Jerome D’Souza

Mangaluru, Sep 6: Under normal circumstances, Teachers’ Day is celebrated with a lot of gusto in schools and colleges across the country. Students make cards for their teachers, present them with flowers to show their appreciation and in general, spend a few happy hours in school and colleges.

Unfortunately, since March 2020, teacher and students have not seen each other and any interaction has been strictly online due to Covid-19 pandemic. But that did not stop the students of St Aloysius Institute of Education (Leading college of teacher education in the city) from celebrating and thanking their teachers. This Teachers’ Day was a fun-filled online programme with pre-recorded songs, dances and games. The students watched online as their teachers played along.

The entire programme took nearly two weeks to come together as many BEd students are still stuck in Pune, Mumbai, Goa and Kerala. All discussions and suggestions were done over mobiles, WhatsApp group and Zoom calls.

Students created online games under the guidance of Anisha D’Souza, a fourth-semester student. Some students shot videos of themselves dancing. They were edited by Anisha to create a short dance sequence to present it online.

Laveena Nightingale Kunder, the student council president and fourth-semester BEd student said, “Usually we have speeches, songs and maybe a dance. But this time we introduced games for the teachers and that went down very well with them. We were nervous about internet connections not working and we had no control over technical problems. Luckily, we had a lot of volunteers. Usually, teachers supervise all these programmes in college but this time, we were entirely on our own!”

The St Aloysius Institute of Education is now in its 15th year. Every year, nearly 50 freshly minted teachers are created, but ever since the pandemic, the future of teacher education has been scrutinized.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Farita Viegas, principal SAIE, said, “Teachers Day is one such event in the academic year which helps the teachers to discover themselves. It is also a day for which both the students and the teachers equally look forward. Teachers’ Day is important as it gives the students an opportunity to understand the efforts put in by their teachers to ensure proper training in education and also this is a day where the teachers obtain recognition and honour for their selfless services and hard labour”. The principal also mentioned a pioneer figure, Savitribai Phule, the first female teacher of India who relentlessly fought against the dominant caste system and worked towards the upliftment of the marginalized and equal opportunity in education.

Celia rendered the welcome address. Satya highlighted the significance of the celebration. Neha and Demcy conducted games. Edna D’Souza delivered the vote of thanks. Ramyalaxmi compered the programme.