The ongoing pandemic has pushed us all to think differently – only when we are driven outside of our comfort zones, are we propelled to tap into our pool of creativity. Team Akanksha has chosen to embrace the uncertainty; by transforming the crisis into an opportunity, we are adapting to new ways of teaching and learning. At the same time, we also recognise that while online education is gaining popularity as the way forward, it comes with its own unique set of challenges. 

Our school teams along with our Instruction Specialists have made innovations in building a schooling system that can help us all REIMAGINE EDUCATION. Through this series of #ReimagineEducation, we will bring to you some of the best practices that our teams are developing to ensure learning is delivered to the homes of ALL Akanksha students. 

Through these stories, we hope to share our experiences and learnings as we bridge the existing educational gaps in our system. Our practices are grounded in quality research and classroom experience to create a holistic learning environment for our students and teachers. 

At Akanksha, we actively engage in community building – we believe in making our students feel at home by functioning as a tight-knit family. With school closures in early 2020, all of a sudden distance became a real challenge. We noticed how the lack of access to digital devices led to irregular attendance of students as well as decreased participation of parents in the schooling process. All of these combined culminated into one major issue – students had begun to miss out on daily learning. 

Despite these hurdles, we were determined to ensure that the learning never stops. Our team at Abhyudaya Nagar (ABMPS) school in Mumbai formed an ‘Attendance Committee’ composed of Art, Physical Education and Computer teachers; helper didis as well as social workers to address this problem. From reminder calls and following up with students after classes to actively identifying the reasons for absence, our didis and bhaiyas have continued to be very prompt and swift in their actions. The team maintains an online attendance tracker which is duly updated after every class. The team members then check in with their assigned  students to understand the reason behind their absence and address the issues faced at a personal level. To boost attendance even further, the team also conducts online parent-teacher meetings to understand problems at home and find quick solutions to ensure that their children attend classes regularly. 

Having kickstarted the initiatives in June 2020, Abhudaya Nagar (ABMPS) gradually observed a marked increase in overall attendance – rising from an initial 60%  to benchmarking a record 97%. The Attendance Committee states that it is a challenging and continuous process, one that requires constant monitoring and innovative problem-solving to keep up the numbers. By consistently tracking attendance and conducting follow-up calls everyday without fail, the school aims to maintain these numbers even post-exam season.

Anjali Kamble, a core member of the Attendance Committee shares, “Our ultimate goal is to ensure that no child gets left behind, we may be teaching virtually, but we would like to see each and every student in front of our eyes.” The team also meets at 8 A.M daily to share strategies and practices that helped improve attendance in their individual classes with one another for maximum impact. These initiatives form an ongoing process, further boosted by the efforts of Team Akanksha.