India’s # 1 boys’ boarding school – The Scindia School begins the academic year
Gwalior: Students of The Scindia School from class VI – XII began the academic year virtually, owing to the current pandemic situation. Students and teachers were excited to reconnect with each other when online classes began on 15 June, 2021.
What makes the Scindia School teachers adept at conducting classes online was not just their experience of the past year, but also because of the training they had received in online teaching and adoption of technology for many years now.
The school started its IT journey in 1982, and the first 4 students who appeared for the CBSE exams in Computer Science were all boys from the Scindia School.
Teachers at the school are well trained to build e-content as most of the classes last year were online too. Lessons were given via videoconferencing, recorded video and audio lectures, presentation slides, podcasts, portable document format (PDFs), worksheets, and activities on emails.
Commenting on the same Dr Madhav Deo Saraswat, Principal, The Scindia School said, “Over the past year, teachers and students have become familiar with several technologies and learning techniques, which is why it will be slightly easier for us to start a new academic year virtually. However, this year, we decided to have mandatory slots for personalized, one-on-one interactions between students and class teachers every day, as well as multiple co-curricular activities, in order to rekindle their personal connection with their school and teachers. And in the few days since school began, we are seeing the enthusiasm among both children as well as the teachers.”
Commenting on the same Memoy Mishra a student of class 12 said, “I miss meeting my friends and being with them. I actually even miss my school uniform. It would have been ideal to go back to class. However, since it is not possible for now, I look forward to meeting and interacting with my teachers and friends virtually.”
Students have a packed schedule with the day beginning at 7.00 AM with yoga followed by breakfast. They then attend two classes from 9am to 10:50 AM followed by a short recess and then 2 more classes before lunch. Post the lunch class XII students have extra classes, while the rest of the school is engaged in activity classes. The Class teacher meetings and counselling sessions with students are held from 5pm to 7pm. The Astachal (evening assembly) is being held every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Saturdays are reserved for House evenings for preparation of the forthcoming events/interpersonal relationship building/mentoring and building of the House spirit.