Teachers’ Day 2020 is going to be unlike any other teachers’ day celebrated so far, thanks to the pandemic. With schools closed, and teachers and students meeting each other only virtually, how are schools and teachers planning to celebrate this day.
We asked a few teachers and here’s what are their plans:
Francis Joseph, Educator & Founder, SLN Global Network
We will be doing two things.
- One, under #ThankATeacher, we are going to thank teachers for their work esp during this pandemic time. This initiative is also being supported by the Maharashtra government. The idea is to thank a teacher whom you recognise, share some good words, upload a video about your favourite teacher, and so on. I think this is for the first time that there is an active involvement of govt in taking up this kind of initiative. This is fanastic and we are all backing it up as it’s beyond politics. Thanking a teacher is beyond politics.Government school teachers deserve a special praise. Many students in govt schools are unable to attend online classes as children do not have devices. But teachers are going out of the way in order to ensure no child is out of school. They are sending WhatsApp messages, calling them and helping them individually. The kind of effort that a govt school teacher is taking is amazing. So, I think this is an initiative to thank all these teachers.
- Secondly, at SLN we feel that parental engagement in schools is crucial. Earlier, parents would come for a PTA meeting and know about their child’s progress etc. But now, due to pandemic, parents are well-aware about what a teacher is teaching in the class. I think, without parental support, online classes wouldn’t have been successful. So, according to me, parents are actually like co-educators. We are doing a workshop on the power of parental engagement on 5th evening with teachers and school heads. Just calling a parent as resource person is not engagement. Parents need to play an active role in education. Thus, there’s a need to change the existing mindset. It is with this purpose that we will be launching our initiative this teachers’ day. We have joined hands with Netherlands-based NGO, IPA (Parents International) which supports parents around the world to become game-changers by helping their children to grow up happy and healthy 21st century citizens.
Dr Ashish Mittal, Headmaster, Indirapuram Public School:
Although, the celebration would not be as good as last year, but we are planning some exciting online activities for teachers, like:
- Students expressing their feelings for their teachers on video.
- Students to be given an online platform to feel like a teacher.
- Online platforms always have a feature to go live wherein students can share their creatives with teachers.
- Dedicate each and every teacher a tagline that suits him/her the most.
- This time, parents can also virtually share their views about teachers and their efforts.
- Planting a tree by students.
- Singing, dancing, reciting poems, creating funny quizzes, playing various games, creating e-cards, posters dedicated to our teachers.
Anju Gupta, Headmistress, Junior School, Ahlcon International School
- Some of us will be donating devices to underprivileged children to enable them to attend the online classes.
- Conduct an online quiz “How much you know your teacher?” on the day.
- Pledging Campaign, “Each One Teach” will be conducted to encourage peer learning and help the weak students.
- Planting trees in the name of students.
- Mother being the first teacher, teachers will be guiding their students to take parikrama of their parent as Lord Ganesha did.
- Teachers will be helping students in researching about great teachers of India and the world.
- As young children are not able to share their emotions about pandemic, we intend to organise a ‘Gupshup’ session with students in which they will talk about their stress, tensions, joys and achievements. The idea is to have an informal chat with teachers which is not related to academics.
- Giving customised, washable and reusable face masks to some students to prevent them from coronavirus.
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