Dr K Komala Krishna, Director, School Services Society, Hyderabad: Utilise time to learn new things

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March 30, 2020

It’s unfortunate that the world is battling one single enemy right now—Covid-19, and many countries, including ours have gone into a lockdown as a measure to minimise the casualties.

Schools, are one amongst the many things that have been closed down. But does that mean the learning has to stop? No.

In fact, it’s time we take the learning to a whole another level, with the help of digital platforms, as well as utilising the resources and time you get at home.

Conventional methods of teaching in school focus on the learning various languages, subjects, sports, arts and a few other activities. But there are a whole lot of other skills the kids can learn, when they cannot go to school every day.

There are a number of websites and interactive portals where children can learn the usual subjects. The schools can also use online tools to deliver the lectures and assign the home works.

But what else can a child learn during this lockdown that adds value to their lives as they grow up? The answer is lifeskills.

Yes, the parents and even schools can use this lockdown period as an opportunity to teach the children some important skills that will be useful to them throughout their life.

They can learn activities like cooking, cleaning, and decorating the house, which will help them take responsibility and be independent as they grow into adults. The parents can teach the kids how to make a variety of dishes based on their age—a simple sandwich for the younger ones whereas a more complex meal for the older ones, ask them to clean and redecorate their room, etc. They can also be asked to make their own art and craft pieces to place in their rooms.

Moreover, the kids can also learn about hygiene, and administering first aid in case of emergencies.

One other thing that will definitely be useful for the children as they grow up is how to manage money, and groceries. This is one important skill not even a lot of adults master, and isn’t widely taught in schools. So, this lockdown can be used as an opportunity to teach kids how to manage their expenses, savings, and how to go about taking care of groceries and supplies at home. This can be one skill they’ll be thankful for, their entire lives.

Many parents worry that the children may be deprived of physical activity during the lockdown. But this can be worked around through activities like Yoga, Zumba, or even dancing.

In addition to all these, the kids can read a lot more books, take time to learn about the culture and history of the country, and even spend time researching things that interest them.

So you see, there are many things that parents and schools can do to ensure that the kids learn during the lockdown while staying safe. Because as they say, learning is a lifelong process. It never stops! Not even for a virus, or a lockdown!

MP govt to promote students over coronavirus

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March 30, 2020

The Madhya Pradesh state government has decided to promote students of all classes excluding 10th and 12th class students. The decision was taken after the COVID-19 outbreak across the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared a 21-day lockdown in the country over the epidemic.

The 10th and 12th exams are carried forward due the outbreak, an official said.

“The fourth-time chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan reviewed the measures to tackle the pandemic in the state. The CM decided to promote all students except class 10th and 12th, the official said.

The CM has also decided to provide rations to poor for next three month.

COVID-19: CBSE donates Rs 21 lakh to PM CARES fund

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March 30, 2020

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to contribute Rs 21 lakh from all employees. The board has come forward to donate their salary to the PM CARES Fund to aid the efforts of govt to fight against the coronavirus. The govt has imposed a 21-day lockdown across the nation over the coronavirus outbreak.

Group- “A” Employees have donated two-day salary and Group- “B” & “C” Employees, one day Salary to Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund).

Anurag Tripathi, CBSE Secretary, said, “The country is facing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic of unprecedented magnitude posing serious threat to the health, life and economic security of millions of people in the Country,”.

On Saturday, to combat rising coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of a new fund.

Called the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund or PM CARES, the fund will see the Prime Minister as the chairman of the trust and its members will include the Defence Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister.

Ishita Chowdhury, Principal, Pawar Public School, Dombivali, Mumbai: To teach without classroom a huge challenge

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March 30, 2020

India imposed a three-week-long nation-wide lockdown, the most far-reaching measure undertaken by the government to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. It is rightly said, “Schools are so much more than just schools and teachers are irreplaceable and essential to learning.” Most of the teaching and learning comes from talking, discussing, questioning, answering – and then questioning again. To teach remotely without a classroom talk is a huge challenge.

