Those open blue skies and those placid, tranquil gardens, quiet and free from all worries. Friends by my side, elated to their heartbeats and chirping like canaries.

I know, now we all set our hearts on such a feeling. The proclamation of lockdown swiftly changed my mood from that of quiet bliss to jittery unrest. The first few days went by as normally as they could. As a matter of fact, I was relatively contented that now I would be able to spend ample time with my family and myself. Here I was trying to keep up with my “Talent Search”. However, on the contrary the cases surged as fast as a fisher. Now it’s home- time for five prolonged months.  The lockdown, though has been lonesome, but it certainly has triggered my inner bona fide potential.

Commencing with writing poems to getting my fingers on blogging, has for sure filled me with a  sense of gratification . I have always been a cheerful buttercup in the meadow of despair and so would I wish the world to be. Whatever may be the situation, even in the darkest of hours , try to look for a silver lining and give a smile to its positivity, because you are worth it.

Name: – Nandini Puri
Class: – VIII A

The unprecedented turn of events ,as the world is under constant threat of the Covid-19, has resulted in a global lockdown. This sudden change has put several people’s lives on a standstill. Schools and offices have started operating through video conferencing and the world of technology has suddenly become a necessity.

However, I have personally tried to take on this challenging circumstance in a positive way.

For me ,being a person who enjoys solitude, I have attempted to reflect upon myself,introspect and emerge as a better human being. Also being a melophile, I’ve had an opportunity to tune into an influential band that writes music about self-acceptance and loving yourself. It has motivated me and helped me to overcome my insecurities.I feel that this state of lockdown has encouraged me to know more about myself, try new things and evolve as a person. This lockdown has made me discover pleasure in small little things,  and  treasure the memories made with one’s family and friends. I feel that this is a storm before the rainbow, which all of us can overcome with a little positivity.

Paavni Singh
8-D

16th March 2020, could have been another regular school day but events of the world took a momentous turn.

The ‘Corona Virus Pandemic’ has engulfed the world and people today are facing an unprecedented crisis. This is the first time ever in my life, when such kind of pandemic has shaken the world.  Health and wellness is something of paramount importance and this is just one of the many things, I realized during this lockdown.

My lockdown diary is quite interesting and I would like to share some of my experiences with you:

On the third day of lockdown my sister , my parents and I sat together and watched a movie, relished quite  delicious dinner and played several rounds of monopoly. Memorable moments we spent together, after what seemed to be like ages.

 The first day of online classes was quite hard for me but after learning the functions, online classes became quite an experience . I was delighted to see my friends and teachers . I often had my friends over but now it’s only over Zoom.

I was excited for my birthday this year as it was my first online birthday. I organized a Zoom meeting with my friends and relatives, which was definitely unforgettable.  My 2020 birthday went really well and the best thing about it was that I didn’t have to decorate the whole room instead, just the background which could be possibly seen by my virtual guests. So now you see it’s not as bad as the world makes it out to be….

Prisha Singh
VI-D

7,24,000 deaths, 400 million jobs lost, GDP in negative, dearth of bed capacity and the headlines go on. Finding optimism in these catastrophic circumstances is undoubtedly an uphill task and so is spotting a sliver of opportunities. But every cloud has a silver lining. During this pandemic, a new lifestyle has surfaced, built on the foundation of technology and its attributes. We need to convert fruitless hours into productive pursuits by exploring and utilising our skills, discovering our ambitions, and developing our interest in innovative activities along with spending quality time with our family.

This lockdown experience will always be etched in my memory, owing to the golden opportunities it gifted me with. This pandemic paved the way for several extra-curricular activities like public speaking, web designing and classical music. During the lockdown, I keenly participated in numerous virtual declamations, socio-political debates and literary events. It also enabled me to transform my prolonged desire for gaining expertise in graphic designing and computer programming into reality. These months provided me with boundless leisure time to enhance my skills in Hindustani Classical Music. Overall, this pandemic gave me an opportunity to break free from the barriers of mundane life, thus bestowing on me a golden chance for doing things which I always was desirous of doing.

