Effective Principals 2020 | Ms. Alka Kapur, Principal of Modern Public School
Educational Challenges and opportunities during Corona Virus Pandemic
Amidst Corona Scare, when the entire world is confronted with the issues pertaining to health and wellbeing, lives and livelihoods Education Fraternity too, is fighting its own battle in the name of building state of the art infrastructure for holding virtual classrooms, students’ emotional health along with reduced paying capacity of parents and other verticals of education.
These unprecedented times have thrown yet another challenge to ensure Socio Emotional development of the students. With the same faces every day, children at home with nothing to do has brought emotional resilience which needs utmost attention. Here at MPS, various Co Curricular activities like Circle Talk, Open House Discussions etc are conducted with an aim to give vent to the suppressed sentiments so that nothing is accumulated within.
Availability of School counsellors round the clock to deal with the students’ apprehensions is yet another endeavour that MPS has taken. Class Teacher Talk Time is yet another practice followed wherein the students get a forum to release their unsaid thoughts and give a virtual touch to the students.
Training Teachers for this New Normal is another challenge that Covid 19 has come up with. I believe it’s the duty of the management to ensure that teachers are upskilled and are free from tech fears to ensure that there is zero academic loss of the students. Here at MPS, not a single day goes when the MPS Fraternity doesn’t attend webinars on customized issues pertaining to varied aspects of development and their respective subject specialization.
Apart from training, emphasis should also be on research so that new techniques of teaching-learning can be understood and implemented seamlessly at school level. Financial Constraints is another issue that the School management is dealing with recession in the economy, parents are finding it difficult to pay the fees, thereby making it a Herculean task for the Management to give away the salaries to the Staff and maintenance expenses including other overheads. As Teacher Leaders, we have to see that we are not the part of the problem but the solution.
So the need is to flip the coin to see the brighter side and take these testing times as an opportunity to r estructure the education system. And the Good News is that this corona affright has transformed the centuries-old, chalk–talk teaching model to technological advancements but how to put these pieces of puzzle in the right frame is what we as teachers have to look for.
I feel honoured to be a part of teaching community who are yet another set of Covid Warriors , fighting in their own way. It won’t be an exaggeration to say if doctors, soldiers and other communities are busy saving the present, we, the teachers are constantly striving to save Future. I firmly believe that with the Motto Students First, the schools are all set to reinvent New Normal for Education by rebooting, retooling and upskilling teachers to adopt new technologies with the sole purpose to define and design a better future.
Effective Principals 2020 |Ms. Alka Kapur, Principal of Modern Public School, New Delhi
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