The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the paradigm for the entire world. Businesses across all industries have taken a massive hit. Living standards and lifestyles have undergone a sea change. We have seen massive transformations in the way the world is moving ahead while dealing with the pandemic. We have seen many industries shutting shop and many others opting for the digital route. There was huge impact in the education sector as well with most of them moving to online schools. And who knows it better than the leaders of educational institutes.
So CFC team decided to get in touch with principals across the country. What we realized was that when the lockdown was announced and schools shut down, it created an atmosphere of uncertainty amongst principals, teachers, students and their parents. We decided to bring the school community online and we started to reach out to our partner schools to understand how the classes would be conducted and how children could be kept happy. A series of webinars was then organized with principals to understand two things:
- How to keep children happy; &
- Best practices to manage online school in a Covidian world.
We got some very interesting perspectives from principals & school representatives in a series of webinars conducted pan India with our partner schools. Most of the schools who’s infrastructure was in place immediately went online with their curricular and their extra curricular activities. Teachers were trained to handle classes digitally and to even manage online class decorum. This was something new for all teachers and students and the entire school ecosystem. As class time tables were put in place, a huge amount of time slots were given to School counselors to speak with children and to help them rid their anxiety about the pandemic and to deal with issues related to increased screen time.
We conducted over 20 Principal Meets, both at the Regional and at the National level. We interacted with over 150 principals through Zoom platform and got an understanding about how online schools would be conducted. Principals from schools all across the country joined in, some of them being Police DAV Public School, Jalandhar; Kendriya Vidyalaya IIT, Chennai; South City International School, Kolkata; University of Life, Sindhudurgh; International Public School, Bhopal; and Sri Sri Academy, Hyderabad.
Below are quotes of few principals about how they have been managing their students and entire school fraternity:
“We have organized online musicals and painting competitions. All of which were very enthusiastically participated in by children. We created competitions like Khelo Manibhai to excite the students.” Anjali Deo, Principal, Manibhai Gujrati High School, Amravati
“We started first with getting children meet each other online. Then we moved on with online Mothers Day celebration. From there on, we used hand puppets and break out rooms to keep children engaged online.” Mrs. Sunita Rajiv, Headmistress, Ahlcon International School, Delhi
Mrs. Manila Carvaliho, Principal, Delhi Public School, East Bangalore addressing the panel during the National webinar on Managing schools during Covidian times.
“Our counselors have been in regular touch with children to assess the stress and anxiety levels amongst them.” Mrs. Manila Carvaliho, Principal, Delhi Public School, East Bangalore.
To know more about Child for Child programme visit https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/childforchild.html
