Some new beginnings start with……..
….with excitement?
….with hope?
….with enthusiasm?
….with passion?
….with a hunger?
….with commitment?
….with consciousness?
….with planned, deliberate action?
For?
A question each of us would have come across and wanted or want an answer to, each day, every day.
I have been toying with my several questions since the new book mite took hold of my senses firmly and surely this last week. As I put my thoughts together, sieving through my excitement of wanting to write this book with an idea which was probably there even before my first book happened, I pondered as I sat under the swaying trees and was confused as to where I should start from. Or rather what I should start with.
Sitting quietly with my loud thoughts, I recollected a chance eavesdropping on a conversation my husband was having with someone and as with every eureka moment, I suddenly knew what my first post could be for my new book. It may not be a defining ‘apple falling on the head’ event and many would know most or some of it but it helps to start thinking that some basic clarity and homework is good before a full-fledged class or lecture!
Being prepared and doing a recap hurts, said no one ever.
In the present weird times that all of us find ourselves, the challenges in certain areas is more overwhelming than others. Also, the unprecedented nature of the circumstances of a virus ridden 2020 has made most of our already rickety services, simply collapse.
Disaster is the time to test the preparedness of everything around us – human resources, infrastructure, essential services and even mindsets.
In small to large numbers all failed.
Sectors which were always low on priority with governments over decades in our country faced the brunt of 2020 the most. Education sadly featured in that damning list. This sector found all theories and all practises turned on its head/back/toes/turtle – some and all, together. March happens to be the busiest time for schools in India and the first lockdown stunned this sector leaving all stakeholders dazed. However, it was when lockdowns got extended and governments across the country vied with each other to prolong it, that the situation in this sector started to turn to fright.
I am not talking of just a few or several institutions or places or stakeholders, I am encompassing in my preview the whole system. Even the small percentage of this sector which constitutes the majority viewership and reportage in terms of practices and results found themselves challenged to deal with the new ‘online’ scenarios. I shudder to think of the other half of the spectrum which does not feature in the scheme of things during normal times, leave alone now.
Using anything without proper training and knowledge. Navigating through the labyrinth of the virtual world ill-equipped and blindfolded or maybe with half baked information and inappropriate training can be catastrophic. A dark virtual world which exists and feeds on novices and chooses its victims with surgical precision can be disastrous.
And no one is protected against it till everyone is informed competently.
My book shall carry pearls of wisdom from the experts – as cliched as it may sound, I care not, I have to save my fraternity and dare to walk where even angels fear to tread – and ready references for those who feel that teaching is more than a business and it is the only way forward for the future sitting in our classrooms.
Wickedlyours 