After losing no time in rolling our virtual classrooms after Covid19 pandemic lockdown commenced on March 24, KPS, Nadia, is virtually doing everything as a normal school, and therefore setting the bar. Indrani Bhattacharyya, Headmistress (Secondary), KPS, Nadia writes:
Krishnagar Public School (KPS), Nadia, is all set to virtually celebrate upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr to send out messages of communal harmony. The school is also planning to celebrate upcoming Father’s Day in the digital platform as well. They are also planning to organise a Photography Competition for senior students on in the month of June on Camera Day to celebrate the invention of Camera and its significance.
As the entire nation is stranded in the confines of the homes, several schools have taken to virtual platforms to render academic support to theie students. However, a school is not merely the place for the academic development of the students, but it is also centre for developing co-scholastic activities and a training ground in appreciating culture and heritage.
While several schools are still trying to find a way to start with these important aspects of the school life for the students, Krishnagar Public School (KPS), Nadia has found a unique way of bringing a sense of normalcy in the lives of students even amidst this pandemic lockdown. The school has introduced co-scholastic classes for the students in the evenings, which cater to different interests of the students, from Art and Craft to Dance, from Yoga to Foreign Languages.
Soon, realising the challenges and anxiety in the lives of parents as well, the school wanted to reach out, and help them de-stress and engage their time in a more fruitful way. Hence, the school started with Yoga and Spoken English sessions for parents as well.
Earlier in the month of April, KPS celebrated Earth Day on the virtual platform by poster making activity organised by the senior students to express their concern and their thoughtful messages for our Mother Earth. They also took part in an Essay Writing Competition where they wrote about their concerns for the sustainability of the Earth and also took their individual pledge for the Earth. (Read more here:https://newsfromnadia.in/krishnagar-public-school-celebrated-50th-world-earth-day/ )
Early this month (May), the school took to celebrating the 159th birth anniversary of Nobel laureate Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore on the virtual platform. Students of different age group participated in the program to pay tribute to the noble laureate by their recitation, song, dance and musical presentation . He was never more relevant than these testing times , so his compositions are in particular soothing and inspiring. Students shared videos of their performances paying tribute to the great poet. Later, on the day of Rabindra Jayanti the performances were released as a compilation on YouTube (Watch video here: https://youtu.be/ntro0Zz2a6c). Pt was one of our students of Class IX, Nilabhra Guha who took great initiative in creating and uploading the video in youtube. It was an instant success and was appreciated by several educators and Principals, teachers and students from other schools who were invited to join as an audience.
Again on 10th of May, on the occasion of International Mother’s Day, the students appreciated the contributions of their mothers and other motherly figures in their lives on the virtual platform. The students of the primary section of KPS shared special video messages for their mothers. (Watch video here: https://youtu.be/mgczDJbiUbM )The senior students, however performed special acts to make their mother feel special on this day. Some prepared handmade cards and artworks to express their love and respect for the mothers, while others recited poems, sang songs, or cooked the Mother’s favourite dish to bring a smile on the face of most important women off their lives.
The messages, artworks and performances were later compiled into a single video and released on YouTube for or the public to see. The students gave their heart and soul to the performances to make their mothers feel special on the special occasion. Preparation of Dalgona Coffee by a student of Class II B, Parnava Saha for his mother really surprised everybody.
The school celebrated the completion of 50 Days of Online Classes on the 15th of May 2020 with fun and fiesta while acknowledging each-others efforts and contribution. Interestingly, the day coincided with the International Day of Families and gave a suitable opportunity to acknowledge the contribution of the parents and the extended families of the students in their holistic development, something that has escalated even more during the crisis period. (Watch video here: https://youtu.be/ynW0FMekuCc )
The school is continuing with virtual co-scholastic activity classes for all grades in the evenings. They are even organizing certain sessions on Spoken English and Yoga for the parents. The school has associated itself in the Fit India Movement by the Government of India and thereby conducting regular Yoga Sessions for students as well as parents to inculcate a consciousness for health and fitness amongst all. Being associated with the Khelo India initiative, the school is about to commence with the Khelo India activities in the coming weeks to ensure sporting activities amongst students.
Further, by now the students have become comfortable and familiarized with online happiness classes-starting from virtual class assemblies, story telling, inspirational time, circle time, debate hour to yoga, meditation, music, paper-craft, origami, science experiments in addition to its regular scheduled academic periods.
“These past couple of months have been really challenging for all of us. We had to let go a lot of convictions we held strongly earlier and adapt to the changing times. The determination to ensure that our students’ lives are not disrupted or irreparably affected by the consequences of this global crisis motivates us each moment to innovate and implement newer initiatives,” says Dr Sankar Prasad Dutta, principal.
The school is about to start another innovative initiative, ‘Khulke Jio’ sessions inculcating Life Skills and Stress Management training for both students and parents, something they consider as ‘the need of the hour’.The school believes in the importance of physical, social, cognitive, creative and emotional skills and how all these different skills compliment and interact with each other to bring about the holistic development of the students. And that is exactly what they are constantly striving to achieve.
