Lessons learnt from COVID -19 and a promise for the future

 

Lessons learnt from COVID -19 and a promise for the future

Dr. Japasree Mukherjee

Principal, S. E. International School (A 4.9 rated school out of 5), Borivali

On how COVID 2019 has changed our outlook.

FOOD HABITS: We started eating healthy food more. Our children stopped eating outside food.

Body Fitness: We have started Yoga at home. We started to take care of our environment more. We started reading story books again. We started doing household chores on our own and our body is taking better shape. We stopped going to the doctors for small issues. We have resorted to our age old traditional medicines. We are putting more attention to household cleanliness. The bonding between the grandparents and grandchildren are growing.

Family Bonding: We started giving more time to our family. The school going children learnt doing household chores to help their parents in the absence of house helps. Small children are making parents understand what the need of using mask and hand wash is. They are helping us to separate dry waste and wet waste. We are keeping our shoes outside the house again to avoid bringing germs inside and restoring to traditional ideas. We are using, guggul, camphor, resins and neem leaves to purify our homes. Many of us went back to the native places and local trades and farming are getting a boost.

Digital Awareness: We learnt running classes online. The social media has become the place of business promotion. We have become more tech-savvy. Entrepreneurship is getting encouraged. We have stopped spending on unnecessary items. Savings and use of money for better purpose have taken a place in new generation’s mind.

Not a single child can miss studies now a days. The schools arranged for smart boards for online teaching and through smart phones even the most remotely located child is learning.  Parents and grandparents learnt to use various apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Conference calls, Zoom and Google meetings. Students also learnt the same. As a result, the teaching and learning became more technology oriented which is the future of education. Wastage of time in travelling and getting tired is less. In these times you can do more productive works. When you are tech savvy you are more confident. For banking and payment purpose you don’t have to go to the bank every now and then. We learnt Google pay, phone pay, net banking, phone banking and what not. Small time vendors, auto-rickshaw pullers are accepting online payment. Isn’t life become much easier?

Yes, I know till date we cannot think of replacement of offline education but it is for sure education will not remain the same as before in the coming days. Yes we have lost beloved ones, but were we not careless in several occasions when we came out without mask and mixed randomly in public despite of warnings given by the Government, News channels and WHO? And these life’s lessons made us more responsible.

We also became dreamer and better planner and learnt to prioritize our health, relations and work. We started to value our job more as aftershock of COVID-19 and become more passionate about our work. We are not stuck in 9-5 jobs and using our time judiciously for the betterment of organization. We have become more productive and result oriented and focused.

Didn’t we become dreamers?

And surely those who can dream can live the dream too.

So, instead of seeing the negatives of COVID-19 let us get united, live above petty issues and politics and take our School, country, economy and the society to a much better place than today and where we were before COVID-19.