Page 53 - EW August 2021

profiles, teaching resources our neighbour communities.
and assessments. Now, our Moreover, the management
new, blended learning model organised free vaccination
consists of synchronous and drives for all staff mem-
asynchronous pedagogies to bers and their families and
enable self-paced, indepen- partnered with the local
dent study with integrated administration to provide
formative assessment. aid to migrant labour. We
Moreover, regular interac- have also given fee waivers
tion between teachers to share to financially distressed par-
and design teaching-learning ents and increased the pool
models has been empower- of student scholarships.
ing for our faculty. Parallely,
online parent-teacher meet- Future plans to deal with
pandemic disruptions. I am
ings, webinars for students/
parents, career counseling certain schools will reopen
this year and many state
sessions, discussions on issues of na-
tional and international importance programmes. The pandemic has been governments have already given the
hard on all of us and more so for
green signal. We are fully prepared
and lectures on mental and emo-
tional well-being have been regularly socio-economically under-privileged to implement our digitally-enabled
households countrywide. Our class
hybrid learning model with parents
delivered during the past 15 months.
XII students have devised several as partners in their children’s
Community service/staff/student welfare initiatives to aid people in need in education.
Mansoor Khan preparing, planning and implementing
our online learning programmes on a
Co-founder, DPS Bangalore & war footing to maintain our students’
School of India learning continuity. Third, we paid close
attention to complying with ever-chang-
ansoor Ali Khan is co-found-
er/director of five K-12 DPS ing government rules and regulations.
Mschools in Bengaluru and My- Moreover, we resolved to be gentle with
suru (Karnataka), franchised by Delhi teachers, parents, children and all stake-
Public School Society (estb.1949). holders. We constantly remind ourselves
The first DPS, Bangalore South was that we are in the midst of an unprec-
promoted in 2001, followed by DPS, edented health pandemic which is taking
Bangalore North (2002), DPS, Banga- lives and livelihoods.
lore East (2007), DPS, Mysore (2012), What are the major community service and
DPS, Electronic City and School of In- student welfare programmes launched by
dia, Bangalore (2014). Currently, the your schools to aid others affected by the
DPS schools host an aggregate 28,000 pandemic?
students and 2,000 teachers. The DPS Bangalore/Mysore and School of India manage-
ment, staff, parents, alumni and students have stepped
How satisfied are you with your schools’ switch to the online
mode of learning during the pandemic? forward to help each other and society through several
To say I’m satisfied would be an understatement. Our social service initiatives. These include distribution of
smooth transition to virtual learning has been extraor- food rations, medicines, masks, PPE kits, sanitisers for
dinary, made possible by our hardworking and resil- healthcare workers across Bangalore and Karnataka; pro-
ient teachers — converts to digitally-enabled blended vision of daily meals to families in quarantine identified by
education, now the new normal. From providing online apps created by students. DPS alumni are also working as
classroom lessons to proctoring students’ assessment, volunteers to help Covid-19 patients access hospital beds,
organising online competitions and coding classes; from oxygen cylinders, and our teachers are providing tele-
online parent-teacher meetings to delivering one-on-one counselling services in vernacular languages. Moreover,
remedial classes for lagging children, our teachers have we have given financial relief and fee waivers to our par-
outdone themselves. They often stumbled but came back ents who have suffered job losses.
stronger and unstoppable. Should schools be reopened now? Are your schools ready for
in-person classes?
What are the major factors that enabled the smooth switch of
your DPS schools to online learning? Yes, schools should reopen now. All our DPS schools and
Our first priority was to safeguard the health and well- School of India are fully compliant with government man-
being of our teachers and staff. Therefore, right from April dated Covid-19 safety protocols. Thorough safety audits
have been conducted to ensure preparedness for reopen-
2020, we started Covid testing all staff and their families,
and have vaccinated all of them. Second, we focused on ing all our schools. Moreover, all teachers and staff have
been vaccinated.

AUGUST 2021 EDUCATIONWORLD 53