Mrs. D. Kar
14th April 2022
Our New School Year (2022-23) has started on an upbeat mood. All our students are back in school and visible signs of the dreaded pandemic are retreating in all its avatars. But let us keep our fingers tightly crossed and our masks firmly on for some time. Meanwhile, we are planning to celebrate Poila Baishakh, the Bengali New Year’s Day, in an especially joyous way – simply because we have not had a chance to celebrate anything properly in a long time.
It is now over 12 years since we have had a theme for the year. This year our theme is “Learn to Reflect”. Although we all reflect without exception, we don’t do so deliberately or purposefully. So, we have planned to share with our students the benefits of daily and conscious reflection. If we keep asking ourselves the questions, what, why and how, we will find ourselves reflecting ‘in action’ as well as ‘on action’. In other words, it will become second nature to us to think about all our actions – in the process of carrying them out and subsequently, on our actions after we have completed them. This habit will enable us to learn from our mistakes and also to feel good about ourselves when we reflect on our daily achievements. Even very young children can be guided to think about the things that they do. This way they learn to distinguish between good and bad, right and wrong. Perhaps our older students could be encouraged to maintain a journal where their reflections can be recorded briefly each day.
Apart from our daily actions, I am sure that most of us, as well as our students, reflect on larger issues such as life and death, nature, universe and God. In this context, I can’t help mentioning a lovely little book called, Philosophy for Children by Sundar Sarukkai.
Let us look forward to a great year ahead and let all our activities reflect that we are indeed a ‘thinking school’.
Devi KarApril 2022
Our New School Year (2022-23) has started on an upbeat mood. All our students are back in school and visible signs of the dreaded pandemic are retreating in all its avatars. But let us keep our fingers tightly crossed and our masks firmly on for some time. Meanwhile, we are planning to celebrate Poila Baishakh, the Bengali New Year’s Day, in an especially joyous way – simply because we have not had a chance to celebrate anything properly in a long time.
It is now over 12 years since we have had a theme for the year. This year our theme is “Learn to Reflect”. Although we all reflect without exception, we don’t do so deliberately or purposefully. So, we have planned to share with our students the benefits of daily and conscious reflection. If we keep asking ourselves the questions, what, why and how, we will find ourselves reflecting ‘in action’ as well as ‘on action’. In other words, it will become second nature to us to think about all our actions – in the process of carrying them out and subsequently, on our actions after we have completed them. This habit will enable us to learn from our mistakes and also to feel good about ourselves when we reflect on our daily achievements. Even very young children can be guided to think about the things that they do. This way they learn to distinguish between good and bad, right and wrong. Perhaps our older students could be encouraged to maintain a journal where their reflections can be recorded briefly each day.
Apart from our daily actions, I am sure that most of us, as well as our students, reflect on larger issues such as life and death, nature, universe and God. In this context, I can’t help mentioning a lovely little book called, Philosophy for Children by Sundar Sarukkai.
Let us look forward to a great year ahead and let all our activities reflect that we are indeed a ‘thinking school’.
Devi Kar
April 2022
PREPARING SCHOOL - LEAVERS FOR THE FUTURE
Published by The Asian Age, 20 November, 2020
Prepare kids for future as worries rise amidst COVID
By Devi Kar
This time of the year is always fraught with anxieties for school-leaving students. First, there is the looming board examination, the results of which determine their entry into colleges and universities. Next, there is the constant brooding over the choice of career paths. But 2020 has been especially tense for them on account of the untold disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, it is such a difficult time for school-leavers that the past seems unnaturally alluring while the future looks pretty grim.
As yet, nobody knows when on-campus classes will be resumed. Nor can anybody predict when, how and where the board examinations will be held. It is no wonder that the future after leaving school seems so terrifying for high schoolers. Even in normal years, students have a tough time selecting their branch of higher studies while keeping an eye on possible career paths. This year they are totally at sea, knowing that the world of work is undergoing turbulent changes. Further, they know that they will probably have to settle for virtual classes and will not experience college campus life, which they had been looking forward to for years.
At this time, we need to make a conscious effort to boost our students’ morale. Professional career counsellors are probably doing their job of keeping abreast of changes that are taking place and of trends that are already perceptible. However, career counsellors alone can’t be expected to allay the anxieties of students. Parents, mentors and teachers have an onerous responsibility too. They need to give students a sense of security and stability so that their education — irrespective of the timing and nature of the board and college entrance examinations — continues uninterrupted. Further, they must help them to face the world with a calm frame of mind and develop the adaptability to cope with the demands of new situations. Living examples may be cited, of enterprising people who have reinvented their lines of work successfully in these trying times. It would help them enormously, if teachers and mentors suggested concrete steps while their students go about trying to prepare for an unnervingly uncertain future.
