Manju Rana
Principal, Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Vasundhara, Ghaziabad

Manju Rana is principal-cum-director of the CBSE-affiliated Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Vasundhara (SAJS-V), ranked Ghaziabad’s #1 co-ed day school in the latest EW India School Rankings 2020-21.

Satisfaction with pandemic-driven adoption of online teaching-learning. As a Micro­soft Showcase School, our teachers and students were already familiar with digital tools and usage, therefore switching to online mode was seamless. We invested in secure licensed platforms such as MS Teams and per­sonalised digital platforms to enhance learning effec­tiveness, and restructured our curriculum to make it more inclusive. Moreover, we took care not to neglect socio-emotional and ethical learning, health and wellness, digital and media literacy of our students.

We were — and remain — fortu­nate that our flagship Saamarthya Teachers Training Academy of Research (STTAR) did a great job of providing continuous professional development programmes to our teachers.

Three major factors that enabled smooth transition to online classrooms.

• Real-time connect with all stakeholders. We have established sound connect with all stakeholders including parents and students. Our teachers reached out to students con­fronted with technology problems and with the help of the management resolved them quickly. Students were also provided full access to a reposi­tory of digital learning tools such as lesson plans, worksheets, presenta­tions, and other resources.
• Co-curricular & socio-emotional learning. Despite the pandemic, our school conducted all its planned annual co-curricular activities and competitions including signature events such as Founder’s Day, Sports Day, etc. We also designed and implemented an integrated curriculum focused on socio-emotional and ethical learning, health and wellness, awakened citizenship and design thinking. Regular parent orientation programmes are also organised.
• Personalised experience. Our major success is that our teachers managed to provide the warmth of personal interaction through the virtual medium.

Community relief/student welfare initia­tives… The school lent its support to several pandemic relief initia­tives. Under the aegis of our Interact Club, school staff made masks and personal-protection kits for distribution among healthcare workers, organ­ised a vaccination camp and converted one of the school facilities into a quarantine centre. Other outreach programmes of our compassionate students include food dis­tribution and DIY Corona kits among low-income families in the neighbour­hood, and generating awareness about dietary and safety measures through YouTube channels.

Future plans to deal with pandemic dis­ruption. With the pandemic stretching into its second year, online teaching-learning is here to stay. Simultane­ously, we will accord greater impor­tance to socio-emotional learning and mental health through webinars.

However, we are also looking forward to the reopening of our campus. We are fully prepared with all safety protocols in place to welcome chil­dren back in school.

For the full Cover Story: 30 Eduleaders weathering covid tsunami