Keeping in mind the effect of the postponement of the ICSE examinations, we have suggested the parents to encourage their wards to study and to revise for about 8 hours every day to perform to their potential in the remaining papers. They are advised to follow a self-study schedule as per their needs in the subjects remaining to be assessed.

Due to this sudden outbreak of the pandemic, the pupils of Grade 9 and 10 (new academic batch) are facing significant difficulties in their teaching and learning process. To tackle the situation, the facilitators of Pawar Public School, Dombivali have taken the help of technology and uploaded relevant self-explanatory study material. We have uploaded assignments and project topics, journal writing topics, scanned explanations, related notes, questions and answers on our online portal, E-CAMPUS as well as on teno app.

The facilitators are leaving no stone unturned to impart knowledge effectively using the digital contents despite social distance. We have identified a few self-study topics with the help of Extramarks Learning App and shared them with the pupils as part of the flipped classroom technique. Extramarks has announced that it will be providing free access through its educational app to the pupils. With this initiative, our facilitators and pupils can download and access the learning content.

Amidst this crisis, it is indeed a relief for the pupils of Grade 1 to 8 as their annual examinations are over and they went for an early academic term break. During this time, we have engaged themselves by uploading some subject-wise activity-based worksheets to revise core concepts. These worksheets comprise various riddles, crafts, puzzles, brain teasers and colouring activities.

Remote learning may be more accessible to some pupils than others. The parents of the Pre-Primary Section are requested to use the Next PlayApp and the workbooks provided to their wards in the last academic year and revise the concepts. They are also advised to read interactively in English, encourage their wards to discuss about pictures, and talk on different topics to enhance conversational skills. The facilitators have also suggested ways to make the playtime more useful and practical by engaging the tiny tots with household chores like peeling a boiled potato skin, shelling peas, kneading the dough to make shapes, numbers and letters. We believe in the maxim,‘Health is Wealth’ hence have adopted teaching-learning methods that would benefit the pupils not only academically but also physically. The school has taken the initiative by sharing pictures of a few physical exercises and yoga asanas to be done at home. It will help the pupils to stay fit and healthy without going out. With a view to impart continuous holistic education, our pupils being conscientious citizens have been a part of a social awareness campaign and prepared a video on the coronavirus pandemic highlighting the steps to keep in mind to protect oneself and stay healthy during the lockdown.

All these measures would help our pupils acquire knowledge in an exciting, unconventional way and might be a welcome break from the monotonous school routine.

Sangeeta Saxena, Principal, The Millennium School, Bathinda, Punjab: Using technology to beat virus

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March 30, 2020

The Corona Pandemic has brought the World to a complete halt with lockdown all over, so as to keep the human race safe and alive by practicing SELF DISTANCING. A very sensible move indeed, appreciated the world over. As teachers, we cannot remain away from our children for long, so at the Millennium School, we thought of using our virtual classes to beat the virus and come out as winners.

Our students, pan India, are connecting with us by a morning SMS and soon our Health-Set-Go team sends tips and measures to fight the virus by washing hands with soap for at least 20 seconds, use of extensive disinfectant and of course, finally, STAY AT HOME, DO NOT VENTURE OUT IF AVOIDABLE.

We the educators, at the Millennium School decided to teach our little ones through virtual classes. Various training sessions for teachers started and we armed our facilitators to approach the class with full attendance.

The new X and XII classes were sent video notes and worksheets. There were Skype sessions, discussions and assignments given. We used the Information Technology at the best.

I took the initiative of writing poems for children to keep their learning interesting. We also shared morning exercise videos and eating healthy breakfast etc.

We encouraged our children to narrate stories of their talent in this testing time. Parents were sent guidelines and creative videos to encourage maximum participation. We have asked the parents to share videos of art and craft and storytelling for the young Millenniumites.

We are sharing classes with Fliplearn, Zoom, Utube, Facebook and Whatsapp. For TMS, WhatsApp means “whats up folks?” In order to stay connected with our stakeholders, our dear parents, we are using innovative ways to keep the children engaged in a positive manner and to keep their spirit high, during this unpleasant time of lockdown.

