Never before in the history of humankind would we have faced a scenario like the COVID-19 crisis that not only shook the world but changed the very concept of what we call “normal”. As businesses and industries struggled, coming to grips with this new reality, educational institutions were swift enough to evolve their methodologies and move learning to online platforms. And while some of the best schools in Vijayawada shifted to virtual classrooms to ensure that kids don’t miss their studies, it was still a tough transition for parents, teachers, and most importantly, the young ones.
It’s a known fact that a healthy parent-school partnership has a direct influence on a child’s growth across learning milestones. While parents entrust their children’s all-round development to the care of teachers, the teachers on the other hand look for a simultaneous involvement by the parents in the learning process of their child. Such mutually nurtured relationship has now taken a rather defined form. Gone are the days of monthly parent-teacher meetings. Educators and caretakers are connecting on a daily basis over their computer screens, with the kids at front making the most of this new age learning system. This newly formed symbiotic home-school institution is playing a collective role to make this sudden transition a seamless one, enriching a child’s education experience one day at a time.
The three weeks of lockdown were enough to spark a revolution that otherwise would have taken over 3 decades to become a norm. Parents, who believed that education cannot be taken out of the classroom and screen time is just a fun escape from the textbooks, have now accepted that technology is more than just entertainment. As teachers prepared engaging lesson plans full of illustrations and vibrant content, parents ensured that good Wi-Fi connectivity, latest audio-visual tools and other digital equipment are in place to support uninterrupted virtual learning from the safety of home.
This interactive way of learning is not only garnering active participation of students, but daily involvement of parents as well. Some of the best schools in Vijayawada, including GIG International School, have taken this transformation to the next level by adopting a novel way of making recorded lectures available to parents. This has allowed them to review lessons and their child’s response in real time as well as later, to provide feedback and necessary steps to improve upon shortcomings.
The pace at which the world has changed in the past couple of months has reemphasized that our children today need more than just academic excellence. And thus, teachers are optimizing online platforms to evoke interest among students and their parents for skill-based learning beyond academics. Recently, GIG International School conducted an online coding workshop for students from different schools. This initiative received fabulous response and participants were thrilled to have learned a new skill-set which they can use to design their own software.
While the school conducts many such co-curricular exercises on a regular basis, parents too enjoy taking a break from their usual work-from-home days to prepare their children for participation, from DIYing costumes or teaching them a new dance step, to helping them write poems or build working models out of waste material. Online participation has also made the shy ones come out of their shell and express themselves without the usual stage fright. These activities are not only boosting confidence among children but also giving parents a chance to bond with their little ones.
At this time, nobody could really tell when normal schools will reopen. Safe to say, online classes are here to stay for a long time. This brings a greater onus on the parents to keep their children organised and attuned to the daily school routine. Parents must fix a designated place for study, which has the least distractions and keeps the child focused during the class. This could be an area away from the television or far from a window which overlooks the main road. Teachers and parents, together, can also create a daily planner for their kids to schedule their study, play, sleep and meal times.
At GIG International School, teachers are no longer just educators and parents are beyond caretakers. They are the confidants a child needs during this time of crisis and confusion. The lines of communication are always open so that children can talk about the challenges they are facing. This successful collaboration between home and school is bearing fruit in the form of enhanced learning outcomes, as students learn, thrive and keep up to speed amidst the “new normal”.
GIG International School, Vijayawada is a branch of GIGIS Singapore. Leveraging its tech-driven infrastructure, the school has created a robust platform for online classrooms. By integrating globally derived education frameworks and new-age frameworks such as flipped and blended learning, the school is committed to providing an extra edge to its school to lead in the 21st century world.
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