Page 4 - Moravain Messenger December 2020
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Report from the Moravian Institute in Rajpur
The Moravian Institute in Rajpur has been isolated and under lockdown since 13th March, especially after two Forest Officer trainees in Dehradun returned from a study tour to Europe and were found positive for Covid-19 on their return. As the months have progressed the virus has continued to spread because of insufficient testing, tracing and isolation. Here is a brief history of our lockdown, etc.
4th March - Class 11 final exams were completed, followed by annual break. Most Class 11 boarders left.
7th March - Class 9 final exams were completed, followed by annual break. Most Class 9 boarders left.
14th March - Lessons were cancelled for Class 8 downwards (along with other schools in Uttarakhand) up to 31st March. Boarders remaining were not allowed to leave campus and under strict Hygiene Protocol. Visitors from outside were discouraged except for essential work. All persons were required to wash and disinfect their hands and to cover their mouth and face. Boarders' parents / guardians began to withdraw their children in increasing numbers.
19th March - CISCE postponed remaining external exams for Classes 12 and 10 until further notice. Eleven more boarders left, numbers went down from 36 to 25 - these being children whose homes are too far (and risky) to travel to. All teachers from outside have remained at home. Hostel and Support Staff from outside were sent on leave from 20th to 31st March. Hostel rations inventory showed that we had already stocked rations for over one month, which would now be sufficient for 3+ months due to lower numbers. Changes in duties of Campus Staff were put in place, with new timetables, including games and recreation for pupils, and extra campus security and hygiene.
20th March - 8pm Prime Minister announced national 'people's lockdown' from midnight the same day for 5 days.
Sunday 22nd March - Full day national lockdown.
Tuesday 24th March - Headcount showed we had 81 persons on campus consisting of school level pupils, college students, Campus staff and family members. 8pm - Prime Minister announced a national mandatory lockdown from midnight for 3 weeks up to Tuesday 14th April. This was the first of 5 lockdowns up to now (October).
Campus staff were able to get groceries, medicines and other essential supplies. Vehicles on Campus were made available to take sick people to the hospital. Hostel Staff and pupils assembled daily to pray for themselves, their families and others in India and around the world. This has continued over the months.
On 13th April, anticipating an extension of the lockdown, we introduced even stricter isolation within Moravian Institute (MI) between buildings and houses on campus. We arranged a greengrocer to come to MI gate twice a week, so that staff or families would not need to go out to shop for vegetables/fruits. However, emergency travel for medical treatment was still available. On 14th April, the Prime Minister announced an
extension to the Lockdown for another 19 days through to Sunday 3rd May, although a few relaxations were given to some parts of Uttarakhand. Now we are under Unlock No.5, and many people have become careless, indifferent or fatalistic.
On 20th April we began Online Lessons for our school pupils. It was a big challenge, but we arranged training of our teachers in the use of video conferencing platforms. Mr Simeon Kamei (our ICT and network administrator) has been our main trainer. Not knowing that a pandemic would cripple our traditional methods of teaching-learning, in March 2019 we had already started discussing ways of changing our methods and using technology and Internet based resources. In December 2019 we already began getting resources ready for the changes we felt were necessary. When the pandemic struck, we were already half-prepared, and we simply had to accelerate our preparation, organisation and delivery. I joined the other academic administrators in teaching online. The Online Lessons have been well received, although quite a few children are in homes without enough funds for a smartphone (let alone a tablet/computer/laptop). A significant number of boarders went back to their homes in the high mountains where there is no mobile/cell phone network (let alone Internet wi-fi). They are lagging behind the others, and we are trying to bring them back to the Institute campus, if their families allow it. In our neighbourhood, it seems that word has spread about the good quality of our Online Lessons and a number of new pupils have joined us. Moravian Institute was able to register free of charge with Google for their G-Suite for Education. This suite has helped us a lot. The teachers have been working very hard indeed and were given a 'summer' break from lessons 1st-15th July. They are in the midst of 2nd Term Assessments in October, using G- Suite for Education for testing pupils and not just teaching.
On 13th May six of our Ladakhi boarding boys in Classes 8, 9 and 11 left for their homes in Ladakh, with escort arranged by the Ladakh Union Territory Administration.
On 22nd May our affiliating and external examination board (CISCE) announced 1st-15th July as dates the remaining external exams for Classes 12 and 10, but after cases in the Bombay High Court, on 25th June in the Supreme Court, the exams were cancelled, only due to the tremendous transmission of the Covid- 19 outbreak in many parts of the country.
Since April, some people had been agitating for the cancellation of fees that parents pay to private schools. At the same time, the same people had been demanding that private schools pay full salaries to their staff. The private schools argued that they need to charge tuition fees in order to pay salaries. This matter was decided largely in favour of the schools in eight different High Courts, and in Uttarakhand implemented by the State Government on 22nd June, but some lawyers took the case to the Supreme Court. Moravian Institute was affected by this dispute because part of our revenue income derives from Day Pupils' fees, and our ability to pay full salaries depends on fees. The contribution of our sponsors is very important to our finances, especially to support our boarders (even though most of them
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