Here are a few thoughts that we can share with our students while engaging with them. I feel that such dialogues make them less anxious about their future. The first point to drive home is that they are not the only ones facing this predicament — everybody was in the same boat. Although quite obvious, somehow, they find solace in this realisation which needs to be reinforced from time to time. They must also be made aware that humans have overcome many perilous situations in the past; therefore, we can believe with reason that the present condition is only temporary. Students must make most of the time they have at their disposal and learn not only from their prescribed coursework but from the myriad resources that are available on the Internet. It has become already clear that the future demands a broad outlook and an interdisciplinary approach — narrow specialisation has become passé.
Many students, along with their parents, worry because they are undecided about their career path. Instead of trying to coax them to make a decision immediately, it is perhaps wiser to reassure them that there is plenty of time to make a definite choice. In any case, people do not need to stick to any particular career line all through their working life. Examples may be given of the multifarious new occupations that have spawned in the recent past to demonstrate that there is no end to the opportunities that will be available to them. In the face of a possible job losses, resourceful young people have got hold of several digital assignments while working from home. Who knows, multiple careers can easily turn out to be the norm in future.
So far as their immediate anxiety of admission into reputed colleges is concerned, students must understand the need to be practical. Even a very good student may not get a seat in the college of his or her choice. This should not break the person. There are enough real-life examples to show that it is not necessary to attend a particular institution in order to make a success of life.
In the context of seeking “success”, it is imperative that young people must understand that success does not have a single definition — it comes in different forms. One way of defining success is the fulfilment of individual goals. Therefore, instead of chasing nebulous dreams, students should be encouraged to look inward and discover what they want out of life, where their interests lie and what their strengths are. To attain success, students must be resilient in the face of inevitable setbacks. In addition, they should possess certain skills and qualities which will always be in demand irrespective of place or circumstances. These include “people skills”, the ability to communicate effectively and being a reliable team player. Above all, it is important to be able to manage one’s own emotions competently and respond to other people’s emotions sensitively.
Parents and teachers must make a conscious effort not to pass on their own worries to the young. It is easier said than done, but we must cultivate a robust outlook ourselves while holding up for them an optimistic, yet not unrealistic, picture of the future.
30th March 2020
Namashkar,
Since namaste is now the preferred mode of greeting all over the world, I thought that I should greet you appropriately!
We are all going though troubled and testing times. Our lives have been disrupted suddenly and unexpectedly. While most of us are totally home-bound, we feel the urgent need to plan ahead so that we know exactly what to do when school reopens.
Our ‘lock-down’ time is being spent productively, preparing year-end reports, computing grades and arranging to send them across to parents/guardians electronically. We have been holding administrative and departmental meetings using various digital platforms. Many of our teachers have been holding virtual lessons with our senior students. However, we take comfort in the thought that when the official directive came to close all schools, we had completed our academic curriculum and examinations for the year 2019-20 and most of our students were expected to attend school only from 7th April, 2020 – the first day of the new session. Nevertheless, we do need to make up lost teaching-learning time since school will remain closed till at least mid-April. But it is not enough to just plan distance classes now and extra lessons after we re-open - we have to do much more to prepare for the post corona world.
By now, it is abundantly clear that when we go back to school, the world will be very different to the one we knew just a month ago. It is therefore imperative that we learn to adjust and adapt to the demands of a radically changed world. Apart from adjusting to the new circumstances, we have to do our own thinking and see how teaching and learning can continue effectively.
I find it ironical that we have just ended the year of Fitness, Health and Happiness and we were about to launch the theme for the new year, 2020-21, Clarity of Vision. Indeed, it is “clarity of vision” that will be needed desperately in these uncertain and confused times.
We at MHS have firmly resolved to be extra resilient, creative and resourceful as we know that if we wish to retain our stamp of excellence and serve our students well, we should be well ahead of the curve.
With best wishes for the New School Year,
Devi Kar
March 2020
8th April 2019
Focussing on "well-being" Modern High School for Girls, Kolkata, entered its 68th year in January. Our IB programme took off well last year and we will be welcoming the second batch of IB students later this month. Incidentally, today I embark on my 20th year at the helm of this School, first as Principal and then as Director.
Over the decades, MHS has earned a formidable reputation - nation-wide - in the field of academics as well as in co-curricular activities. Astonishingly, MHS has been the inter school athletic champion in the city for seven consecutive years! I must confess that I admire the way the School has been experimenting boldly and diving into all kinds of initiatives instead of following the beaten path to success.
Meanwhile, our alumni have been doing us proud all over the globe - so much so, that it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to choose a single ‘distinguished alumna’ among so many, to felicitate each year.
