With the outbreak of corona virus the world as a whole has been affected tremendously. COVID-19 has led the world locked. Everything has come to a hault.
Everywhere there are lockdowns of major cities. As we are no different, this pandemic has affected us too, to a large extent.
Fore seeing the conditions, our State Government had also declared quarantine holidays to all the schools since 16th March.
Maharashtra Chief Minister had requested people to abide by the Janata Curfew and subsequently ordered to impose Section 144 across the state from Monday to March 31. The current news is that our prime minister has declared additional 21 days nationwide locked down from today i. e. up to 15th April.
The effect of this pandemic on academics of the students can be minimised.
This quarantine time has made everyone sit at home under one roof and spend time together. If we think positively , we can utilise this quarantine time effectively for encouraging students’ interest in E-learning.
■ Steps implemented by us : Academic :
We all know, the annual exams of grade 1 to grade 8 have been cancelled as per the state government directive. To keep children connected with academics , we have taken the following measures :
▪ First and foremost , we have told our parents to take this situation as an opportunity instead of seeing it as a problem or hurdle in the path of their child’s life.
▪ All subject books/notebooks (course study material) have been given to students at home so that they can study at home.
▪ Question banks in the form of Google forms of all subjects have been sent to our respective parents for revision purposes so that they can take revision of their children at home without any difficulty.
▪ All our parents have been assured that all of our teachers will be available on phone if any difficulty arise in solving these revision questions.
▪ As far as students of Lower Grades are concerned, parents have been requested to take their reading and writing practice regularly so that their writing habit is not affected.
▪ We are going to evaluate these revisions each for 20 marks for lower grades and these marks will be considered as their performance of the year . Every student will get promoted to the next class despite the revision results , but these tests will provide us with a clearer view of who needs more attention in the next year.
▪ Teacher-Parents-Students online- groups have been created.
▪ Soft copies in word format or Google forms of home assignments/worksheets/revision sheets are being shared and collected online on daily basis.
■ Work from home challenge for teachers: Teachers are working in a stress free environment that is their home. Of course, for a few teachers their house workload has increased hence they are not
able to cope up. But most passionate and dedicated teachers have learned to excell their managerial skills to organise household responsibilities and school work from home.
▪ Online daily reporting has been regularised. It has become more effective, entertaining, time saving. It has enabled permanent documentation.
■ Parents’ Grooming time:
Home has become real sweet home for kids due to the long time presence of parents . Joint activities and parents’ interest in children’s studies are encouraged.
■ Online Academic and Co-curricular activities:
▪ Every day only one subject – online teaching by video conferencing for higher grade students.
▪ Creating small encouraging self made videos by teachers for their class students.
▪ Providing online guideline programme for one week home assignments.
■ Co-curricular online assignments: or online summer camp!
▪ Music – Students are encouraged to practice singing, dance routines and musical instruments that they have studied in school.
▪ Arts and Crafts activities are assigned to students such as – preparing home made masks, sanitizers, greeting cards,wall hangings, cut outs of teaching aids such as numbers, stories, alphabets (for
lower grades) etc.
▪ Drama – Students are asked to learn soliloquy, elocution, speeches, dialogues, story telling etc. They are encouraged to record videos and send them to the concerned teachers .
▪ Physical Education – Students are given a plan to perform daily yoga activities to keep themselves fresh and fit .
▪ Homemade Recipes : Students have even started learning home made recipes with their parents like cookies, chocolates, sandwiches, bhel etc.
We cannot really predict what situations we end up in but ultimately it depends on us to see whether a situation is a boon or curse!
We, the education sector , must treat this situation as a boon to have a completely new experimental experience. If we engage teachers, students and parents in the above mentioned creative academic activities, this time will pass happily and set a new record of school achievements. I encourage you all to take similar measures in your school and institutions.
(Vijayalaxmi Manerikar Director, Global Vision School Ambad, Nashik Mob.9822683799, Email – director.gvis@gmail.com)
