The news in the air bubbles with the shock-‘Delhi: IB primary program to be reviewed due to extended school closure’. An air emergency has been declared by the Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal from November 14 to 17, during which only the virtual classes of the city will be and no physical schooling[1].
The snapshot clearly shows that the country’s capital has a worsening air pollution crisis, for which crop stubble burning, transport, coal-fired plants, and open garbage burning are key pollutants. The burning of carbon fuels produces large amounts of greenhouse gases which cause climate change and have harmful impacts on people’s well-being and the environment. Now that the ecological problem is stated, how do we encounter it as global citizens?- is a burning BIG question.
The Delhi government’s plan to roll out an International Baccalaureate program at the primary and middle school level in 10 Sarvodaya Vidyalayas this academic year would go through a scrutinized inspection and introspection. Whether the successful roll out would be possible in the face of the pandemic threats added with the smog cloud cover in Delhi- is indeed a contestable issue.
Starting from the primary to the high schools in new Schools of Specialized Excellence (SOSEs) and Sarvodaya Vidyalayas in East Delhi, classes have faced an intermittent shift from physical to online because of the pandemic coupled up by the pollution blanket in the nation’s capital. While the teachers have been striving hard to adopt transformative pedagogy and IB content creation through the teacher training conducted by the and the Pathways Noida team[3], to what extent they would be able to accomplish their goals is questionable because of the severe practical impediments.
On one hand it is true that the online mode of classroom learning has opened up a wide window to nurture the self management, planning, time management, and organizational skills through the assistive technology, on the other hand how far it would be possible and sustainable for the online model of teaching and learning to keep up to the self motivational skills- is an element of controversy.
In a nutshell, true that the newness in the online classroom, though adopted out of pressing needs, have infused a charm of flexibility, personalized and independent learning, technical upgradation, and convenient learning setup for the learners; while it might have posed threat to the sustainability and continued spirit of supervised learning and teaching for teachers and the students.
[1] https://www.news18.com/news/india/air-pollution-live-updates-aqi-delhi-emergency-level-severe-pollution-stubble-burning-lockdown-weather-today-livenews-4437827.html
[2] https://www.iqair.com/in-en/india/delhi
[3] http://bweducation.businessworld.in/article/Pathways-School-Noida-Trains-Delhi-Govt-School-Teachers-On-International-Baccalaureate-IB-Middle-Year-Programme-MYP-Curriculum/24-11-2021-412729/
