It is a matter of privilege for me to communicate with our co-explorers in this our expedition towards academic excellence through this page. As we continue to fight a war against Global Pandemic COVID -19 caused by the Corona Virus, we are in our expedition towards an unknown destination, Physical, Spiritual, Economic and Socio Political. The question is, how to march ahead with the vision of creating through our most unexpected and traumatic experience, an Academic Community, that would not be discouraged and would not lose its focus of building a community of hope in this situation of hopelessness and gigantic educational crisis?
We have been struggling to survive as an institution of repute and meaning. In the present realities, when we feel we no more live in the same world which we knew and understood and In these times when we feel like foreigners in our home land, that it would be worthwhile to reflect on the history of our human race. We know that as a resilient and adaptable species we have survived bigger challenges and pandemics in the past. We believe that our firm faith in our corporate response to adverse situations can never be shaken and will never die.
I do understand the challenges our girls are facing are many and big. Maintaining the engagement of our students locked down for long periods of time is critical. We have therefore tried to organize not only teaching classes but also involved our students in many competitions and online activities. Our de-stress videos were much appreciated by both our parents and teachers. We have tried to explore and use to our advantage Social Networks, WhatsApp, Our Website and Portal other available platforms and even SMS. We are thankful for the positive feed back many of you have provided about the effectiveness and success of our MS-Teams Classes. I salute the commitment of our teaching staff, perseverance of the office and support staff who have accepted the challenge of experimenting, adapting and changing in response to the new environment of a quiet ‘No-Students” campus and camera based contact. Our Ministry of education and the local administration has helped us effectively by providing guidelines, instructions and structure to the learning process; we are not only depending on online learning, but on mixed media learning, with the objective of reaching out to our students in the best possible way.
We as a school are worried about the crisis which has evolved due to the absence of our children from the school. We do realize that the much required social interaction, our children are missing out on, is going to have an immediate impact on their emotional, mental and social development. Since “:No contact learning” can never be Holistic therefore to minimize the losses in learning, I as an educationist very strongly feel that there should be more deliberate, determined and bold steps taken by the decision making bodies to bring children back to school.
There are many children who are stressed due to loss of their dear ones especially their parent/ parents, siblings and friends to COVID-19. Some of them are also facing economic crisis due to loss of jobs and livelihood of their family members, and these negative impacts are being felt more strongly by the lower middle class children because, “When it rains, it pours for them”. We are trying to extend a helping hand and may I request more people to come forward, those who have, to share their surplus with our children who are financially disadvantaged.
We need to understand that whether we live in the time of an earthquake or a Global Pandemic—we have a mission which has already been given to us, and our quest for knowledge and the urge to build lives should be unshakable. It does not mean that educators and learners would not suffer the consequences of Covid-19. We share in the futility, decay and calamities of creation as long as we are in the body. In a Pandemic we may suffer but let us prove to the world that nothing.. “Just nothing” not even the fear of death will be able to steal from us the desire to learn and teach the generations for whose academic empowerment we have committed our lives and talents. Dear Parents, friends, Committee of Management, colleagues, co-workers and students thank you for all your support to us and as I close, I close with a firm belief that with God’s Guidance and His mighty presence in our midst we shall be able to survive and continue to be “ A SCHOOL” in the true sense of the word.
Rev. Dr. Vinita Eusebius,
Principal, G.H.S.