I feel humbled being the author of the Millennium School Bathinda and also feel proud at the way my dear staff is giving me full, dedicated support at this point in time and take up the challenge to beat the coronavirus with our virtual teaching.

We have just begun……and how!! It’s a proud beginning and I salute my seniors who inspired us to connect with the Teaching Learning World.

I often wonder, can a child have a better School than The Millennium School???

BSEB to declare class 10th exam results, check on biharboardonline.in

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March 30, 2020

Amid lockdown across the country, Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) is likely to announce the Class 10 results by the middle of April. Candidates can check their 10th results on the official website of Bihar Board at biharboardonline.in.

The Bihar Board conducted the 10th examination on February and ended on February 24, 2020.

The Bihar Board 10th examination was conducted in two shifts- the first shift from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm and second shift from 1.45 pm to 4.30 pm.

BSEB declared its Class 12 results for Class 12 examination. The overall pass percentage of Bihar Board Class 12 examination stands at 80.44 percent. Over 12 lakh candidates had appeared for the exam.

Steps to check results:

– Visit the official site biharboardonline.com

– Click on the ‘Results’ tab on the home page

-Select stream and click on class 10th results page

– Log-in using credentials

– BSEB Class 10 Result 2020 will appear online

GPSC releases result for lecture, check result on gpsc.gujarat.gov.in

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March 30, 2020

The Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) has released the list of candidates selected for post of Lecturer (Homeopathy) Obstetrics and Gynaecology on its official site. Candidates can check their results on gpsc.gujarat.gov.in.

Aspirants can check the roll numbers of selected candidates through the official site. Only 8 candidates are shortlisted in GPSC Lecturer Exam.

GPSC Conducted the objective type prelims exam for the recruitment of Lecturer (Homeopathy) –Obstetrics and Gynaecology, General State Service, Class-2 on 05 January 2020. 50% weightage is given to Prelim’s Marks & 50% weightage to Interview Marks.

How to check the results:

– Visit the official site i.e. gpsc.gujarat.gov.in

– Click on the link “List of Eligible Candidates for Application Scrutiny 26/2019-20 Lecturer (Homoeopathy) –Obstetrics and Gynaecology

– A new window will open where you need to click on PDF Link

– Download the GPSC lecturer result

Dr. Raja Roy Choudhary, Director- Academic Affairs, Universal Business School, Mumbai: Need to face global challenges wisely

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March 30, 2020

The world is moving at a blistering pace with its ever-changing technologies surviving the global challenges that put pressure to create new ways of dealing the “normalcy”. The Asset and Wealth management industry is widely considered to be on the cusp of digital disruption. Technology has the potential to arrive at significant cost reductions through automation, transformed business models with digitally assisted advices and drive disproportionate market-share gains through servicing of clients more effectively.

The far-reaching humanitarian fallout of the COVID-19 crisis brings along with it the potential equally disruptive economic fallout. The roadmap ahead is hence a precarious one, driven by epidemiological uncertainty, the unique concoction of resulting shocks to both supply and demand given the macroeconomic conditions.

The wealth management industry can no-longer ignore the rise of FinTech. Over the past few years, FinTech has enjoyed a boom and wealth management clients have become increasingly accustomed to using the digital services. In the wake of COVID-19, “Social distancing” has compelled advisors to rethink on the channel of communication. Unlike prior periods of market volatility, COVID-19 has prevented customers who seek reassurance and financial guidance from meeting their financial advisors at a branch or at their house. To put things into perspective, Wealth management firms need to embrace digital servicing capabilities to better stay in touch with their clients.

Deploy world class practices to meet client concerns and lower the impulse to panic

1.Upskill RMs- Advisors/RMs must have a 360-degree view of the client holdings with crystal clear clarity on the portfolio with an ability to simulate and rebalance portfolios in real time to ensure safeguarding and sustainability of the client assets. Firms should fast-track deployment of portfolio-management intelligence tools and mechanisms to ensure RMs are updated in real time on client portfolios. Digitally enabled wealth managers will lead the clients to making strategic investments in an uncertain environment.

