Page 23 - EducationWorld June 2020

smooth transition from school-based well-known author Christopher Doyle
to home learning. Moreover, our was arranged for class VII-IX students.
students have shown extraordinary Virtual parent-teacher meetings and
commitment to learning, dedication end of academic year functions for
to tasks and cheerful good spirits. staff and pre-primary learners have
Through it all, we have been strongly also been conducted.
supported by our ever-enabling board “The pandemic situation provided
of governors. Managing the Covid-19 an opportunity for us to prove our
crisis has been a team effort!” adds mettle. We are proud to say that our
Rao. faculty and administrative staff have
responded quickly and successfully to
Debika Chatterji, director- introduce digital learning. Employees
principal, JBCN International are the greatest asset of any organisa-
tion and this is true of our school in
School, Borivali, Mumbai this unprecedented situation. More-
over, we are overwhelmed with the
ebika Chatterji, director-principal ing with family. encouragement expressed by parents
Dof the CISCE (Delhi) and Cam- Non-academic virtual sessions. for the school’s switch to online learn-
bridge International (UK)-affiliated An online interactive session with ing,” adds Chatterji.
JBCN International School (JBCNIS),
Borivali, has supervised a swift transi-
tion of the school’s teachers and stu- Vardan Kabra, head, Fountainhead
dents to digital and online pedagogies School, Surat
following outbreak of the coronavirus
pandemic which has forced closure of ardan Kabra, head of the IB
all education institutions countrywide V(Geneva)-affiliated Fountainhead
since mid-March. School, Surat, was one of the first edu-
“While technology integration has leaders in Gujarat to swiftly transition
been instrumental in the successful the school to digital online learning
switch to digital education, skillful use for students following the closure of
of multiple online teaching resources all schools nationwide in mid-March.
by our teachers has ensured that vir- “Our crisis intervention strategy
tual classes don’t lack the tangibility for managing the situation has been
of actual classrooms,” says Chatterji, to ease into digital media to ensure
a founding member of the One World continuity of learning,” says Kabra,
International IB School (Singapore) an engineering and business manage-
with over two decades of teaching ment alum of IIT-Bombay and IIM-
and administrative experience in top- Ahmedabad with over a decade’s ex-
ranked international schools in the perience in education. people on a daily basis.
country. Professional development. While “Interrupted Internet access,
Holistic online learning curricu- the teaching and non-teaching staff crashed devices, insufficient home
lum. Primary and secondary students used e-learning portals such as Cours- support for students and teachers
follow scheduled time-tables in virtual era, Future Learn, Edulearn, Firki etc were very real challenges that we faced
classrooms. Co-curricular educators to upskill, customised in-house pro- initially. But we were undeterred and
have also devised weekly physical edu- fessional development programmes just kept meeting one challenge at a
cation and art assignments for middle trained teachers continuously. time. Students who struggled were
school and A-level students to ensure Well-being of the school com- given one-on-one tuition and prob-
a holistic learning experience for all. munity. A counseling website pro- lematic devices were managed by
Mindfulness and mental health vides uplifting support to the school providing chromebooks from school.
activities. The school’s Learner Sup- community. Educators who needed help were pro-
port Centre conducts mindfulness and Community engagement. The vided support buddies. And though it
mental health activities for students, school’s community outreach initia- took time to get our act together, we
teachers and support staff. Activities tives include donation to the PM Cares did not give up. Today, our students
include mandala drawings, letter Fund and provision of meals prepared and parents are grateful for the sup-
writing, astronomy and cloud watch- in the school kitchen for 2,500 needy port from school,” recalls Kabra.

JUNE 2020 EDUCATIONWORLD 23