UNESCO estimates that over 63 million teachers are affected by the COVID-19 emergency, with their schools closed and their students trying to learn from home. The Aga Khan Education Services are working to ensure that their teachers and staff are able to follow the World Health Organization’s advice: stay connected, maintain a healthy life style, take pleasure in what you have and seek help if you need it.
"So what is being a teacher at AKS, Osh like now? We have found that online teaching compliments classroom teaching. Believe it not, some days I find online classes a really interesting and comfortable method of teaching! I am grateful that this lockdown has encouraged us to enhance our IT teaching skills and find new ways to communicate with students and parents." said Gulnara Abdieva, English teacher ad Professional Development Trainer at Aga Khan School in Osh, Kyrgyzstan.
More than a month after the COVID-19 pandemic forced unexpected shutdowns of schools around the world, parents from the Aga Khan School, Dhaka (AKSD) remain grateful to the teachers who have made the transition to online school a smooth one.
In two short weeks, AKES,A programme leaders had designed self-study packages for students that included reading resources, worksheets, assignments and study planners and at-home activities for pre-schoolers and their families.
On 26 March, the Government of Bangladesh announced a shutdown of all schools across the country to combat Covid-19. Like teachers around the world who are missing being physically present in the classroom with their students, Anjuman Ara and her colleagues at the Aga Khan School, Dhaka have no choice but to embrace virtual classrooms.
Teachers throughout the world have had to adopt and adapt new COVID-19 compliant teaching methods to help their students continue to learn during the pandemic.
As part of AKES efforts to strengthen teachers and ensure that students gain entry to top international tertiary education institutions, the aim of the teacher collaboration project is straightforward: to enhance and enrich the pedagogical skills of AKES teachers.
Teachers and volunteers in Aga Khan schools across Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral pick up books from school libraries and deliver them door-to-door while taking all possible care to observe the recommended precautions of wearing masks and maintaining social distance.
When you are “eager” to return to work in a hospital during a pandemic, it might be safe to say that you have found your calling. That is the case for Dr Mehdi Irfani, a trainee at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan.