As the debate on reopening schools is gathering momentum, much is the anxiety that each one of us - students, parents and teachers - are having to think through. Starting school or starting a new school year can be abag of mixed emotions at the best of times, let alone during a global pandemic. Children and families have not only been deprived of their socialisation, play spaces, educational, work, and sport activities, but also from all their friendship and relational contacts. At TALC, we are of the firm belief that ‘Body, Mind & Intellect’ is focal whether it is a pandemic or otherwise. As we prepare ourselves to welcome children back to their learning space, here’s our 3 bits on how BMI is taken care of the TALC way: 1. First of all, it is interesting & heartening to note that many schools and parents are very conscious about keeping the virus away, physically, with the hand sanitisers and washing rituals, sanitising the environment and taking care of how we touch and where we touch. We have readied the campus to take precautionary care of this aspect.
2. Secondly, we have prepared ourselves to welcome children, with the full awareness that they need to be supported emotionally, a lot more than previously. We believe that lockdown has a deep impact on their relationship and emotional health. Our staff is ready to understand the journey of each child through these difficult times, being aware of damage, if any, that may have happened and secure them emotionally.
3. The above two points also bear consequence on their personality in the long run - and doing what it takes to undo any negative impact is what we aim to cover through our approach. The tendency at most schools is to rush and cover up the curriculum, trying to cope up with the lite lost due to Covid. While the intent may be good, reality is that it is putting a lot more strain on the children than ever. At TALC we have packed the curriculum with lightness, fun, hands-on working, discussion time, self expression and enough time to mull over, think & understand and register what each child is sitting with . So at TALC, Covid safety is not just about sanitizers and hand washing - that is just 10% of what we do. Ours is 90% about the emotional security of children. We are able to bring in the seriousness of the academic journey that is required with lightness & sensitivity required in nurturing children. We also take a lot of conscious effort to support parents whose life has not been easy managing the lockdown, managing their own work, children, finances, deadlines, physical strain of managing everything. Add to it, now trying to get back to the old ways of working with fear and pressure of being safe against covid, it is about emotional safety and an intellectual redesigning of academics and ofcourse, physical safety, which is far easier to do because we operate in small numbers and in controlled environment as a design and not as a response to Covid. Looking forward to an exciting year ahead!
