School’s I.T policy has been a topic of discussion for almost everyone in the Chandbagh community and following a change in regulations, junior forms have also been allowed their own laptops on campus, a privilege that was once reserved exclusively for the S and Sc forms. While COVID-19 has forced us to spend increasing amounts of time in front of screens, we believe it may be time to take a closer look and consider both the positive and negative aspects of junior forms utilising their laptops in School.
Most of the school spent the better part of a year doing their classes virtually and this led to a vast amount of their study material becoming a part of the online world; numerous assignments and worksheets now reside in the safety of Google Classroom for students to access as and when they please. This is a major advantage for many Doscos as they need not worry about managing countless sheets of paper that they will require later on. It also allows them to build on existing notes and resources instead of beginning from scratch, which aids them when they prepare for exams. Students having their laptops on campus has also allowed masters to conduct extra classes or revision sessions in the evenings ,eliminating the need to rush to the main building and hence saving precious toye time. This proved to be especially beneficial for A formers, who were preparing for their boards at the time. Another reason that it was necessary to allow students to bring their laptops was the fact that during the one week quarantine period, classes were conducted online and this ensured that there was no gap in the students’ learning.
The pandemic required us to adapt to the ‘new normal’ but the culture and the spirit of the doscos could not be tarnished for this reason. Doscos are known to indulge in a variety of competitions and events as it helps to develop cognitive and analytical skills which are essential for learning outside the classrooms. Even during the pandemic, the students were resilient and flexible enough to participate actively in round square conferences and the school’s annual junior english debating invitational cup(JEDI). Thanks to the online world that we as ‘digital natives’ were able to conduct one of our most prestigious events, DSMUN which was a massive success as it saw the largest ever participation and more importantly, schools from abroad were also able to experience this MUN which served as a proud moment for our school. The digital world guaranteed that there wasn’t any obstacle between the learning curve and the junior most forms not only enriched these memories but also actively took part in these wonderful competitions organised by the school and also collaborated with other schools in India.
A new sight last term was the endless line outside the Housemaster’s study on a Saturday, with students eagerly awaiting to be reunited with their phones. However, this was a necessity, as the house phones that we used to call our parents with, had been removed to curb the spread of infection, and this was the only way we could communicate with our parents.
While laptops have proved to be a useful tool in everyday school life, if not used properly, they can also pose a serious threat. Laptops can be distracting, especially in junior forms as academics are not that demanding and students have more leisure time. Some students used to stay glued to the screen even during games time, scrolling through instagram or watching YouTube videos, and this threatens the very ethos that School is built on. The time after lunch is meant to be used constructively, by attending an STA or a society meeting or even practicing at the music school for example. When one is in their C or D form they are meant to explore school and the various activities it offers before picking a certain field that they wish to pursue or excel in, be that debating or publication designing. But now juniors instinctively pick up their laptops and this has not only affected their peer to peer relationships but also their student-master relationships which is an essential part of life at doon.
‘It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity’ – this quote by Albert Einstein perfectly fits in to sum up the state of the junior most forms at this point of their school life. In C form, students would seek to bond and adjust with their form-mates more since they would have just shifted into their main houses. It would take them time to become acquainted with the culture of the main houses, how everything functions and primarily, they would be looking forward towards getting to know their tutors and housemasters more. There would be new students trying to fit in their peer groups as everything would be novel for them and it is bound that they would be perplexed. Making them feel at ease is paramount and in the midst of this, introducing chrome books would just make this shift for them way too complicated and uneasy. In this new environment, C formers haven’t even seen their seniors make efficient use of their laptops and their maturity at handling laptops within the four walls of the school is ought to be low, making them vulnerable to lose their precious laptops or misplace them.
