Guwahati: When the deadly COVID-19 pandemic put India under lockdown, students were worried about what to do next; especially those who started the academic year for board exams.
To ease their worries, Guwahati-based Royal Global School (RGS) started online lessons for students of Class XII as early as March 25. Seeing the great response, on April 6, RGS started virtual classes from LKG to Class X. The school is now all set to start the new academic session for Class XI, through the digital platform, from April 27 (Monday).
To give a classroom-like feeling, all the students are dressed in school uniforms through the duration of the lessons.
The school has put in tremendous effort to provide a wholesome learning experience to all the children. Speaking with EastMojo, Binita Jain, senior coordinator of RGS, said, “When we started the classes, PDFs of the lessons to be taught, were sent to the students beforehand so that they could have the study material in front of them during the classes.”
She said that the Principal of the school, Anubha Goyal gave a lot of thought into the fact that online classes could become irksome for students if they had to sit in front of a screen for hours doing only academics, so it was a deliberate effort on her part to include non-academic classes like yoga, art & craft etc. to create a good balance.
Also, in the second half, students have sports lessons where they are made to do basic workouts and practise on better forms for the respective sport.
Further, RGS has observed occasions in April like World Book Day, World Heritage Day, Earth Day etc. by engaging the children in various activities. The children took a pledge for reading books on the World Book Day. Guest speakers were invited to address the Class 12 History section on the World Heritage Day.
On how the school adapted to virtual classes from a real classroom setting,
Jain said: “Both teachers and students were oriented.” As the lessons initially started for the Class XII students, a circular was made on online class etiquettes to brace the children with the nuances of digital platform. Meanwhile, the teachers held a virtual meeting where they were taught about the tools and techniques of the platform.
RGS also organised a 5-day workshop for teachers to train them on using various Google apps, which would enable them to carry out the online classes comprehensively. They were familiarised with Google Meet, Google Forms, Google Sheets, Google Classrooms, etc.
She said that the support and response from parents have been overwhelming. For the younger students, from LKG to Class I, parents sit through the lessons along with their young ones. “They have been very supportive,” she added.
