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Balancing Physical World & Online

The last 3 days have reported that in many cities world-over, and many states in India school closure after re-opening is inevitable, or continued school closure for the year (depending on which part of the world or country you reside in), although pre-Diwali in India, there was hope that the High schoolers (Grades 9 to 12) would be back with access to their campus with all social distancing norms followed of course. With Maharshtra announcing school closure till the 31st of December yesterday as has been the decision in Gujarat and Rajasthan, students across grades, have in effect, been in some form of virtual engagement as part of the new normal schooling experience for most parts of the academic year now.

The debate and discussions about declaring 2020-21  a ‘gap’ year have led to an acceptance of ‘virtual schooling’, embracing technology and optimising its usage. I was amazed at how easily many succumbed to the pressure of dismissing it as a ‘write-off’ year, instead of finding ways to resolve or salvage in the initial months of lockdown. How does one ‘write-off’ a year? And if one were to deep dive into the science behind ‘gap’ years, one would understand that these are meant to be great learning experiences especially for skill development that undergraduate students take on.

Is this an ideal K-12 school year? Almost rhetoric as a question now but I think way too much time was spent in court rooms than a collaborative effort by adults (educators and parents) to find a mid path for students as far as fees, timings and expectations are concerned. The students, however irrespective of their age or year-block emerged to adapt, become resilient, maintained their wits about them as they navigated a world they were unfamiliar with. They did this with the best possible level of concentration and discipline that can be imagined. Each year-block has different developmental needs, and depending on their level of maturity, and experience, children simply ‘got-on’.

Virtual engagements, on-line or remote learning required a different kind of handling, and educators and teachers learnt to adapt as well. In fact juggling both personal and professional roles required a lot of effort but there emerged a desire to ‘make – the – best’ of what was at hand and work towards treating this year as a year of learning – socio emotional, life skills and yes yes all the functional and ‘learning’ objectives we have defined as part of the syllabus.

The community of educators by and large have treated this year as an opportunity to re-think, re-visit, evaluate and restructure a lot of what they did in the physical world. More in-depth work, more need to skill-up and more time spent collaborating than ever before. In fact plenty of creativity (technology does make it happen seamlessly), more conversations with students and allowing children to emerge more independent and take ownership for their work.

Parents coped too. Coped with their commitments, and making sense of the expectations and their role for mentoring their children at home. Faced with crazy schedules, they adapted with patience, tolerance and of ‘letting-go’ for most parents at least (Still concerned how some continue to micro manage their children by giving off answers to the assessments underway – remember parents, you have finished your school and have all your cherished report cards, the ones now belong to your children for their efforts, and showcasing what they have understood).

For me, that’s been the best possible outcome as students are learning to manage themselves with their own struggles and challenges, and learning to ‘accept’ and find solutions. And doing it day in and day out, in the bargaining gaining valuable experience of how to manage.

Someone asked me last evening about ‘reduced’ content as part of the ‘syllabus’. My answer is simple. We have taught these children life skills that will make them much stronger, we have given them roots to understand themselves and expectations and as adults – as educators and parents, we have also given them the empowerment to ‘work-it-out’ thereby creating problem solvers, thinkers and balanced individuals and if one truly reflects about what’s happened in the past 8 months – the skills that have helped most ‘get-over-the-line’ are the skills that these children have experienced. Have a good look around you – some are swimming with their heads above effortlessly and creating bottom line records for their companies, some have improvised to a different level of existence and some simply, need more time. Which one do you think you want your children to be part of 15 years from now?

While staring at a second/third wave, and governments  reporting of vaccines coming through by March/June, we may have to recognise that the world of tomorrow will now adopt a new avatar and all the learnings of these past 8 months must become foundational grounds for more research, blending learning and thinking about making curriculum relevant and skill based in this country.

As a nation, our greatest strength is resilience and we seem to bounce back from just about anything, and I hope while the need to ‘normalise’ physical world access is critical, using the lessons of this time spent in lockdown will lead to more success and creativity in the teaching- learning. There’s a reason wise men say, history repeats itself when one does not respect. We have as a community world-wide lost so much, why would we not treat it as an opportunity to re-write history instead?

And re-write it through our children and providing them with the necessary skill sets to do so. And these cannot be ‘knowledge’ or a collection of facts but true learning.

