‘Samuhik Pahal’ Resources Relevant for the School Reopening Process

In many states across the country, schools have started reopening, especially for the higher grades. Parents and teachers are often apprehensive about both learning losses due to the school closure, and the perceived risks of school attendance given that the COVID-19 pandemic has not gone away yet. In this context, we present before you a set of pieces from the ‘Samuhik Pahal’ archive that we feel are helpful in navigating the process of reopening of schools.

In Volume 1, Issue 2 of the journal we carried a notice of a report by Azim Premji Foundation (APF) titled ‘Schools in the Times of COVID-19’ that stays relevant even now. This report drew from years of field experiences across the country, and carries several annexures that carry well-supported and sometimes illustrated, recommendations. Annexures 2 and 3 are especially relevant in this regard.

In the article titled ‘Age-appropriate and Locally Relevant Nature Learning Modules for Schools’ in Volume 1, Issue 3 of the journal, the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) team discusses relevant open-source resources produced by the organization that can potentially connect children with their environment. They also foreground the processes through which these were developed. These teaching learning materials are appropriate to the age of the learners and try to remain culturally relevant. These resources can also be made a part of learning processes related to existing Environmental Studies’ (EVS) curricula in schools.

In the same issue of ‘Samuhik Pahal’ (1.3), the Shikshamitra team presents materials developed by them to support teachers, in a piece titled ‘Easy to use Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs) and Books.’ These are in the domains of mathematics, languages, arts and crafts, and include props such as manipulatives, worksheets and flashcards.

In Volume 1, Issue 6 of the journal, we carried a piece titled ‘How High Can a Ladder Climb?’ by Jyoti Ravichandran on challenges related to practicing social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools. In the Ground Zero section of the same issue we focused on figuring out how effective have the interventions of organizations from across the country been to alleviate distress in children through social-emotional learning programs during the pandemic. Both these pieces are useful for thinking about how to help children cope after they are back in schools by helping them build self-esteem, deal with learning anxieties, and learn skills critical to their developmental processes.

In the ‘Interview’ section of a special issue released during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (Samuhik Pahal 1.9), we published a conversation between educationist Jane Sahi, who founded Sita School in Silvepura, Bengaluru, and Thejaswi Shivanand. This conversation dealt with many aspects related to well-being of children in the pandemic. It stays relevant even now, especially now that some children are coming back to schools with large learning gaps and trauma induced by negative experiences during the pandemic. In the same issue of the periodical, we carried a booklist prepared by Bookworm Goa; it consists of notices of books that can act as anchors for both children and adults to cope with these sorrowful times.