While I am filled with pride at the achievements of the School and marvel at the way the bar is progressively raised, I cannot help wondering whether we are paying enough attention to our children’s well-being. I have realised with a shock that a smiling child is not necessarily a happy child. So this year we have decided to have as our focus the happiness of each and every student of our school. Moreover, we will try to ensure that every MHS student learns to be strong and resilient and faces setbacks in a positive manner. Therefore the theme we have chosen for this year is as follows: “Our well-being-let’s be fit, healthy and happy.” This should apply to every member of the institution.
When I sit down to write my message in April, 2020, I hope to be able to declare with conviction, that MHS has a truly stress-free, happy yet stimulating environment. After all, most of us know that it is contentment and happiness that generate success - not the other way around.
Wishing all at MHS a happy and healthy new school year.
Devi Kar
April 2019
7th April 2018
Breaking Barriers
We began our new school year on 4th April, 2018, and I am writing my message for the year on 7th April. This is indeed unpardonable but we have been so preoccupied with new developments in addition to the usual end-of-year matters that the new session just caught us unawares. So I sat down with a sense of urgency, put my thoughts together and had them uploaded on our website.
It appears that our 67th year (2018-19) will be a landmark year in some ways. Our IB classes will be beginning and work on our new ‘green’ building will commence shortly. The Atal Tinkering Lab is expected to be operational and MEDHA will move into its second year. We are already excited about the initiatives we have thought up for the year but this time instead of just improving upon what we have already been doing we have made up our minds to break barriers.
What are these barriers? The one that our senior students wish to overcome are gender barriers. They wish to fight gender discrimination and they wish to gain more confidence to express themselves on different platforms and earn the right to be part of the policy making and decision making at home, in school and in the outside world. We realise that small girls are quite uninhibited but sadly, they are gradually conditioned to become passive and eventually they learn to keep their opinions to themselves. We must not let this happen.
The other barrier that we wish to try and demolish is this strange dependence on private tuition and an obsession with tests and exams. We want the focus to be on learning and on independent study. We will encourage our students to think about global issues and of ways to contribute to their community, country and to the planet. They must not think of stereo-typical careers for themselves – they must charter new paths.
In all this newness and breaking of barriers we will still be rooted in ‘the old and traditional’. This is the core of our philosophy. Therefore, it is not surprising that we have chosen, Learn from Nature as our theme for the year. After all, the most sophisticated of systems and technological inventions are based on bio-mimicry.
Let us hope that with the support of our parents (without which we cannot achieve anything) alumnae and well-wishers we will continue to be a thinking, creative and innovative school which will not only break barriers but forge new paths to the future.
Devi Kar
April 2018
5th April 2017
Preparing for tomorrow’s world
Ironically, it is the breakneck speed of change in today’s world that prompted us at MHS to take a good, hard look at our basics. It certainly appears that we have to constantly keep changing and reinventing ourselves not only to be able to function efficiently but indeed to survive. However, in order to embrace change and renew ourselves, we must first ensure that our educational foundation is firm and solid. It is only then that we can freely move in any direction we choose.
In this, our 66th year, I think we can safely say that our institution has been giving its students a sturdy foundation to build upon. In fact our theme for the year was, “Building on Basics” and we demonstrated the value of “basics” in myriad ways right through the session. Now it is time to look well beyond basics and to prepare to take a giant leap forward. Achieving high grades in academics, winning competitions at fests, breaking records in sports, creating beautiful works of art, being responsible consumers of energy and serving the community are ongoing year-round occupations. These are important but not enough to cope with a fast-changing environment.
Most of our younger children will, as adults, be in jobs and occupations that don’t even exist today. We are about to usher in the Fourth Industrial Revolution that will radically change the world we know. Driverless vehicles, sophisticated robots, artificial intelligence, bio-technology and genomics will bring about this transformation. Already the study of robotics has been introduced in many schools in India and in a couple of schools in our city. It is imperative for educators to recognise these signs of the times and focus on the skills that will be relevant in the years to come. Experts believe that even in a changed world some of the skills and attitudes that will continue to be valued are: adapting easily, communicating clearly and appropriately, presenting ideas powerfully, succinctly and elegantly and working collaboratively. It is not surprising that emotional intelligence, as an ingredient of success, is expected to retain its importance. Keeping tomorrow’s world in mind, we at Modern High, intend to focus even more intensely on team work, creativity, imaginative thinking and problem solving.
Modern High School for Girls is alma mater to a long and illustrious line of worthy women who have excelled in their respective fields. We are now ready to produce not only thinkers and innovators but also far better leaders than we have today.
Devi Kar
April 2017