15 th September 2020- a day which was awaited by the students of Grade IX
and X all over the country not because of a cricket match or release of new
Hollywood thriller, but the excitement and enthusiasm that punctuated the
wait was the coming back to school after a long vacation which started from
February 26 th , 2020 abruptly, because of the first registered case of the
Novel Corornavirus in Karachi, Pakistan. The epidemic changed everything
as it started spreading, from trade to travel, from teaching to learning, from
personal lives to professional lives.
The children, who usually sulk whenever asked to go to the school in the
morning, started missing the premises badly. However, remote teaching
and learning connected the students with students and teachers in an
effective way ensuring the smooth transition from the academic year 2019-
20 to 2020-21 virtually.
On one hand where online teaching and learning helped students to be
connected with the academia, it also accentuated values such as friendship,
mutual respect, thirst for knowledge and punctuality. This excitement was
covert on the 15 th of September, 2020, when students of Grade IX and X
came back to school wearing their radiant smiles and confident body
language. Teachers were also delighted to be in a physical classroom. The
contentment and satisfaction of being back in the school was enough for
every student and teacher to follow all the SOPs without fail.
All of this was a pleasure to observe, but a gesture that touched me the most
as a teacher made me write this blog post. A student of grade IX A,
Hussaina Tahir, came to me in the morning and asked permission to give
something to her friends. I allowed her pointing out the distance protocol to
be observed while I was physically present in the class too, to view this
spectacle.
Hussaina Tahir reached into her bag and drew out a shopper, from which
she took out wrapped gifts with notes of love and affection written on the
gift. She handed over the gifts to every girl in the class. Amused, the girls
started feeling what was inside the gift. The insides of the gift must be
interesting but, what appealed to me was how carefully, a small card was
placed on top of each gift, made with so much affection.
The tradition of giving gifts has always been encouraged by Syedna Aali
Qdar Muffaddal Saifuddin T.U.S in his preaching as well as practice. All
over the year, we, mumineen, keep receiving tokens of Barakat from Moula
T.U.S and may we be the recipients of such bounties till eternity.
