Online classes: Reflections shared by an aware parent

I want to commence from a historic story that took place in London about lockdown.

 England in 17th century, was considered as intellectual capital in the western  world. During this time, many intellectual personalities set the milestone in history. Second oldest University, Cambridge's Trinity college London, where Francis Becon, John Dryden, and scholars like Jawahar Lal Nehru and other thinkers have enlightened themselves. Among them, Isaac Newton (22 years old) was Science and Mathematics Research student at the University. In that time, in 1665, London suffered a pandemic named Plague. The disaster resulted in the death of nearly 25% of the population. Those days, technology was not developed, nor any medicine or vaccine was available but the only cure was to maintain social distance to stop its spread. Newton understood the perils of the situation and decided to quarantine himself for a year, as everything was shut. As a result, we have Calculus in Mathematics, theory of early Optics, and most importantly the Gravity (1665-66). 

Peeking through his window, he observed the apple fell down, the incident in his mind was confounded that why the apple fell at the bottom. With that, he gave birth to the theory of gravity, which changed the history of the world of Science. When alone, we pay attention to the things that are not commonly seen. The apple must have been falling every day from somewhere, but attention was taken during solitary confinement. The reason to refresh the memory, is to use lockdown time wisely. When alone, we do not think from outside, but from inside. 

    Today, India too is struggling through the Covid -19 pandemic, resultIng in a seismic shift in our lives. These are truely unprecedented times, that demand us all to steer     through unique challenges everyday. But during the period of this pandemic, we are  also worried about our priority to not  disturb our young childrens’ learning flow. To   achieve this, online classes are supportive for children and also their parents. One of 
the main pros of online class is, the aspirants can log in any time. While it is best if they set a daily routine for themselves and stick to it  and with encouragement from  parents, they can make individualised changes to their routine as per their desire.

Navya playing hopscotch, a class activity of the day!

    But clearly, online time cannot provide many of the informal social interactions        students have at school. Despite the audio and video features, no technology can ever replace the classroom setting and the human to human contact in real. But during the period question lies, how will online courses do, in terms of moving students learning  forward?

English copywork by Navya

The solutions are coming through many respected schools and academies, but to my mind the most trusted one is VIDYASHRAM- THE SOUTHPOINT SCHOOL, where the  dedicated teachers and also the Management, who have taken the initiative to educate  tender minds and who are working  hard for  conducting  online classes for  all their students with a dash of entertainment, are proving to be a boon for mothers and also   overworked parents during the Covid-19 lockdown. Their efforts are  commendable.  The current situation is a challenge but also an opportunity as this is the time for self-  reflection and introspection for teachers, students and parents alike.

Navya wrote all words that start with 'Sh' !

Navya made a mother's day gift for her mother, as her teacher encouraged her to do so during the online class.

    I think this is a great initiative started by school management to enjoy our tiny tot's company through comprehensive thinking ,and such wonderful steps tells us that the school is committed towards the education in a holistic manner. The online classes are running in full swing to boost the morale of students and indulging them in academic activities so that once schools open, we could shoot straight to the top.

Keep it up!

Navya's art expressions after her nature walk!

 

Navya and her family

Varsha Kharwar

(Mother of Navya, studying in K.G. class)