We should consider these tough times  as serendipity rather than reeling in despair and brooding over the inevitable.

Suyash Tripathi
Class 8A

“A Grandparent is….
A little bit parent,
A little bit teacher,
And a little bit best friend.”

Grandparents are a family’s greatest treasure, the founders of a loving legacy, the greatest storytellers, the keepers of traditions and family’s strong foundation. Through their special love and care, grandparents keep a family close at heart. To honor grandparents and give them the opportunity to show their love towards their grandchildren the Pre-Primary wing of Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Kanpur celebrated Grandparents Day- ‘Ashaein- A ray of hope in this pandemic’ on 27 September, 2020 on a virtual front with 100% participation. The occasion was graced by the Chief Guest, Brigadier Dinar Dighe who enlightened everyone with the importance of grandparents for the social and emotional growth of the children. Mr. Vinod Malhotra, the Guest of Honor showered his blessings and appreciated the students and teachers for their unmatched efforts.

The function started with welcoming the grandparents and parents by the Principal, Mrs. Shikha Banerjee. The audience was completely mesmerized by the School Anthem performed by our teachers, the enactment of Covid-19 warriors, ‘Masti ki Patshala’ by our little cherubs and special epithets for the grandparents.

The little ones took the audience down memory lane with a scintillating song. Hindi and English Skits and dance performance got the grandparents singing along and reviving cherished memories. The grandparents expressed their gratitude and love for their grandchildren and felt special. The day was a memorable one for the children and the grandparents, who had loads of appreciation and heaps of blessings for the school and staff.

The celebration concluded with vote of thanks by the Headmistress, Mrs. Madhushree Bhaumik, who appreciated the diligent efforts of the teachers who took online rehearsals for students and grandparents. The energetic and loving grandparents who took part in the celebration which hence made the day historic.

A key aspect of coping with Covid-19 is to ensure that the process of teaching and learning does not get hampered to whatever extent possible. For teachers across the globe, it has not been an easy transition, as now they have to work on their laptops and smart devices. Of course, what is missing is face to face, personal communication, which will hopefully get restored soon when the situation gets back to normal. Students also had to make far bigger adjustments as learning for them had always been in classrooms and many of them were not even well equipped with technology and its tools.

One might wonder how online and offline curriculum will ever be able to match each other. But that is where one should realize that they are not quite different, to begin with!

Challenges:

• Technical difficulties
• Can be boring
• The less commanding situation for teachers
• Lack of focus and concentration at the end students
• Absence of a conducive environment
• Connectivity issues 

Benefits:

• Children can learn in the comfort of their homes
• More involvement of parents
• Children learn to adapt to the changing environment
• Both teachers and children have become more tech-savvy!

Definitely, this is the new normal… but for how long? Will this last for a few more months and then classrooms will be packed with children again?

Who knows!

Most definitely this whole situation has taught every child the importance of school. And even the crankiest ones must have started missing going to school by now. But if this is the future of education in India, both teachers and students seem to be well prepared now.

They have, as we can proudly say, given a tough fight to COVID 19 by proving that nothing and no one can come in the way of their education and bright future.

Nupur Agarwal

“Technology will not replace a great teachers but technology in the hands of great teachers can be transformational” -George Couros

School closed and less time to shift to Online Classes. It is just like the difference between hosting a dinner that you have been planning for months versus having twenty people over without any notice. The purpose of this effort is to create a respectful, caring and intellectually stimulating space to reflect how the Coronavirus Pandemic is shaping the face of education.

1. What is Technology Enhanced Learning?

Technology enhanced learning is concerned using technologies to support learning. Learning can be defined as a process whereby the learners access concepts and ideas, incorporation these through practice and ultimately exhibiting mastery. Enhancement of learning seeks to improving parts of this practice and process. With the progress of technologies enhancement is achieved by various forms. This includes virtual learning environments.

