Birla High School

Sixteen students debated the pros and cons of digital learning at the 21st L.N. Birla Memorial Debate organised by Birla High School on July 11. The flagship event is held to mark the school’s Founder’s Day. This year’s motion — The Digital World Holds a Key to a Better Education System — had all the participants logged in from their homes as they debated the accessibility of the education system in the times of online classes.

Best Speaker Kaushiki Ghosh also clinched the Best Team’s trophy for Shri Shikshayatan School with a resounding argument against the motion. According to her, in a country where most government-aided primary institutions run out of derelict and dingy buildings lacking basic infrastructure, digitisation is a luxury. “Education is not just about facts, figures, statistics and theorems, it is about shaping the personality too. Where do we learn our morals in this online world? Where is the experience-based learning?” said the feisty debater. It was Kaushiki’s first time at an online debate.

According to principal Loveleen Saigal of Birla High School, Moira Street, not hosting the debate at all would have been a huge disappointment. “We were worried about technical glitches. We took a week to prepare. But we managed to ultimately host the event, though a truncated version, with maximum social distancing,” she said. Debater and a member of Calcutta Debating Circle S.V. Raman moderated the debate.

BDM International students present the school song during the online prize distribution ceremony of the school Screeen grab

BDM International

BDM International School celebrated their annual prize distribution ceremony online. The achievers were felicitated with e-certificates and cash prizes. It included the highest scorers in individual subjects of both Class X and XII board examinations 2019-20. Rendition of the school song by students and lighting the lamp also took place. Every year, the event used to coincide with the school fest, giving it the shape of an annual jamboree. However, the motive behind this event that was to encourage children to push their boundaries so that they could come up with flying colours in future was fulfilled this time as well. “Although we could not celebrate prize distribution in the way we had done it in the past, the biggest gain for me was that we could see the satisfaction on the faces of the parents as well which eluded us before, as only the students came to collect the certificates on stage. Yes, we missed personal touches, but this new normal is not entirely negative as the silver lining of this pandemic is that we are getting acquainted with new technologies,” said principal Vijaya Chaudhuri.