyzed results of an online survey administered to 328 parents who were part of a weighted sample reflecting regional populations in all 10 regions of Guyana. We recognise the limitation of this survey as it underreports the views of severely vulnerable families who have no access to internet access. Essentially, the results of this survey should be considered the view of working class to upper middle class parents in Guyana. For the purpose of this writing, I will review the responses of three questions asked in the survey administered to parents.
ROLE OVERLOAD CAUSES STRESS
In normal times, many parents fulfill multiple roles at work as an employee and at home as a spouse and parent. When too many demands result from these multiple roles, expectations of each cannot be met and parents experience role overload. Role overload has been associated with increased stress and negative outcomes at work as well as in the family.
STRESS AND GUYANESE PARENTS
In response to the question, “How are you personally coping with the pandemic?” an alarming 66.6% of Guyanese parents with school aged children reported a combined response of “not very well, not ok or completely stressed.” The pandemic has caused parents to essentially play the roles of both parent and teacher, while dealing with reduced incomes, poor or expensive internet service, uncooperative children, lack of access to quality or any computers or tablets, and a general lack of ability to guide their children through worksheets provided by the Ministry of Education or accessed online. Many parents believe their children are falling behind and this compounds their daily frustrations.
STRESS AND US PARENTS
In the United States, nearly half (46%) of respondents who have kids younger than 18 said their average stress level is high these days. “The mental health ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic are immense and growing,” said Arthur Evans Jr., chief executive officer of the American Psychological Association (APA), which sponsored the poll. Other key findings:
With schools closed, nearly three-quarters (71%) of US parents said managing distance/online learning for their kids is a significant source of stress, 70% say that basic needs such as access to food and housing are a significant stress, two-thirds of US parents said they are stressed out about access to health care services, missing major milestones, such as weddings and graduations.
PARENTS SHOULD TAKE A DEEP BREATH
Parental stress is understandable, but parents should take a deep breath and be comforted by the notion that many of the same pandemic related issues are affecting children in every nation in the world. Parents must know that education is not a race, and that the new model of education in this fast paced world of changing technology requires that parents dispel the notion of ‘children falling behind’ and embrace the new dispensation that learning is a lifelong experience. Parents should focus on encouraging their children to read whenever possible, to research problems, to discuss issues, to think about global local and global issues, to practice both written and oral communication and to develop those essential skills which will ensure that Guyanese children remain globally competitive and critical to the development of Guyana and the region.
The lesson plans created by STEMGuyana will be made available free of charge to vulnerable families in every village across every region of Guyana and the goal is to help to alleviate one source of stress for parents by putting in their control a tool which directly provides explanations and which references the worksheets provided by the Ministry of Education. The learning tools were designed specifically for the soon to be launched learning pods program for vulnerable children but based on the results of the recent parent survey, 100% of the parents who responded requested access to the lesson plans and the STEMGuyana organization is happy to respond positively to their request. The program will launch during the week of February 15th. Interested parents are asked to follow the STEMGuyana facebook page for availability information.