Pros:

• We learn that every child is unique, and they have their own learning pace which usually the traditional classrooms failed to serve. Thus, the students can be flexible with their learning concepts. It also frees up to teacher to help those who need more

• With this type of learning, our resources are not only confined to Pupils have access to many more resources for a better learning.

• Technology had made learning more hands-on by changing the environment

Cons:

• Distance learning is not our typical online learning scenario. It is more of an online learning course, where students and educators agree on online learning environment and make necessary arrangements for it to

• Remote emergency instructions often bring inequity to surface. For example: lack of a reliable source of internet

• When the physical interaction between teachers and students is missing, then students tend to lose personal interaction with their educators and thereby the mental build-up of students may get

The reality is that it is almost impossible to survive the working world without technology. Therefore its better children learn how to use technology sooner or later. With the development of technology, many new pedagogical concepts have refined learning. Thus Online Learning is poised to spearhead learning revolution.

“India is witnessing a positive trend as learning through utilizing electronic technologies or e-learning to access educational curriculum outside of a traditional classroom has been embraced by the academic institutions. This approach/decision of clutching the moment and trying to plug the academic void created by the closure of educational establishments due to the coronavirus pandemic opened hundreds of windows for learning.

Education Sprouts as E-Learning in this Pandemic……

Classrooms have transformed into meeting rooms while chalk and duster has been replaced by desktops, laptops, tabs, jam boards (in Google meet etc), and styli.

The then scenario-classroom learning, presence of teachers and students, and the hustle and bustle in the school buildings with regular classes have been replaced by technology.

Technology has changed the landscape of today’s education; it works in the best interest of teachers and students. Teachers have made it fun and stress-free

Teachers are now living and working in an increasingly digital world where they are integrating ICT into education. Teachers have managed to remold themselves.

teachers to think out of the box and improve teaching and learning. They have to physically stay at home, but mentally be present globally. In these challenging times, they have to see how best they can contribute to a better tomorrow.

The daunting challenges which were present at the onset of the pandemic cannot be undermined. However, equally noteworthy is the proactive approach of all educators towards:

The world of education has undergone a sea change, a complete metamorphosis during these crucial and unprecedented times owing to Coronavirus…….a pandemic that brought the whole world to a standstill during its initial phase.

With the onset of this new phase of life, being locked down within the safety of our homes – restricted and repressive, we had fears of our lives, families, and the future of our forthcoming generations. The system which had been supposedly rigid, marks-centric, and a bit orthodox in its manner, has met a revolution! Though this revolution has been sudden, unseen, and unwelcome by a few, it has irrigated the fertile minds of the teacher and the taught.

‘Interest’ is the brick stone of the new set up. No more science class based on the diagrams given in the books and maths classes are now fun and more progressive with a ten-minute quiz. With lectures turning into short videos and animations, students are enjoying their lessons and more focused than they used to be in the classrooms.

The ones who still debate about its efficacy, do think for a while. Children are saving on the commutation time, they are getting time to indulge in some of their favorite activities and they are aiming more at learning than mugging. Wasn’t this knowledge-oriented learning needed? In order to levy education as no burden but the real fun, virtual learning has proved effective.

Learning at this time has fortunately encountered a new definition both for learners and educators. From making videos, presentations, using apps to online competitions, educators have already updated and mastered their relevant skills. People around the world are utilizing their time by going through relevant courses and upgrading their skills.

Living in the 21^st century, skills have become an important requisite. We want our children to be skilled, to be powerful when they speak or share perspectives, to be the bodies of knowledge, and not mere members of a system who just appear to settle somewhere tomorrow. We want leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs who are ready to restructure the world, but for that, it’s important that the restructuring begins at school.

While we all want this pandemic to end soon, technology will always play an important role in learning.

Mr. Saurabh Dang

A Virtual Singing and Dance Competition ‘Conquer The Mike’ was hosted  by Shieling House School on 20^th and 21^st October, 2020. The students of classes IV and V participated in the same.

