Courage and Patience - Flyers DGS

 The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter” – Paolo Coelho

The current scenario is the best example for us as humans to understand courage and patience is one of the most important values to survive the worse that life throws onto us. Here, our members of the group are sharing their experiences of courage and patience during Covid-19.    

·       Vijaya Jugran- नई प्रेरणा ने हमें जोशीला बनाया, सभी ने नया कदम शिक्षा क्षेत्र में बढ़ाया। हिम्मत साहस और त्याग के भावों ने, नये इतिहास के नए पन्नों को रचाया। 

विपरीत परिस्थितियां बनती हैं रुकावट, प्रकृति समय-समय पर लेटी है करवट, इंसान का जज्बा कहां रहता है सिमट, 2020 के इतिहास में बता दिया यह झटपट।

शिक्षा उन्माद है आशा है तमन्ना है, ना रुकने वाला यह सफर हमेशा आजाद है, शिक्षा शिक्षक शागिर्द सबका एक ही भाव है, 

सफल प्रयास प्रसन्नता की राह है। अतः तकनीक का लिया हमने सहारा , शिक्षा का नया स्वरूप निर्मित हुआ हमारा। 

·       Vandana Goel - To teach an empty classroom has been a whirlwind and everyone is being asked to do more than they can do in a day, so all teachers are just trying to be patient and courageous enough to deal with the kind of impossible solution in uncharted territory. A teacher of the first standard in PKR School Ambala said, “Teaching first graders virtually this spring was tough. It’s easier for bigger kids because they know how to navigate through the various programs, and most high school kids are already doing a lot of learning with technology. For our students, it was a challenge because they could not do the program by themselves. They required help. I had a few parents who were working, and they couldn’t just stop and help their child. A lot of parents were overwhelmed, so I went through each assignment and videotaped myself doing it, showing them how to circle a noun in a sentence or count money.” Ability to cope up with all the challenges in this era with hope and courage is what I call Patience.

 ·       Urvashi Uniyal - The year 2020 - 21 is the year of Courage and Patience. As an English teacher, I tend to “borrow” from my favourite authors.  I would like to quote Charles Dickens, who said, “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” It was nice we could spend time with family, but it was worst as we had to do all our work on our own.

I personally exhibited a lot of courage when I had to teach students with parents sitting next to them. It was a demo class almost every time. I showed courage when I accepted that many things are beyond my control in an online class. So, patience followed suit with this.

 ·       Nandini Arora- All over the world, the teachers played the role of a COVID Warrior which no one acknowledged. I also like many other teachers faced many difficult situations such as lack of technical know-how, digital skills, virtual learning resources and observation of numbers of parents while teaching through an unfamiliar medium.  I struggled to engage my little ones to get the learning outcomes. But the immense support of my colleagues, coaches and some parents helped me to be courageous and perform my classes more effectively with patience. My kids’ sincerity, hard work and respectful behaviour is the reward of my courage and patience.

·       Bhumika Vyas- COVID-19 has taught everyone to be patient and courageous and made us understand that change is the only constant. Therefore, to understand and move along with the only constant in the world one requires both courage and patience. The living example is of all the teachers who continued to show courage and patience and brought a transformation from the horse and buggy days of teaching to a full-fledged technology-based experiential teaching. It would be right to say that through courage and patience, the teachers have risen like a phoenix from the ashes! 

 ·       Ritika Tyagi- 2020 has been a life-changing year in all aspects. Amid the lockdown, we teachers learnt that nothing is impossible for us to do! Working on the frontline and then bringing all the students together, making them feel comfortable in this virtual world was surely an uphill task. However, it made us more patient and gave us a chance to reflect on our teaching methodology. We felt insecure and scared about the whole situation too, but smilingly we kept motivating our kids; thus, it strengthened our courage.  We started thinking more about encouraging our kids patiently than just putting the deadlines and pressure on marks.  It has been a courageous leap forward for all the teachers, and we will continue to give our best patiently.

 Courage to forgo and forget what’s non-essential and incognito along with patience to tread unabated towards ones enlightened unique path is the sole purpose of all existence. COVID-19 has forced us to adapt to a new norm and helped us dive deep within our own selves to recognize our potential. Everything has a purpose in this world. Let’s be aligned with who we are today and as they say- ‘Only the present moment is ours’.

- FLYERS DGS @ The Doon Girls' School Dehradun: Vijaya Jugran, Vandana Goel, Urvashi Uniyal, Nandini Arora, Bhumika Vyas and Ritika Tyagi