THE EFFECTS OF WORKING FROM HOME DURING THE COVID- 19 PANDEMIC ON THE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELL-BEING OF KERALA SCHOOL TEACHERS

COVID-19 has brought about changes to the education system that impact teachers in
multiple ways. The article discusses the views of affected teachers under the three-gap
framework: access, usage, and pedagogical skills gap. Between 29 April 2020, and 29
May 2020, an online survey was administered to 100 school teachers in Kerala. The data
show that the inequalities between private schools and government schools are sharpened
by the move to online education. This is compounded by the fact that students from
economically weaker sections of society have become hard to reach, and teachers do not
know how to support hard to-reach students who are also severely affected by the
pandemic. The data also show that teachers have not been trained in online pedagogies.
Ed-Tech companies have been stepping in, presenting themselves as a panacea to the
problem with further consequences to teachers’ profession, standing, and livelihoods.
However, Ed-Tech. solutions are not relevant for hard-to-reach students or teachers in
schools that serve hard-to-reach communities. The article first presents the voices of
teachers affected by the pandemic and then critically examines the role of Ed-Tech
companies, which pertain to fill the online pedagogical gap