24th March, 2020 a day like a bolt from the blue - a lockdown was announced pan India. Life came to a stand-still. It was something difficult to digest. “Pandemic” …… “Corona” …. “A new bug” ….. What? Business shut, factories shut, modes of commuting shut; schools shut: LIFE WAS LOCKED DOWN.
We had students preparing for their examinations, students in the midst of examinations, students worried, students scared, a new academic year commencing, the fag end of the old academic year, school managements floundering in the dark as to what is to be done, how are we to carry on. BUT “The show must go on”.
Exactly. That is exactly what happened. We rolled up our sleeves and got down to work. Terms like blended learning, hybrid learning, online classes were the new jargon. Then another set of terms, Zoom, Google meet, Google Classroom, Cisco, Webex Meetings, GoToMeeting, join.me, BlueJeans Meetings, Cisco Jabber - we had never heard of these terms. We researched, we brainstormed, we consulted, we met and we came out winners.
We commenced our blended, hybrid or in simple common man's terminology “online classes”. The teaching fraternity got busy preparing lectures to be uploaded, to face the student on a virtual platform, to teach and be taught web etiquette, to be witnessed by all and sundry in a household (even the dog) - the lectures commenced. It was new for both sides - the teacher and the taught. But over the seven months that we have completed we have created milestones in our institution. The Pre -Primary, Primary, the Middle School, the Senior School and the Junior college together have put up over 800 youtube links for the students. Weekly tests were conducted, Term I Reviews were held. Paper corrections were done. Well a learning experience no doubt. BUT “The show must go on”
All the regular school events like the Investiture Ceremony, the PEP Programmes, The Elocution Competitions. The Important days in the calendar - may it be World Environment Day, International Yoga Day, Teachers Day, Hindi Diwas, Diwali Celebrations, Children’s Day, Janmashthami and many more were ushered through this virtual platform.
The ability to bounce back from difficulties and that too with force is called “RESILIENCE” the flexibility to perform. This is an apt theme for this year, where each one of us has proved our mettle.
We are achieving landmarks and creating waves “And the show must go on……”
By. Tr. Munira Kachwala and Tr. Unita Doulton.