How can schools stand out in post-pandemic times?

The global health pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities of the Indian education system. Just when you got sure, your school was all equipped to deal with the 21^st-century kids, BAM! The world changed!

Since March 2020, nothing has been the same, and we cannot return to the world as it was before. The education sector, not just in India but globally, has been severely hit. School fraternity has been anxious ever since and on a constant hunt for reliable ways of learning. Decisions made today will have long-term consequences on this sector, so mindfulness and feasibility should be at the top of the school stakeholders’ priorities. Pragmatism and quick action will safeguard the interests of this space in these extraordinary times.

According to a report by McKinsey, “While we may not be able to control the virus without an effective vaccine, we are more prepared to deal with its consequences. The immediate priority is to prevent further learning loss through a combination of bringing students back to school where it is safe to do so and improving remote learning across the board. However, that is not enough. Much damage has already been done, and even the best-case scenarios have students half a grade level behind in June. To catch up, many students will need step-up opportunities to accelerate their learning. Now is the time for school systems to prepare post-pandemic strategies that help students to meet their full potential.

What needs to be done

In the post-lockdown world, schools need to shed old ways of learning and work together with parents, communities, education departments, and local governments to create safe and healthy learning environments for students. Aspects like:

• Ensuring Uninterrupted Learning for all Students

• Delivering High-Quality Learning in all Circumstances

• Ensuring Student and Staff Safety

• Managing Increased Costs

needs to be ensured at all times.

The global economic contraction on family incomes has increased the risk of children dropping out of schools. While schools struggle to survive, parents need an effective way to ensure that their children are not missing out on learning without paying much money as a fee.

The world will witness frequent interruptions in the coming few months/years, and hence it is prudent for schools to run on alternate days with tasks demarcated for offline days and online days. If schools have an integrated online-offline strategy, they will manage alternate day school seamlessly without any hiccups.

How LEAD-powered schools are preparing schools for the post-pandemic era

LEAD’s integrated online-offline strategy makes learning easy through a combination of learning at home and learning at school. When students come to school, their teachers teach them from the same curriculum and lesson plans, and when they stay at home, they can continue from where the teacher left off at school. With zero learning loss, students are well-prepared to deal with future challenges.

LEAD Powered Schools do better than others with their effective way-outs for strenuous activities. They also provide guaranteed learning outcomes by transforming the traditional teaching methods into:

• Pre-assessment
• Teacher Upskilling
• Multi-modal teaching
• Periodic testing
• Remediation

According to Dr Suribabu Nekkanti, Principal, Sri Vidyanikethan School (A LEAD-powered school), “Over the last two years, our school has seen significant growth across all subjects, especially English. LEAD’s Level-based teaching is unique & has helped achieve an average of 75% growth.”