Spotlight on tech transformation of schools

Ludhiana, September 1

Principals and representatives from prominent schools of the city, affiliated with the PSEB and CBSE, attended the Principals’ meet organised by The Tribune Group of Newspapers in association with Chitkara University here on Saturday.

The educators deliberated on the topic ‘Technology Integration in schools: Opportunities and challenges’ at the meet.

The keynote address on the topic was delivered by Aadi Garg, a noted motivational speaker and career counsellor. Addressing the senior functionaries of city schools, he said there was a dire need to bridge the gap between parents and teachers in shaping the future of the students. To this end, continuous communication between parents and teachers was a must, he added.

Garg asked the parents to open up with the school authorities, keep an eye on the progress of their kids and help in shaping the overall personality of the students.

The principals networked to accrue beneficial ideas and queries were raised on many topics, in the interactive session.

Dr Sanjiv Chandel, Principal, RS Model Senior Secondary School, said in this era, the government schools can not compete with the private ones affiliated with different boards for the simple reason that the students in these schools came from underprivileged backgrounds, for whom technological advancement was not that easy and that there was a pressing need to extend support to these schools.

The principals also opined that technology needed regular updating.

In her address, Preeti Chaudhry, director, Chitkara University, said that her institution was well-equipped with the latest technology and its students were able to deliver well academically. She added Chitkara University provided a platform to the students to learn to grow with a holistic approach.

It is not easy to adopt the change, especially for those coming from underprivileged backgrounds. There are many challenges faced by the schools faced in implementing technology integration. In schools where students are from ‘needy’ families, it is not easy to accept the change. They do not have proper resources to stay in this race. — Bhuvnesh Bhatt, General Secretary of school Sangh, Punjab, and Principal of SND Vidya Mandir

“Technology has made life easy — safety of students, attendance of teachers and students, smart classes, timetable adjustments — everything is just a click away. But technology has both positive and negative impact and we need to understand this and move sensibly towards shaping the future of the students” — Dr Sanjiv Chandel, Principal, RS Model Senior Secondary School

There is a need to learn and become tech-savvy in this digital era. This principals’ meet organised by The Tribune and Chitkara University touches upon a very important topic as after Covid, offline studies have been taken over by online studies, even in schools, and this has brought many changes — good and bad. The online platform provides a push towards self-learning.

— Dr Dhiraj Thapliyal, Principal, Sant Ishar Singh School

Times have changed and students can not achieve their academic goals by merely becoming bookworms, they need to learn the holistic approach towards life and technology plays an important role in this. — Ashish Sawney, Principal, Bal Bharti School