From Singapore and Malaysia to the Philippines, teachers say online learning left them struggling with mental health: ‘I dread going to school’

Thousands of teachers across Asia are struggling with their mental health as the switch to online learning brings new sources of stress and, for some, feelings of inadequacy and guilt

In well-connected cities, the need to perform in front of ever-watchful parents gets to some. In more remote regions, the problems begin with even getting a signal

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A schoolteacher works from home. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:00pm, 1 Oct 2021Updated: 8:17am, 11 Oct 2021

Of the many days of horror during India’s second wave of Covid-19, there is one in particular that sticks with Neeru Gupta, a maths teacher at a government school in Amritsar.

Her mother had died of Covid-19 little more than a week previously, then her father-in-law had passed too, in the space of just a few days. Then her husband had tested positive.

On that particular April day, at 11am, Gupta, 34, was running an online class for her pupils from her living room. Her husband was sequestered in another room while her three young children, attending their own online class in another bedroom, kept disturbing her class by running into the living room to ask her questions. All this, while she was still submerged in grief.

“I felt like jumping off the balcony. I was unable to attend my mother’s funeral because I was looking after my father-in-law. Nobody I loved – my sisters, my dad or my friends – could come and hug me. Yet I had to be bubbly and smiling for my class,” Gupta recalled.

Across Asia, from India to Indonesia and Singapore to Malaysia, teaching during the pandemic has been fraught for thousands of teachers like Gupta. Many of the problems stem from getting to grips with a new way of teaching, with most countries having had to switch to online classes for at least part of their school years. This has meant maintaining discipline via a screen, preparing every class as a presentation, grappling with unfamiliar technology such as Zoom or MS Teams, explaining concepts, coping with being in a goldfish bowl knowing that parents are watching like hawks, all while dealing with classes as well as – for many – managing their own children’s online schedules.

These are just some of the challenges. Teachers, like the rest of us, have been hit financially. A survey in February of teachers in Hyderabad found 100 per cent of 220 respondents had exhausted their life savings and 50 per cent had taken loans from relatives either to pay rent or for Covid-related medical expenses. Then there is the stress of dealing with distraught parents who have suffered their own losses, who call the schools to plead for more time to pay fees or waive them altogether.

The result has been a toll on mental health. A survey by the Singapore Counselling Centre of 1,325 teachers released on September 22 found more than 80 per cent of respondents felt their mental health had been negatively affected by their work amid the pandemic. More than four in five reported working more than 45 hours a week, while more than 62 per cent said their physical health had also declined, reporting ailments such as irritability, insomnia and recurring headaches. More than four in 10 said their personal relationships had suffered and around one in three fell sick easily.