CIRCULAR
With reference to the unprecedented situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Charis High Academy
believes that health and safety of everyone is of utmost priority. As our nation undergoes the 21 day
lockdown, it is important that we take all necessary precautions to fight this pandemic by staying home,
staying safe and staying healthy.
Surely at this difficult time, it makes sense for schools to remain closed. However, at the same time, I’m
sure as parents you are anxious about your child’s loss of academic instruction and must be wondering
how your child is going to cope with school once the nation overcomes this present situation.
Let me assure our stakeholders that CHA is exploring all opportunities to tackle the situation in the best
possible manner. That is why it is very important now than ever before to strengthen the synergy between
the home environment and school environment. Both stakeholders need to come together to engage in
building a positive learning community during this difficult time.
As CHA moves towards the new academic session, there is no reason for our children to halt their
learning due to the pandemic. If anything, it has given us a unique opportunity to continue our students’
education through all and available resources. Therefore, CHA has decided to move forward with
‘School-Home collaboration for learning’. We believe that this is the right time to embrace technology and
hence, CHA will be conducting online assisted classes till the relaxation of the lockdown period.
One of our goals to utilize technology through online learning is to prevent the academic slide of
students. But, more importantly we want to give our students a competitive edge and equip them with life
skills to face real world challenges.
While we realize online learning cannot fully substitute the quality of a face-to-face classroom interaction,
CHA will use online learning resources to best support our students during this difficult and uncertain
time.
As we prepare to move ahead with online classes, we do foresee challenges like poor network
connectivity, low bandwidth and so on. Rest assured that together we will work around with any such
issue to make sure that our children’s learning is not interrupted.
There can be no better time than this to move beyond the customary classroom and invite our parents to
a much deeper and long‐term relationship in their child’s progress on the learning curve. Additionally, I
would also ask our parents to please be patient with our teachers and work with us to solve any issue
that comes up. Please remember that this is a new direction for us as well, and your cooperation and
support will be a tremendous help to us and your children as we venture into this new avenue of learning.
To allow smooth functioning and avoid any confusion during this time, the go-to person for all queries and
concerns will be your child’s class teacher.
To ensure the successful implementation of our online classes, we have come up with certain guidelines
and protocols that parents, students and teachers must go through thoroughly and follow strictly.
General Guidelines for Applications Used:
• Teachers will use WhatsApp and Zoom as the primary applications to communicate with children and
conduct classes.
• All CHA parents/students are requested to download the Zoom Cloud Meeting application immediately
on receiving this circular
• A short demo will be conducted for both parents and students on how to use the application. The date
and time of the demo class will be informed in advance at a later date.
• Parents are requested to kindly attend the Zoom app demo without fail as this is a crucial step in
making sure your child’s learning is not hampered during this time.
• Parents/students not using WhatsApp are requested to kindly download the application. All official
communication will be done through WhatsApp. If required, a demo for this can be arranged as well.
• Please note that apart from the two applications mentioned, students will be using other learning apps
as well. Hence, they will need to download those apps as instructed by their class teacher only.
General Guidelines for Online Classes:
- Online classes will begin from 9th March 2020.
- Only 2 hours of online classes will be arranged in a day for one subject.
a) Please note that this is subject to change based on the situation and how we cope with the online
classes. - The timing of the online classes will be from 9:00 a.m to 11:00 a.m, Monday to Friday.
- A routine/time table of the online classes will be sent to the parents and students via WhatsApp.
- Timely reminders will be sent by the class teacher via WhatsApp informing the parents and students of
the upcoming class. - Classes will be conducted via Zoom and assignments will be sent to students through the chosen
tools. - Deadlines will be set by the teacher and students must adhere to the given deadlines strictly.
- Subject teachers will evaluate and grade student participation, work completion, assessments and
progress. This will be added to the child’s final assessment at the end of the academic year. - For all and any purpose the class teacher will be the point-of-contact. Parents are requested not to
contact the subject teachers. - The class teacher will create a WhatsApp group of all their students.
- The class teacher will distribute ALL information and assignments to the students.
- Similarly, students will submit ALL their assignments to their respective class teachers.
- The class teacher will also add their students to Zoom and invite the subject teacher to conduct the
class as per the time table.
Protocol for Online Classes: - Students and staff must be dressed appropriately for the online classes.
- Attendance of students is to be taken by the class teacher.
- If a student is unable to attend a class for any reason, please inform the class teacher immediately.
- All work and assignments are to be completed and submitted by the student as instructed by the class
teacher. - Parents are to ensure that the home environment and area used for online classes is conducive for
learning. - Parents are requested to kindly ensure that class time is not disturbed or interrupted at any cost.
- Parents, students and teachers MUST NOT record each other’s online interactions without permission.
This will be a breach of media privacy laws. - All material shared by teachers is solely for the purpose of CHA students and circulation of any
material is prohibited.
The task ahead is new for all of us and may seem daunting. There will be challenges and changes can
be expected. But only if we work together, we can make this a success. It is our duty as parents, teachers
and the school community at large to be positive in our feedback and to show support to one another for
the greater benefit of our children. So let us work together and lead by example. Let us make this
possible.
Regards
C.J Aier
Administrator, CHA