2.Automated Performance Reporting- Bringing On-Demand & Easy Access via dashboard and reports makes the lives of clients easier when they can glue to the figures on-the-fly. This can be backed with digital advisory systems that can further increase chances of taking the right investment moves. Fintech firms of today empower your advisors to make proactive decisions based on “Active Nudges & Alerts”. They also bring in analytics backed portfolio overview including simulations and performance attribution.

3.Digital Client On-Boarding – Gone are the days when clients need to physically visit the RMs to get on-boarding started. Times have made it relatively much easier with digital client on-boarding which comes as a boon for external asset managers, family offices, and private wealth managers. Earlier, it used to take weeks and months to onboard a client, but with fintech companies on the rise, the entire flow has been automated using a lot of maker checker processes and by using the OCR technologies, face recognition and Video KYC, followed by a FATCA questionnaire and risk profiling.

4.Data Aggregation- Much of the complexities for wealth managers stem from collation of reports from various sources viz. market data providers, brokers, trading partners, banks, etc. The FinTech solution providers integrate with multiple custodian partners and aggregate, normalize and reconcile the data, create an optimized layer and then make it ready for analytics to provide meaningful visualizations. Fintech firms take charge of multiple delta checks like data availability, receival of transaction reports from various transaction partners, custodian holding reports and reconciling them to understand whether all the trades have been considered in the holdings.

5.Hybrid Advisory- The digital platforms are also powered with hybrid advisory, wherein part of the advisory comes from the AI & ML based algorithms and the other part comes from the advisory team/RMs. This makes the investment advices more concretized in nature when you can have all the relevant visualizations with clear analysis of the portfolios.

6.Mobility – By using State of the Art technologies, most FinTech firms are keen on providing the investment figures real-time. This is ensured by giving ready access to RMs & their clients remotely from any part of the world. This creates a sticky factor for the clients as well. Efficiency in client management is the topmost priority, especially in trying times like COVID-19.

7.Due Diligence made easy- With such disruptive solutions, clients can never afford to miss any investment guideline breach. With nudges & alert-based systems in place, you’re up to date with what needs attention. Platforms which are modular and white-labelled can turn out to be scalable and flexible in the long run.

The FinTech Edgein the era of uncertainty

1.Analytics Vs. MIS: Analytics & tools to add value and scale with quality.

• HD Reports

• Performance Attribution

• Investment Mandates

• Portfolio Rebalancing

2.Proactive Vs. Reactive: Pre-trade vs. Post-trade & Fetch Vs. Push for proactive intermediation.

• Proactive system alerts

• Push systems

• What-Ifs

• Chats

3.Real Time Vs. Batch/Ad-Hoc: Algorithms to handle Big Data and deliver real-time, on-the-fly response with minimal batch

• Advanced technological architecture with parallel processing to deliver peak loads

4.Synchronized Vs. Disparate: Optimized Architecture layers to provide the right experience to the customer.

• Back-end supporting Front-end innovations

Technology- An Enabler for More Inclusive, Professional and Open Wealth Management

1.Tech makes wealth management more inclusive- Technology aids in facilitating the accessibility of wealth management to “long-tail” clients, who are otherwise denied access to such services. On the supply side, technology bridges the gap created by a very limited supply of investment managers. On the demand side, technology helps reducing the service fees so that wealth management becomes affordable to a wide range of clients.

2.Tech makes wealth management more professional- Enhancing the efficiency of wealth management through automation of processes is one prime motive. Global ubiquity of the internet has made it accessible at any time anywhere in the world. Technology enables wealth management with utmost precision. Data mining and analytics allow wealth managers and financial advisors to better understand and predict client needs. Furthermore, advanced algorithms allow personalized professional investment advice to meet each client’s unique needs at lower costs. All of this contributes to a more professional wealth management.

3.Tech makes wealth management more open- Technology can foster a more open and competitive landscape for digital wealth management. In the future, wealth management firms must develop strong, integrated capabilities if they wish to sustain and not just exist!

Robo Advisory- Overview & Key Takeaways

• The leading FinTech firms in the wealth space provide goal based Robo Advisory services to the clients at the right time.

