“The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has triggered an unprecedented crisis in our lives and is heralding very unpredictable times ahead. With the firm belief that ‘The show must go on’, we at Bharati Vidyapeeth schools have promptly switched over to online learning solutions to ensure uninterrupted learning for all our students – including those based in the far suburbs of Maharashtra.”
– Dr RS Panwar, director-school education, Bharati Vidyapeeth, Pune based in Maharashtra.
Founded by Dr Patang Rao Kadam in 1964, Bharati Vidyapeeth, Pune consisting of 180 prominent institutes in India of which schools affiliated with CBSE, CAIE (UK) and state board (Maharashtra) – offering high quality pre-primary-senior secondary education have quickly adapted to the ongoing crisis to ensure continuity in the teaching-learning process.
Treating each student as her own: Vijaymala Patangrao Kadam, Chairperson, School Management Committee, Bharati Vidyapeeth, Pune with students
The BV schools’ three-stage online teaching-learning process amid the nationwide emergency lockdown includes:
Orientation of all stakeholders: Students, parents, teachers and principals were introduced to the virtual learning programme through a YouTube video of the director’s orientation message. Video conferencing was conducted for the principals to discuss the emergency situation and chalk out a comprehensive strategy to ensure continuity of the teaching-learning process.
Online access to syllabus and library books: The BV schools’ Smart class content partners shared the links with students to access the syllabus and library books from home. The schools have also tied up with Nexool Digital Library that helps students access library books in digital format (e-books) through their tablets and the internet.
Online live classes: Online live classes were conducted through the Zoom app, however due to privacy issues on the app, the school has recently moved to Google Hangouts. Students can log into these virtual classes through a mobile device, laptop, computer or tab. The classes are scheduled according to a proper time-table that is also shared with parents and students.
This three-step online learning strategy is backed by a strong feedback system that proactively helps address technical and communication issues faced by students.
“With positive feedback from parents and students, our online learning initiative has been a huge success. The nationwide lockdown triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak has compelled schools across the country to adopt digital technologies which in turn has propelled us into a new era of online/virtual classes and increased usage of technology. In the next phase of this era, schooling as we know today, would become obsolete – all teaching-learning will be conducted on cloud based virtual classes, students would go to schools or neighbourhood club houses for extracurricular activities and sports for a couple of hours everyday,” says Dr. Panwar.
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