Nursery students of South Point School celebrated grandparents’ day on the last day of an “unprecedented session”, acknowledging the efforts of their grandparents, many of whom had helped them during online classes once their parents returned to work.

In many households grandparents had to learn how to log into online classes and upload homework.

In such a situation celebrating grandparents’ day is of a greater significance to thank them for their efforts to help their grandchildren, the school said.

Grandparents’ day celebration at South Point School Sourced by The Telegraph

As many parents returned to work, the load of making the child attend the online classes fell on the grandparents.

The task for them included, logging on to the class on time, make notes of what the teacher was saying during the class.

This apart, the grandparents had to ensure that the child stays in front of the screen for the entire duration of the class.

“Grandparents’ Day is a regular feature in the school calendar and the idea behind this is to honour the special bond between children and the grandparents... It has been a unique year for our little ones who attended classes without entering the school. In many households it has been the grandparents who have guided the children patiently after their parents returned to their places of work. In this situation, grandparents’ day takes on even greater significance as a token of thanks for their untiring efforts to help their grandchildren through the pandemic,” said Krishna Damani, a trustee of the school.

76 year old Biman Bihari Saha had never used a smart phone before May when the online classes started for his grandson. His son and daughter-in-law are both radiologists and during the pandemic they had to report to duty.

Grandparents’ day celebration at South Point School Sourced by The Telegraph

“I had to learn the functions of a smart phone and laptop so that my grandson could attend classes. Also I kept a register where I would make a note of what was being taught in class — from letters, numbers to stories — so that he can be guided later on,” said Saha, a retired West Bengal Civil Service employee.

Saha would log on to classes three days a week and said apart from two days when they had a medical emergency, his grandson did not miss classes a single day.

For some parents who were at home it was still not possible for them to help kids attend classes because of the work from home pressure.

For Dhrubajyoti Goswami who is based in Mumbai but is currently working from home, it was not possible to sit through his daughter’s classes despite being at home. His wife is a doctor.

“My daughter’s classes begins at 10.30am but my work day starts at 9am and it is not feasible for me to sit with her. My father did use a laptop before but there were the nitty gritty like using the platform in which the classes were conducted, entering the password. Initially it was a challenge but it was because of them that my daughter could attend the classes,” said Goswami.

The celebration on Friday, where the grandparents attended the classes with the children, included performances by the kids through a video thanking the grandparents.

Photographs of the children with their grandparents were also displayed.

“The relationship of grandparents and grandchildren has taken a different dimension this year and we thought this would be a befitting way to end the online classes by thanking them,” said Dalbir Kaur Chadda, principal of the school.