What Makes A School? - Gitika Kapoor

In the 21st century, the concept of a school has transcended the traditional brick-and-mortar institution. It now embodies a holistic and dynamic environment that nurtures students in mind, body, and soul. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accentuated the need for schools to adapt and evolve, moving beyond physical classrooms to embrace virtual and hybrid learning models.

What truly makes a school in this era is the ability to foster a sense of community among students, teachers, and parents, irrespective of physical proximity. It lies in the cultivation of creativity, critical thinking, and adaptability, enabling students to thrive in an ever-changing world. A school in the 21st century is a safe space where diversity is celebrated and inclusivity is the norm, where every student is valued for their unique abilities and contributions.

Moreover, a school is not just a place for academic learning, but a hub for emotional and social development. It offers a plethora of extracurricular activities that promote teamwork, leadership, and good mental health practices. It integrates technology seamlessly into its curriculum, equipping students with digital literacy and preparing them to navigate an increasingly interconnected global society.
In light of the pandemic, a school is also an institution that prioritizes and ensures the safety and well-being of its stakeholders. 

It implements robust health and safety measures, while still maintaining an engaging and enriching learning experience. A school recognizes the importance of mental health support, providing resources and counselling services to help students cope with the challenges brought on by the pandemic.

In essence, a school in the 21st century, post-pandemic, is an inclusive, innovative, and adaptable space that fosters a love for learning and prepares students to become active global citizens. It empowers individuals to embrace uncertainty, embrace change, and constantly seek knowledge and growth. It is not confined to physical boundaries, but extends beyond, connecting learners from different corners of the world. A school becomes a beacon of hope, guiding and inspiring generations to reach their fullest potential amidst the complexities of the modern era.

Gitika Kapoor 
Sunbeam International Varuna
Masterclass 2024 Reflections

Unity and Caring - Neelam Waldia

A human pyramid depicts focus, strength, coordination, practice, faith, and so much more, but the underlying values to any human pyramid are UNITY and CARING. Everyone in the pyramid cares for each other, ‘I can’t be at the top if I don’t care for the one carrying me’, ‘if I get careless, the one above me may fall and hurt. Taking Care of each other and the common goal of success unites everyone, forming a beautiful pyramid that reaches the height where we alone can never reach.

When we think of unity as a value, we think of people coming together to form a team, despite their differences. We imagine people working together in harmony, accepting and appreciating one another. Man is a social being, COVID-19 has shown us how being away from families and the pain of not meeting friends has affected our morale and mental health. Family, Friends, neighbours and colleagues are not only required to have fun or to talk; they all give us courage, strength, and hope, which keeps us all united. It was only the care offered by doctors working beyond their capacities, social workers trying to reach everyone in need, employers being empathetic & supportive, and families being strong and loving that united us all, even after the physical distance in between.

It is so true "United we stand, divided we fall." and we've known how vital unity is since our independence. People can easily break, crush, and hurl you if you're alone, but when you stand together, nobody can touch you, and we can only be united by caring for each other. Caring is to treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. I remember one of our students who would spend most of the time alone and was not part of any group, which was surprising because that is the age where we want to have affiliations and groups. She was in the infirmary due to fever; another girl from her class was also admitted there. This girl surprised us all by showing her caring side. She would put a blanket over the other girl if no one is around and she is sleeping. Help her to visit the washroom. She would do small stuff for her even when she could have easily called for help.

In the class, even in organizations, people feel unified when leaders create a culture of care. We expect our teachers to be always in their best self, calm, composed, joyous, and energetic, but teachers too are human beings with their struggles, shortcomings, and bad days. We started 20 minutes of "Tea with MD sessions" before the start of the first period. We would just sit, pick one value and share our thoughts and experiences on it. These unbiased, non-judgmental sessions helped us break the ice; people who were not very open initially also started opening up. We talked about happiness, positive thinking, the law of attraction, kindness and much more. We also shared that one thing, which we keep procrastinating but not able to fulfil, resulted in aerobics classes for the ones looking to get fit, music and dance classes for the one’s wanting to learn that and a lot more. This exercise showed that we are cared for and helped us unite and imbibed the value of being caring in us. Hopefully, when we are back at our school, we will start it again. A beautiful poem by Abdulla Saeed sums up it all-

Neelam Waldia
The Doon Girls' School

Courage and Patience - Flyers DGS

 The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter” – Paolo Coelho

The current scenario is the best example for us as humans to understand courage and patience is one of the most important values to survive the worse that life throws onto us. Here, our members of the group are sharing their experiences of courage and patience during Covid-19.    

·       Vijaya Jugran- नई प्रेरणा ने हमें जोशीला बनाया, सभी ने नया कदम शिक्षा क्षेत्र में बढ़ाया। हिम्मत साहस और त्याग के भावों ने, नये इतिहास के नए पन्नों को रचाया। 

विपरीत परिस्थितियां बनती हैं रुकावट, प्रकृति समय-समय पर लेटी है करवट, इंसान का जज्बा कहां रहता है सिमट, 2020 के इतिहास में बता दिया यह झटपट।

शिक्षा उन्माद है आशा है तमन्ना है, ना रुकने वाला यह सफर हमेशा आजाद है, शिक्षा शिक्षक शागिर्द सबका एक ही भाव है, 

सफल प्रयास प्रसन्नता की राह है। अतः तकनीक का लिया हमने सहारा , शिक्षा का नया स्वरूप निर्मित हुआ हमारा। 

