Classrooms decorated and cakes cut in Gurugram: After 2 years, schools come alive on Teachers’ Day

GURUGRAM: After a two-year Covid-induced hiatus, schools in the city came alive on Monday morning to celebrate Teachers’ Day.
From frontline schools to budget private institutions, the assembly grounds and auditoriums of the schools across the city were bustling with cheers and laughter this morning as they marked the birth anniversary of the former president of India, S Radhakrishnan.
“With the first major cultural programme where educators were given a day to de-stress, the essence of school life is finally back. And we all felt it together,” DAV School principal Aparna Erry said.
“The pandemic was a testing time and even as our teachers and students responded to the challenge, the lack of physical touch and such a light-hearted fun day at school was being missed by all. Today, we felicitated the students who had done well in board exams, had a light-hearted afternoon by devouring delicacies, and saw some lively performances put up by teachers,” she said.
“We were having celebrations in the online format and while that too was itself an experience, nothing can match school corridors filled with cheers and laughter of students and teachers, and classes decorated with handmade cards and posters by the students,” said an official of Salwan Public School.
In a few schools, parents took the lead to honour the educators who worked tirelessly to ensure that the challenges of online classes did not impact the learning outcomes. At different campuses of The Shri Ram School in Delhi-NCR, the parents’ association got together to organise an afternoon dedicated to teachers and students.
“Last time we had such an experience was in 2019. After the classes went online in March 2020 owing to the pandemic, school life somewhere lost its sheen to an extent. But today, the kind of spectacular show the students and teachers have put together for this event, we feel elated,” Shri Ram director Manika Sharma said.
Students, too, noted that the first major event of this session has brought back the spirit of collective efforts. “Online events were good but it lacked that sense of collective effort,” said Navya Malhotra, a Class 11 student of Suncity School.