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The Pandemicians

I still remember that fine afternoon when we were discussing the floor plans for the upcoming final examinations in March. The sudden announcement that they were closing down schools with immediate effect due to the increasing spread of the Covid-19 Pandemic. This might have prepared us for the nationwide lockdown that was announced a few days later, but at that particular time... what resulted was total chaos and anxiety! It was the first time in our life that we were going to experience a lockdown! None of us knew what to expect and for how long this phenomenon would last. The schools and its teaching community were so far away from anything close to being prepared for a situation like this! 

6 months down the line and the worst seems yet to be over. Schools still closed! Kids and elderly still asked to stay safe at home! The infection still spreading at alarmingly high rates! 


Imagine a scenario where you trained and experienced using the blackboard and the chalk for decades... surrounded by the energy of young school children who test your limits and yet both kept loving each other for some divine reason. And then... one fine morning you are placed in a vacant room. Just you with a screen in front of you... and then you hear it... "teach”! That’s when the pandemic really strikes you... that’s when it really shakes your roots. And yet, you stand up and fight!  


If there is one community that has really stood up and faced this pandemic just as the health workers across the world did... it is the teaching community. While one tried saving them from the virus, the other kept them engaged and active eventually trying to save them from anxiety, depression and all the negativity that could come along with such a pandemic. These are the people I would like to now call The Pandemicians. The educators who transformed almost overnight and shifted gears so fast and in such short notice, just to ensure that their children would stay connected and engaged and that their learning would never stop! No matter what the virus decides to do... these guys decided that they will not let their students suffer. 


I have always believed that change brings along resistance. Though we all know for sure that change is inevitable, I have almost always seen this urge in humans... to push back every small change, for as long as it seems possible. But not this time! I have not heard any incident across the world where a teacher said that I will not teach this way or that I will not change my methods. I did not hear any voice of distress as the entire teacher's community pounded themselves with the tremendous effort that was needed to make this almost instant shift from the offline to the online mode of teaching. With not much time at hand, not any prior experience and with no best practice manuals available... this has been more or less a journey of trials and a lot of errors! 


Imagine training for years to start and stop at the sound of a bell and then, just as if someone stole the bell, you are forced to continue late into the night trying to get the right tone and the right words for your next teaching video... without any clue on when this would end and when you would ever get some rest! And in all this chaos, not being allowed to feel distressed by the very fact that you miss the energy of your vociferous children who cocooned you in your classroom.  


In this frenzy and confusion, we seem to have forgotten that they too are children, spouses, parents, grandparents and much more. Seems even they have too, as they gracefully play the role of a Teacher 24x7! If this is not Magic, then what is! The moment you realize this, that’s when you will know how important it is for each one of us to really understand them and to selflessly join hands with these educators, as they fight for the future of ‘our’ kids. This silent graceful fight of The Pandemicians! 

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