In an all-new series titled Students’ Corner, which puts special emphasis on children and their views, EducationWorld interviews Ms.Vedha Madan, Head Girl of Educon International School, Pune.

Presently, is your school conducting offline classes?

Our school started offline classes in blended mode from 4^th October till the first week of January. As the nation witnessed the third wave schools in Maharashtra again switched to online mode of learning for three weeks. Currently the school is back to offline classes with all the government covid related protocols in place.

What is the general preference amongst students? (regarding attending school and re-shutting of schools amidst the new surge of Covid cases.

The general preference amongst the students was to continue with offline classes as they enjoyed the socialising and the personal interaction with the teacher during the offline school. It gave a feeling of getting back to normal times. How much ever the student community missed the school all the stakeholders have always abided by the Government Regulations shared from time to time.

The Students council representative is one of the most coveted positions in schools. How are you carrying out your responsibilities online and amidst the virtual classes? How is it different compared to the pre-covid times?

Amidst virtual classes and currently in the blended mode our council has helped and is helping the school in carrying out extra-curricular activities like conducting special assemblies. As the head girl of the school along with few other members of the council, hosted the Independence Day celebrations and organised the teacher’s day celebration. The experience is vastly different from the pre covid times but the learning that happens from the events and the activities conducted then and now still is continued.

Going by reports, even after re-opening not many students are attending in-person classes. What has the response been like in your school? Is online learning a preferred choice?

The number of students attending offline classes in my school were a little less than expected at the start. However, gradually the response was overwhelming.  The excitement of the youngest of the students and the oldest ones is now seen every day in the school. Though the online classes have been excellently conducted in my school, the personal interaction and the attention that a student gets in the physical classroom was missed by all. As far as preferences are considered I am sure that adapting to changes is a part of learning too. I feel students have adapted to both the modes as and when required.

Since there has been little time for revision of the previous year’s syllabus and the pandemic has caused disruptions in continued education, how do you think the learning gap can be bridged?

Teachers have always encouraged personal interactions. They have been in touch with us via emails and chats as and when we had doubts. Though the disruptions were prominent we have tried our best to be responsible too. Two-way interaction is the key towards bridging the learning gap. Self-learning plays a key role here. Our teachers have strived to cover all the important concepts through various modes possible.

According to you, what is more viable at this stage? Is it returning to physical classes or a continuation of the online ones?

I believe physical classes will be now more viable for the students as the third wave cases are reducing drastically. Also, the age group 15 to 18 are being vaccinated. The government and schools have taken care that all covid related protocols are followed. As the new academic year begins soon, it should begin with offline mode 

How has the journey been from March 2020? What changes did you/your friends had to incorporate to continue the pandemic?

The idea of lockdown and online schooling was never thought of by anyone of us. We all need to put in lot of patience as well as extra efforts to get used to the changes. Everything had changed, household routine, school routine and social life. We learnt being more responsible around the house. We also learnt that whatever problem arises, eventually we find solutions to it. The news during the first two waves was very disturbing. These difficult times brought family and friends closer despite the lockdowns and restrictions. Video conferencing found a completely new meaning. With multiple restrictions upon movement, markets and products available in the market taught us to incorporate within us gratefulness. 

How were your practical classes (lab sessions) managed during the pandemic?

When the teachers used to take classes from home, they demonstrated experiments from their residents. We have a platform of flip videos where videos of our teachers explaining and demonstrating experiments are uploaded. These flip videos have been extremely helpful. Whenever possible the teachers have always tried to inculcate learning by doing.

How did you make up for the missing peer interaction? Have you managed to stay connected with your friends?

Personally, I missed the social interaction with my peers and friends a lot. We then started conducting frequent meetings over phone calls, video calls and social media. At times there were technical difficulties as many of my friends had moved to their home town. Friends are a major part in any student’s life. Pandemic taught me to stay connected irrespective of the circumstances

There have been last-minute changes in exam patterns, evaluation criteria etc. How have you dealt with this?

Our school has always been very student-centric as far as evaluation is considered. The mode of continuous and comprehensive evaluation has been adopted by our school long before the pandemic. This helped our evaluations to be smooth. The changes have been intimated to students and parents by our school from time to time. The teachers have guided us and kept us informed. Revisions have been conducted accordingly through worksheets, MCQ papers, online assessments etc. This helped the students to remain stress-free during exams.

What does the government need to do to support children during the pandemic as classes have gone online?

The first and the foremost thing that the government need to do is to ensure that good network connectivity should be available in the remotest of the areas. Free or cost-effective devices which every student should be made available. An easily accessible open portal can be made available where all the online classes can be uploaded for those who missed them out or for revision purpose. Frequent sensitisation about the importance of taking care of their health is needed. The government can also conduct special fun-filled and relaxing activities for the students who are affected by direct covid cases within family.

In the absence of in-person interaction with teachers, how do you keep abreast with the latest career options or higher education prospects available to you currently?

The school has helped us a lot in this regard. We have an in-house counsellor who is very approachable whenever needed. The teachers and my parents have been a constant guide as they are the ones who know my strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. The internet has also helped me a lot in doing my research about the options that I can explore.

How did you cope with exam stress? Did you have access to a counsellor who could help you through difficult times?

In such times I turn to my peers to cope with exam stress. Currently, I try to distract myself by talking to my friends and my sibling to help ease out the stress and anxiety that comes with exams.

How are you preparing for competitive exams? Are you attending post-school tutorials online?

With all the changes in the past two years I do not want to juggle a lot many things hence, I am currently concentrating on academics and my hobbies.

Have you understood the National Education Policy 2020’s takeaways? What is your take on it.

From what I know NEP 2020 focuses on more activity-based learning which is preferred as, the understanding is better. I have also read that the board exams would be redesigned. More skill-based education will surely be helpful to the students. The introduction of choice given to be able to learn in mother-tongue as well is welcoming as India is a multilingual nation and these languages are our cultural wealth. With changing times the education policies also have to change and the proposed changes in the NEP 2020 will bring in change for good. The implementation on the schools’ part will also be very important.  I’m sure that the new NEP policy would be beneficial for the student community.

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