Socially Distanced but Digitally United - From the Desk of the English HOD

 “ THE SECRET OF CHANGE IS TO FOCUS ALL OF YOUR ENERGY, NOT ON FIGHTING THE OLD, BUT ON BUILDING THE NEW”. [SOCRATES]

2020 has been a year of multiple transitions- from telecommunication with loved ones, to adjusting to lockdown rules and finding innovative ways of bringing the classroom to the home. Admittedly, these have been challenging times – COVID-19   has held us to ransom and academically, the education fraternity has had to pay the price in more ways than one.

In order to make schooling more accessible to our learners, we had to make the transition from face-to face to ‘COVID’ online lessons and the Google classroom eventually became the norm. My team, like all other educators, had to navigate through and sharpen their technological skills in order to deliver effective online lessons. This has, in effect, given us an unprecedented insight into educators’ professional acumen with regards to digital teaching and yes, the learning curve thereof has most certainly been encouraging.

A Canadian student quite aptly summed up our COVID dilemma numerically -“5 letters, 2 numbers and 1 deadly microbe…” and so we have seen the very paradox of life –whilst COVID-19 distanced us from our loved ones, it brought humanity together in our collective pain and suffering.

To this end, I must place on record my sincere thanks and appreciation to my team in the Department of English for working tirelessly to ensure that academic work continued despite the many challenges we faced this year. Furthermore, my heartfelt thanks to the Al Falaah family for their compassion and understanding and being my pillar of strength during the loss of my dear mother.

Always remember, in the face of adversity, every challenge we conquer serves to strengthen our ability to face the future. 

A LALPERSAD [HOD-ENGLISH]