• They are usually driven by seamless on-boarding with minimum hassles and much lesser duration.

• Robo ensures mapping the customer journeys and drop off points, and target auto campaigns to activate and retain customers. It also helps create pre-login journeys to engage the new customers.

• It’s easy to configure bank specific profiling mechanisms and create segment wise profiling process.

• Hybrid-Robo-Advice is the most preferred model where asset managers use digital services for portfolio-rebalancing or asset allocation to optimize their quality of advisory services at shorter time. It can be seen as a clear trend towards classic advisory services.

• Wealth Managers will need to revisit their books and make Robo-Advisors an indispensable part of their modus operandi- be it to grow into the profitable segment of most affluent clients, to find an efficient way to engage more with the bottom 20% of their clients or to lead the industry to a next level altogether.

Key Takeaways: User engagement is enhanced; dormant customers are activated & acquisition of new customers is not a toll task anymore! It helps capture more wallet share and creates stickiness and loyalty with a differentiated value proposition.

Navigating the Impact of COVID-19 in Wealth Technology space

COVID-19 is undoubtedly the world’s major economic shock with significant short-term ramifications for markets. Whilst the near future may not be “business as usual”, many operational activities may remain unchanged despite the lingering doldrums. The long-term implications of the crisis look pragmatic. As uncertain as these times may seem, economy is sure to recover and emerge stronger than ever before. The following can be some of the key focus areas for asset and wealth managers to consider:

1.Re-Focus and Re-Strategize- Priorities will change for asset owners and with investor behavior taking time to normalize, there will be a need to consider appropriate diversification. Invest only on the right moves!

2.Transform the digital journey- Greater strains on a firm’s IT infrastructure will lead to creating more digital business models.

3.Enhance productivity and upskill- Wealth managers must ensure that they have the much-needed equipment, tools, working practices and technology in place which will “future-proof” their business.

4.Redefine purpose-World class business leaders have the ability to look beyond the crisis and take giant steps to build trust with asset owners, create positive social impact, whilst looking beyond just profits and be purpose driven. Now is an opportune time to rethink, re-strategize and reset priorities.

Co Author Chahat Mishra, Sales Analyst, Valuefy Solutions PVT LTD

Shyamlal Soni, Director, NIT Uttarakhand: calls to contain the epidemic

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March 30, 2020

The Coronavirus pandemic has created lot of hassle around the nation, we at NIT Uttarakhand have taken the following measures:

All Academics, Co-curriculum and Extra-curriculum activities including project work, attendance requirement of M.Tech. and Ph.D. scholars, laboratory work etc. stand suspended till 14th April, 2020. All stakeholders of the Institute are required to regularly check the Institute website and respective email inbox.

All the faculty members are required to stay in station at both the campuses at Parent campus Srinagar (Pauri-Garhwal) and Satellite Campus (MNIT Jaipur)

Regarding sharing the e-Content of the offered courses with registered students, the loss of Laboratory Component will be compensated by students to use Virtual Labs facility (www.vlab.co.in).

All faculty members, Trainee Teachers & Research Scholars are utilizing this period for various Research/Academic activities such as: a)Development of online content, online teaching (PPTs/Video conferencing etc.) and online evaluation; b)Giving home assignment of course material to all students of their classes for the remaining course content; c) Assessment of the home assignments submitted by the students and awarding the marks to the students; d) Carry on research; e) Writing articles, papers or proposals etc. f) Preparing innovative questions for “Question Bank”;g)Preparing innovative projects on “Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat” , Unnat Bharat Abhiyan and other Activities; h) Preparing lesson plan and developing instructional material for the courses to be offered during next academic year/next semester.

The students have to appear in three exams per semester namely two Mid-term exams and one End-term exam. The students have already appeared in 1st Mid-term exams. The 2nd Mid-term exam will be held online during this period. The End-term exam will be held as soon as the situation is under control, off-line or on-line if the situation is not under control. This will save their semester and job acquired.

All students and employees who have travel history to Corona affected regions or who are suspected to have come in contact with any Corona patients during last 14 days should remain self quarantined and confined to their home. The students will prepare their lessons at home during this quarantined period.

