Blossoming with Love and Care during COVID – 19 – The internship diaries of the students of School of Education,Adamas University

Prarthita Biswas,  Kolkata: The spike of SARS COV – 2 (former name of COVID – 19) was witnessed in the month of December 2019 in the Chinese province of Wuhan. India faced the actual outbreak, two months later i.e. February 2020, when the first case was reported after the medical students returned from Chinese Universities, who were originally residents of Kerala studying in the Chinese Universities. As a consequence the disease stated spreading to the other regions and states, paralyzing the economy, business , education, industries, etc  each one on the go.

School  of Education,Adamas University Internship and Community outreach during Pandemic worldwide:

The students of B.Ed.(Final Semester) of School of Education, Adamas University were engaged in the School Internship Programme for the partial fulfillment of B.Ed curriculum right from the beginning of February 2020 after getting the due permission letter from the

   

department. The teachers/mentors of School of Education,Adamas University visited several times to this school and guided the students throughout the internship which prematurely ended due to pan India lockdown.

 While all were extensively engaged in the internship teaching process, several articles started emerging in the news dailies, expressing deep concerns about the terrible possibilities of COVID – 19 outbreaks. By then, other countries like Germany, Spain, Italy, France, were suffering from terrible consequences of COVID – 19 pandemic. With massive death toll rising day by day, Italy with a robust medical technology literally surrendered in the face of this pandemic crisis during March 2020. On the other hand, the students were doing our community outreach programme during mid – month of March 2020.

Sacred Heart High School(HS) in the Barrackpore Cantonment area, under the supervision of Mrs. Camille Johnson, Principal of Sacred Heart Day High School

Barrackpore deserves special mention. She runs several NGOs including Boys home, girls home and nevertheless old – age homes. The school interns  visited those homes namely which is also a part of their Community outreach project which were mainly: -

Bachpan Boys Child Care Institute, Ubique Lodge

Bachpan Girls Child Care institute at Banshbagan, near Palta Airforce quarters.

Ananda Niketan Old Age Home, at Batthtala more, Barrackpore

The First Impression in students (Tuhin Banerjee,Semester IV) point of view who was working as an teacher trainee and school intern:

”To our utter surprise we got a different kind of welcome. The little children took us inside the home. They were very much comfortable to interact with us, to make us feel at home and last but not the least, we were astonished to notice how easily they mingled with us, and seemingly they knew us for a long time.”

These are the dream projects of Mrs. Camille Johnson Madam.

According to Amit Biswas&Nilanjana Ghatak both B.Ed.Semester IV students who are interns in the school,  “The more we came to know about these homes the more we felt that these are really unique ideas tirelessly shaped into reality, gradually but not in a hurry.”

Later I came to know when visiting as a subject-mentor in the school and speaking with Mrs. Camille Johnson, Principal of Sacred Heart Day High School, Barrackpore who was very much hospitable with me that these children are nurtured under the supervision of these orphanages. They study in government schools ranging from class one (I) up to class ten (X). They are getting the motherly care from the teachers/wardens of these homes along with study lessons on subjects like English, Bengali, Mathematics, Science, etc. on daily basis.

Children having hidden talents when they showed our students beautiful paintings, magnificent craft works and out of the box recitation skills. One cannot compare these truly unspeakable talents of these children relating to their past life spent on the streets, littered and full of dust. No one can imagine their past struggle for existence, searching food from dustbins and sleepless nights out of starvation spent on footpath. Now they can lead a much gracious life far from their dark past. Now they are not only involved in bookish knowledge learning, but also learning life – lessons from the old – age home for destitute women. Applying the Milap concept, the grandparents, dumped by their own siblings, affectionately adhered to these orphans and on the other hand the children got the love and care of these elderly people. Thus the love and care bloomed out of symbiosis. Now they are free to chase their own dreams, living happily with each other that were beyond imagination few years back.

The Hope: Recently the pandemic has brutally exposed the vulnerabilities of the best health care systems all over the world.

Coming forward as a goodwill gesture the respected Police Officials of “Barrackpore Police Commissionarate” were present at “Bachpan Boys Orphanage” and distributed food grains, potatoes, eggs,santizers, face masks for the orphanage. They also distributed the above to the destitutes of “Apnapan Old Age Home”.

Let us remember the most important saying that humanity and kindness is above all.

“Precaution is better than cure”. For this instance till now no vaccine  is yet formulated. So, we must stay at home to stay safe. We must handle this recent situational crisis through patience, alertness, courage and kindness” – According to the Principal of Sacred Heart High School (HS).

The Principal of Sacred Heart High School, who has worked hard and supported the families of the Covid-Amphan affected areas is also keen to work with education,social work and project related work with Adamas University and Adamas Foundation as a whole.

Adamas Foundation aims  to improve Human Development Index (HDI) of the areas in and around Adamas University (Barasat Sadar subdivision), by focusing on health and healthcare, education and improved standards of living. Honorable Chancellor, Professor Samit Ray prime focus is to have a balanced development which is a combination of multiple interventions in education (Anganwadis and primary), healthcare (primary), access (infrastructure, water, legal help), readiness (skill development) and related areas.