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A Story of Hope

In May 2020, if someone told you that in a year’s time, the country would still be in a lockdown with all the schools shut and COVID cases rising, most of us would’ve brushed it off in disbelief. However, here we are in May 2021, with cases on the rise as the country prepares for a possible third wave.


While many industries and sectors have been gravely impacted by the chaos of this pandemic, the education sector especially in the North-Eastern states has become extremely concerning. Shifting to an online platform in a region where a majority of the towns, villages, and settlements do not even have mobile network connectivity is not easy and students and teachers face several disadvantages every day.


We bring you a story of effort, hope, and positivity from Meghalaya, This is Sir Tapan Kumar Paul’s story.


Sir Tapan Kumar Paul is a Math and Science teacher at the Vidya Mandir UPS, Williamnagar, East Garo Hills, Meghalaya. With the rapid rise of covid cases in the state every day, the government imposed another lockdown in May. This happened within a few months of physical classes resuming and student attendance was just starting to normalize. The final exams for 2020 had just ended, new concepts were introduced to students as newly trained Meghshala teachers explored our app in the classroom. Almost overnight, education had to again be redirected to an online platform which in many North Eastern states is just to the extent of a classroom WhatsApp group. Sir Tapan Paul followed this trend and created a series of WhatsApp groups for students and their parents. For the next few days, he received a lot of concerned calls from students as they struggled to really understand the instructions and concepts they had been so excited to learn about earlier.


Due to the lack of accessibility to smartphones and mobile networks, some of his brightest students had been negatively impacted last year and they continued to request informal physical classes. While every teacher enjoys watching their students hunger for learning, this time it brought more helplessness and grief than anything. Tapan sir made an effort in trying to educate his students on the global COVID-19 crisis first and why distance learning was critical and being implemented in other countries with similar connectivity issues as India.


Students were then encouraged to make adjustments while Tapan sir continued to customize his teaching based on each student’s ability to access education. He made notes every week and sends them out on Monday overlining the goals, homework, and concepts for the week. Additionally, he allowed students who live closer to him to visit him for any questions, revisions or corrections.


We’d like to thank Tapan sir for all his efforts in ensuring that each student of his has access to knowledge and continues to teach despite all the setbacks teachers are currently facing every day. While this lockdown may be temporary, we know that his efforts in engaging with his students will leave a lasting impact on their lives.


- by Simrin Tamhane

Meghshala




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