The students, who are still in the hostels, particularly other state students, are allowed to continue in their hostels and advised to take all necessary safety precautions as and when notified by the Govt. /Institute authorities.

The students who are not staying in the Campus are advised not to visit the Campus during the period and are also advised to report to the nearby Medical Facility/Centre, if they are suspecting Coronavirus (COVID-19) like symptoms.

Students have been advised to inform their respective faculty advisors if the restriction of movement, due to suspension of public transport, lockdown, curfew etc. are imposed beyond 14th April, 2020 in their areas.

While at home, all employees and students are advised to restrict their movement and limit only to bare essential activities and follow the instructions and other health advisories issued by the government from time to time.

Radhakrishnan C, Principal, Hillside School, Hyderabad: Calls parents to help children learn at home

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March 30, 2020

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” – Mark Twain

After the closure of schools on account of COVID-19 threat, parents are very anxious about what will happen to the education/schooling of their kids. As a parent of two school-going kids, I take this as an opportunity to experiment with developing self-learning habits and life skills necessary to thrive in the upcoming years. From the above-stated quote of Mark Twain, we can understand that education is not merely learning what is prescribed in the standardized curriculum to appear for standardized exams to get certified.

Education is not just sitting in the classrooms, listening to teachers and following the rules. Since, we have gone through a systematized, structured and compartmentalized schooling system and our busy occupation with our professional life, we forgot to introspect on what should be the components of real education.

Some of us excelled at learning what was offered and then thought, wow! I am so smart. This perception has made us repose our faith in the traditional twentieth-century schooling system which has emerged during the industrial revolution. Education has much wider implications.

Education – A Wider Perspective:

It’s high time for all stakeholders to understand that education is not only for preparing kids to become a professional or an entrepreneur, but also for making them a good human being who can be compassionate, kind-hearted, accommodate differences, involve in spiritual and philanthropic activities, and above all serve the needy.

In a nutshell, education is a journey towards creating footprints or legacies on this planet. If we accept this as the ultimate goal of education, we can’t restrict educating our kids to the four walls of classrooms or schools. It has to be a partnership between the school, the parents, the community and the government. But this partnership has broken during the last few decades due to various reasons like the busy nature of parents’ professional life, societal compulsions and aspirations, political compulsions, etc.

The COVID-19 shutdown is an opportunity for parents to rebuild their partnership role in educating their kids to make them good human beings by instilling in them family values and life skills to make them good family persons. As we know, the family is the basic unit of our society, nation and the globalised community. Once we succeed in establishing good families and family bonds; the foundation of a better society, nation and a globalised community are done. This naturally helps us end many conflicts that trouble us and put us in great strife and stress daily.

Parents Role during COVID-19 Lockdown:

We can narrow down this responsibility into three categories:

1. Life Skills:

“Life skills” are defined by UNICEF as psychosocial abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. They are loosely grouped into three broad categories of skills: cognitive skills for analyzing and using information, personal skills for developing personal agency and managing oneself, and inter-personal skills for communicating and interacting effectively with others.

Activities: a) Based on this parents can provide information about their own families, e.g. financial conditions, family needs, expectations, etc., and allow the children to discuss with other members of the family and analyse the information provided and gathered, and reach to their own strategies and conclusions. After completing the process parents can give them a chance to present it, and brief them about its pros and cons and how to improve upon their skills to understand and analyse an issue or problem they face.

b) Provide them the opportunity to involve in housekeeping activities. E.g. assessing the total area available for the storage of different materials; plotting a plan for classifying the materials and finding suitable places for arranging it, etc. Once the plan is ready to allow them to sit and discuss with parents and provide them guidance for necessary amendments and allow them to arrange it according to the plan.

c) Involve your kids in kitchen management activities and guide them on how you plan, schedule the menu, prepare the procurement based on the family budget. Let them help you with cooking and serving. Train them to prepare/cook basic food items and beverages. Teach them how to wash vessels and arrange them. Skill them on safety and use of cooking equipment like the gas stove, wall-mounted chimney operations, pressure cooker, grinder, mixer, etc.

d) Have roundtable discussions daily with your kids on various current issues, maybe household or social or political or spiritual matters. Allow the children freely express their views, help them present their viewpoints with facts and talk to the point. Use this platform to talk on family history, values, traditions, ethics, gender equality, respecting elders, and whatever you perceive as good family and social value your children should have or represent in society.