Year of Opportunity, if you allow your mind to think about growth.

Author

  • Fatema Agarkar

    Fatema Agarkar, Founder and Chairperson , Agarkar Centre of Excellence (ACE) Veteran of 3 educational start-ups , now Founder of the Agarkar Centre of Excellence, Fatema’s passion for teaching-learning and children defines the different roles she has crafted in 20 years – as an edupreneur, educator and mentor. Fatema who is a State and University topper as part of the prestigious Mumbai based Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics, holds a degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Birmingham (UK), apart from her B.ED and ECCE degrees amassed when she decided education was her calling. Having kick-started her career in the corporate world and working with premier organizations like Commerzbank, Times of India and Egon Zehnder International, she always had an inner urge to bring about an enhancement in the sphere of education.. As an educationist and life-long learner, she has come a long way to intertwine modern methods of learning, teaching and customizing education as per the student’s intellectual requisites thus eradicating stress that stems from the education system. She has been sedulous in making comprehensive alterations in the education field in India. Being a risk-taker, Fatema has been focusing on the generation of innovative educational modules and her in-depth academic know-how, nothing but truly defines her ceaseless passion. Her name is synonymous with successful education models of the country and she is adjudged as Education World’s top 50 Educators in the year 2020. Adding more feathers to her hat, she has also been the recipient of several prestigious awards for her outstanding contribution to the field of education in the years 2013 and 2015. Fatema has been awarded by Giants Group for her outstanding contribution to the field of education in 2012, the Young Achiever’s Award in the year 2017, Singapore based, Best of Asia’s, ‘Enterprising Educator in the year 2018 and as an entrepreneur ‘Best Edupreneur 2019 and Best Leadership’ by Progressive Academic Excellence India (Maharashtra 2019) and one of the 10th finest inspirational educators in 2019 by TKR, India . Her name is synonymous with successful education models of the country and she is adjudged as Education World’s top 50 Educators in the year 2020. Adding more feathers to her hat With close to 2 decades of experience in education, Fatema is the recipient of several honours including the Indian Achiever’s Award 2021. In July 2023, Fatema was also awarded the ‘Mumbai’s top Women Leader’ award by the CMO Asia National Awards’ (10th edition). Fatema is also a Jury Member for Cambridge School Recognition Awards 2025. Having being associated with leading high school brands like DRS International, Hyderabad, NSS Hill Spring International, Mumbai, The Gera School, Goa, D Y Patil High School, Talegaon (Pune), SVM, Ratnagiri by the Gadre family, The Excellere World School, Gurgaon, JBCN International Schools, Mumbai, Fatema has now close to 40 pre-schools and high schools that she has set up from the grassroot level including a school for special needs’. Fatema is on the Advisory Board of several Trusts including EduTech India, Wockhardft Foundation as well as a jury member, Education World Awards, a platform that recognizes the efforts of educators pan India. Fatema is also the Vice President for Early Childhood Association (ECA) and the Mumbai Territory Head for Association for Primary Education & Research (APER) in India. Fatema has been appointed as the global ambassador of the Commonwealth Entrepreneurs Club. . Fatema is on the advisory board of the All-India Gaming Federation (AIGF) and currently appointed as the National Council Member for Financial Literacy & Management by WICCI. Given her access to parents and her ability to provide age appropriate strategies to enable them to make more informed choices, Fatema’s passion remains counselling in the hope that effective parenting will enable children to benefit the most. Fatema is also the special advisor of the Child Chapter Association (CCA), a non-governmental organisation registered as a Section 8. company under the Companies Act, 2013 whose mission is to spread awareness and eliminate child abuse, including child sexual abuse. Her role as a special advisor of CCA includes providing advice and guidance for their special outreach programs for Schools and teachers that tap into the child psyche and help them raise their voice against abuse. Fatema also played an instrumental role in the development of the CCA comic books and characters for their global campaign for child abuse awareness and prevention. Currently, Fatema is the Advisor & Mentor to Finland International School, Race Course and on course to start her own school in 2026. As a TedX speaker, and a avid blogger, Fatema is passionate about sharing her knowledge amassed and inspiring stakeholders be it teachers, parents or students. Her vision includes set up up of Soup Kitchens, Foster Homes and a community centre for the elderly under the Agarkar Foundation in time.

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