BHIS Teacher shortlisted for Cambridge’s Dedicated Teachers Award
Mumbai: Billabong High International School (BHIS), teacher Gurjit Kaur Saggu gets nominated for Dedicated Teachers Award by Cambridge. Gurjit a physics teacher of BHIS Malad is shortlisted for an award for transforming her home kitchen into a laboratory to teach her students physics experiments innovatively during a lockdown. She is one among 13000 teachers from 112 countries who are nominated for this award.
Some people have turned this pandemic time into an opportunity for others & themselves. One of them is Gurjit Kaur Saggu, a BHIS school teacher who gave a new dimension to her profession by making her teaching joyful and valuable for her students. Thanks to the core mission of Billabong SCIPPAC (Self-awareness, Curiosity, Innovation, Perseverance, Passion, Adaption & Courageous learning) is reflecting in her teaching process. As a result, she is shortlisted for the dedicated teachers’ award by Cambridge.
Gurjit Kaur used a unique method to teach physics virtually in the pandemic. She used cooking oil and sugar syrup to make students understand the Refraction of Light. Similarly, she used lemon crusher to explain the principle of Fulcrum and Lever in the Mechanics section of Physics. Another experiment, such as the Conduction and Convention of Heat was taught using the pressure cooker and food colour to explain to students.
Gurjit thinks the best way to teach science is to relate it to daily life experiences. She also taught science in grade 5, with the help of her mini garden of flowering and non-flowering plants and herbs. She used them to teach vegetative propagation, germination of seeds. It’s not only the kitchen; her entire house becomes a laboratory for her students. She wants to continue her blended training approach even when the school reopens. Expressing happiness over personal achievement, Gurjit said, “Being shortlisted for the dedicated teacher’s award is a proud moment for me and my school. This achievement does not just belong to me but it belongs to my country as well as my school and my peers who kept on motivating me to develop my skill. At the same time, I also express my heartfelt gratitude to the school management, which organizes a variety of training programs for teachers, which include Cambridge Online Training and In-house Training for Teaching Methodologies, to make school pedagogy stand out”.
Ecstatic over the achievement of her teacher, Dr Madhu Singh, Principal BHIS Malad said “Gurjit is one of the most talented teachers and has a passion for teaching children. She has always incorporated innovative ideas into her teaching style. The thing that makes BHIS different is to nurture our teachers and students alike. I hope that Gurjit will go ahead and set an example. I take a moment to congratulate her on being shortlisted for this reputed award”.
Cambridge Dedicated Teachers Award is organized by Cambridge University Press. It is a platform that recognizes teachers for the hard work they put in every day. This year’s awards are particularly pertinent due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It has highlighted the extraordinary efforts of teachers to continue their students’ learning, even when schools were closed.