2. Lifelong learning:

Collins dictionary defines Lifelong learning as the provision or use of both formal and informal learning opportunities throughout people’s lives in order to foster the continuous development and improvement of the knowledge and skills needed for employment and personal fulfilment. This is one of the most crucial skills our children should have to thrive in the coming years.

To develop this, we have to imbibe in them a habit of listening and reading. Direct them to find interesting audio storytelling sessions, talks on various subjects by reputed leaders from different spheres, watch movies, music and a whole lot of things. After completing listening to a story or a talk or watching a movie; talk to them about it and get to know what take away they could bring to the table.

Help them choose good books (in digital or print) according to their interest and help them diversify their interest in reading. Provide them free access to lot many choices for reading. Parents also practice reading in the presence of children to role model them. Talk to them about the book you read and how it is going to improve your career or life. Motivate them to present the take away of their reading. Observing their choices of reading and listening, can help you understand their aptitude and then talk to them extensively connected to that. This can help you guide them to choose their future choices of study and career.

Let them involve in their hobbies like gardening, drawing, painting, craft, embroidery work, writing, etc. If you have terrace/courtyard garden involve your kids in the maintenance of the same. If you are in your farm house, let them get associated with farming activities. Those interested in technical aspects, provide them with materials to experiment and play with. Let them create and be part of co-creation. Allow them to have mobile-chat or video chat for collaboration and co-creation with friends and peer group. While you encourage all these lots of learning will take place related to school curriculum too. Here learning takes place unknowingly and continuously, which is called lifelong learning.

3. Emotional, Spiritual and Physical Rejuvenation:

Parents can do a lot at home in this regard, without much effort. Role modelling is the key. Set a proper schedule for daily happenings at home. Much of the emotional upheaval happens due to lack of planning, hastiness, the opportunity to express feelings, fear of failures, consequences, physical drowsiness and lack of spiritual connection. We should have specified daily timings for prayers, meditations and physical exercises along with our kids. Let this be a team activity.

Allow the kids to practice daily at home the exercises they learned in their mass physical education sessions in the school. It would be great if parents can also join the same.

Encourage them to look after pets, maintain a bird feeder, and involve them in feeding stray animals around your home. If you are preparing food packets for distribution to poor people in your neighbourhood with the consent of public health department or the Police force allow your kids to play a key role in talking to these officials and planning and executing it. This can help develop compassion and the habit of giving back to the society.

Teach them religious texts and prayers you know or your practice. Let them read holy books of your faith and other faiths. Explain to the children about different religious faiths and cultures to enable them to accommodate people belonging to various faiths and cultures.

Keep calm at home and talk and behave to everyone at home with the utmost respect and compassion. If we can practice these on a day to day basis at home there is no need for any EQ test or package to boost the EQ of our kids.

To conclude, what I would suggest is never get trapped by the enormous online packages to educate your kids. There are a lot many things we can do ourselves without spending either money or time. What we need to have is an attitude to be with the kids and role model right aptitudes. Never try to convert your home to a school by subscribing to the various online mode of school content delivery. Understand that our kids are also stressed due to this lockdown. They are not able to meet their classmates, friends, relatives and others. They are also worried about their syllabus and curriculum. Be an instrument of stress relief for them at this juncture of a pandemic. Grasp the fact that if the schools are closed for one or two months nothing is going to happen, even if your kids are in the board exam classes. The Government and education boards will come up with strategies to mitigate the situation. We can request the education boards and governments to reduce the content for the next academic year’s examinations, and I am dam sure that education boards will introspect and do that to reduce the stress level of kids and see smiling faces of our kids all over.

Let us unite and practice social distancing and stay at home to save us and reduce the length of lockdown.

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