Ashok Pandey
Director, Ahlcon Group of Schools

Dr. Ashok Pandey is director of the CBSE-affiliated Ahlcon Public School (APS, estb.1998) and Ahlcon International School (2001), Delhi, with an aggregate enrolment of 5,700 students and 310 teachers.

How satisfied with APS’ transition to online learning. For a teacher, the greatest gift is the company of students. However, the pandemic has taken away this gift. In the circumstances, I am amazed by the resilience of our teachers — and students — their creativity and ability to initiate and adjust to change.

The second pandemic wave was more challenging as many families struggled with illness and death. This affected children’s learning adversely, but our teachers stepped up to provide socio-emotional support. On our part we ensured teachers’ preparedness, students’ access to the Internet and digital devices, and online engagement. During the pandemic, we witnessed teacher leaders emerge to make the transition to the online mode seamless.

Major factors that enabled a smooth adaptation to online teaching-learning. The survival instinct of early 2020 morphed into reconstruction and new learning. The management’s swift adoption of remote teaching and new tech tools, and sharing and collaboration among teachers helped us make the switch seamless. Parents, friends and families chipped in with socio-emotional support and helped to fill gaps created by social isolation and distancing.

Whether reopening schools is overdue. This depends on several factors including parental choice and safety measures put in place by schools to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus. With most teachers vaccinated and the threat of the virus reduced, the odds are in favour of reopening schools.
The risk of massive learning loss is overweighing children’s health risks. Our Ahlcon schools are ready to reopen with all child safety protocols in place, and there is discernable urgency among parents to send children back to school.

Estimation of learning loss and remedial education. Learning loss is in direct proportion to the degree of digital access students have had over the past year. But overall, pre-existing learning gaps have widened. We are ready with a contingency plan to respond to this situation. We have identified learning gaps from past results, current assessments and diagnostic tests. Timely remedial and bridge courses will be organised accordingly.

Advice to government to recover lost learning. Efforts made by government to reach under-served children are well-meaning. However, public school children are being taught through one-way media such as television and radio. Government needs to provide vulnerable children access to interactive online learning. The right to Internet connectivity is the new right to education in the pandemic era. Every effort to deliver learning material to students’ homes should also be made.

For the full Cover Story: 30 Eduleaders weathering covid tsunami