·       Vandana Goel - To teach an empty classroom has been a whirlwind and everyone is being asked to do more than they can do in a day, so all teachers are just trying to be patient and courageous enough to deal with the kind of impossible solution in uncharted territory. A teacher of the first standard in PKR School Ambala said, “Teaching first graders virtually this spring was tough. It’s easier for bigger kids because they know how to navigate through the various programs, and most high school kids are already doing a lot of learning with technology. For our students, it was a challenge because they could not do the program by themselves. They required help. I had a few parents who were working, and they couldn’t just stop and help their child. A lot of parents were overwhelmed, so I went through each assignment and videotaped myself doing it, showing them how to circle a noun in a sentence or count money.” Ability to cope up with all the challenges in this era with hope and courage is what I call Patience.

 ·       Urvashi Uniyal - The year 2020 - 21 is the year of Courage and Patience. As an English teacher, I tend to “borrow” from my favourite authors.  I would like to quote Charles Dickens, who said, “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” It was nice we could spend time with family, but it was worst as we had to do all our work on our own.

I personally exhibited a lot of courage when I had to teach students with parents sitting next to them. It was a demo class almost every time. I showed courage when I accepted that many things are beyond my control in an online class. So, patience followed suit with this.

 ·       Nandini Arora- All over the world, the teachers played the role of a COVID Warrior which no one acknowledged. I also like many other teachers faced many difficult situations such as lack of technical know-how, digital skills, virtual learning resources and observation of numbers of parents while teaching through an unfamiliar medium.  I struggled to engage my little ones to get the learning outcomes. But the immense support of my colleagues, coaches and some parents helped me to be courageous and perform my classes more effectively with patience. My kids’ sincerity, hard work and respectful behaviour is the reward of my courage and patience.

·       Bhumika Vyas- COVID-19 has taught everyone to be patient and courageous and made us understand that change is the only constant. Therefore, to understand and move along with the only constant in the world one requires both courage and patience. The living example is of all the teachers who continued to show courage and patience and brought a transformation from the horse and buggy days of teaching to a full-fledged technology-based experiential teaching. It would be right to say that through courage and patience, the teachers have risen like a phoenix from the ashes! 

 ·       Ritika Tyagi- 2020 has been a life-changing year in all aspects. Amid the lockdown, we teachers learnt that nothing is impossible for us to do! Working on the frontline and then bringing all the students together, making them feel comfortable in this virtual world was surely an uphill task. However, it made us more patient and gave us a chance to reflect on our teaching methodology. We felt insecure and scared about the whole situation too, but smilingly we kept motivating our kids; thus, it strengthened our courage.  We started thinking more about encouraging our kids patiently than just putting the deadlines and pressure on marks.  It has been a courageous leap forward for all the teachers, and we will continue to give our best patiently.

 Courage to forgo and forget what’s non-essential and incognito along with patience to tread unabated towards ones enlightened unique path is the sole purpose of all existence. COVID-19 has forced us to adapt to a new norm and helped us dive deep within our own selves to recognize our potential. Everything has a purpose in this world. Let’s be aligned with who we are today and as they say- ‘Only the present moment is ours’.

- FLYERS DGS @ The Doon Girls' School Dehradun: Vijaya Jugran, Vandana Goel, Urvashi Uniyal, Nandini Arora, Bhumika Vyas and Ritika Tyagi

Honesty and Respect: Urmila Rathore

The yearly examinations were going on and children had come to take their exams after preparations and were very curious to give. On one unusual day(as it turned out later), after the morning assembly, it was announced by the Principal Ma'am that today's examination would be discharged as soon as early. Lockdown was announced by the government in view of the increasing transition of COVID-19.

While the children were taking their exam in the examination hall, I got the information that the remaining examinations will be given by the students from their home, which was surprising to me as to how this would be possible?

After that, Principal ma'am called an assembly again and the students were told that the papers of the remaining three exams shall be given from home and that they should check the answer book after completion. Whatever marks they get, shall be sent to their respective subject teachers.

In this way, the students were given papers and were instructed by the Principal Ma'am that they should give them with honesty and trust, and not cheat(rather with themselves) in any way.

After this, a staff meeting was called by Ma'am and told that we have to trust our students and this is the right time to know the student-teacher relationship. It was also said that the marks updated by the students will be compared with that of their half-yearly marks to reassure their authenticity and then prepare the results.

Even after reaching home, the same thing was coming in my mind that will the children be able to follow these instructions? Is it appropriate to give papers at home like this? Or will the parents of the children take it in a positive way? And many such other questions.

Two days later, students started sending their marks on WhatsApp. Five to six days later almost all the students took the examinations, checked the answer sheets and sent their marks. As we had decided in the past that their marks will be matched with the marks of the half-yearly examination so we followed the same and in fact, these marks were around their half-yearly scores!

The students did their work with all their dedication, faith and honesty and it was on this basis that their result was prepared. Everyone's report cards were downloaded from Fedena and uploaded to the next class.

This work-ethic was possible because of the integrity of the students, the directions of the Principal ma'am and the trust of the teachers. Thus, it set a unique example of honesty and mutual respect.

This experience has a major lesson in itself. We can only win through difficult situations if the virtues of cooperation and honesty are performed. At the same time, trust and respect for each other take us to infinite heights.

Urmila Rathore

The Fabindia School