The names of the winners are as follows-

1. Somil Pandey (Class VB) was the First Runner Up in Hindi Solo Singing Competition.
2. Aashni Khandelwal (Class IV D) was the First Runner Up in English Solo Singing Competition.
3. Anvi Arora (Class V D) was the Second Runner Up in the Semi Classical Dance Category.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience for all the parents.

Congratulations to Mr. Shishir Jaipuria, Chairman, Seth Anandram Jaipuria Group of Educational Institutions who has been selected among the 21 Leaders Transforming Indian Education, an unprecedented commemorative compendium by Education World that shares brief biographies of hitherto insufficiently appreciated edupreneurs driven by the spirit of enlightened self-interest and/or philanthropy, who have established excellent primary-secondary and higher education institutions which are setting new, globally benchmarked standards.

The Millennium School, Dubai
Virtual Round Square Conference
Theme : Accelerating the Transition to Sustainability

Under the mentorship of Mr. Manish Seksaria – Head of Department (Computer Science) and Round Square Representative – delegates (Radhika Swaroop, Pranjali Tripathi, Sanya Bhatia, Anmay Khemka and Aditya Tandon) participated in a virtual round square conference hosted by The Millennium School Dubai, on the central theme-Accelerating the Transition to Sustainability, held on 28th & 29th October,2020.

The event saw the participation of over 200 students from prestigious schools and more than 5 different countries.

The conference began on an enriching note when the Principal, Mrs. Ambika Gulati, enlightened us with her thoughts on the theme and set the conference in motion. The students also had the opportunity to interact with various keynote speakers and the Chief Guest.

The first keynote speaker, Mrs. Fatima Mubarak, highlighted various topics related to the theme: Climate change, global warming, mitigation and reduction of these environmental evils, Zero Carbon Future and utilisation of energy efficient measures such as solar panels and rainwater harvesting.

The Guest of Honour, Mr. Michael Guzdar, CEO of The Millennium School, Dubai, spoke about diversity in opportunities and multiple means for education in the current times. He also reminisced the interactive, fun and physical sessions of Round Square.

The second keynote speaker, Mr. Bhaskar Vira, an Indian academic, professor of economic geography, and the current Head of Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, elaborated at large the challenges to sustainability (climate change,food security,depleting energy and resources), World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report, unsustainable exploitation, Carbon footprint/ecological footprint, Earth Overshoot Day, 17 sustainable goals set by the UN and how different sections of the society can contribute in saving the environment.

After these enriching and mind-engaging words by all the speakers, the students had the opportunity to interact with each other and have fruitful discussions in their respective breakout rooms.

Following this, we had a display of presentations by different participating schools and this marked the end of Day 1.

The second day of this remarkable conference was as captivating as the first. The first keynote speaker, Mrs. Habiba Al Marashi, Chairperson of the Emirates Environmental Group, stressed on the importance of recycling and sustainable production. She also elaborated on the harmful effects of COVID-19 on the environment and the students had an interactive Question-Answer session following that.

To add some fun to the event, the participants also participated in an online treasure hunt designed by Samarth Chandna, the Head Boy of the school. The participants were regaled by this team project.

Next, the second keynote speaker, Mr. Robert Swan,  an acclaimed author and the first person to walk to both Poles, guided the students by his inspiring life story and how his perseverance and determination led him to achieve his dream of walking to the North Pole and South Pole. He now runs a foundation called ‘2041’ which engages businesses and communities on climate science, personal leadership, and the promotion of sustainable practices. His words instilled the students with enthusiasm and determination.

The third barraza session saw the students engaging in illuminating discussions related to the keynote speakers, sustainable sources of energy and how they can play their part in saving the environment.

The closing ceremony concluded with some cultural presentations by the participating schools, an overview of the conference, words of advice from the Principal and a Vote of Thanks by the students.

The conference was very well organised by the students of The Millennium School Dubai, who ensured  a smooth and insightful session for all. They left no stone unturned in making this experience an enriching one for all the participants. The conference transcended the bounds of time zones and geographical constraints.