Colour and creativity: Apeejay School, Nerul launches e-magazines for students during the pandemic

Must Covid- 19 imposed lockdowns stop our creative flair? The answer is no. In fact, by having more time at hand, one can set goals and accomplish difficult tasks by working consistently towards it.  

Apeejay School, Nerul has shown this commitment in putting together a total 40 magazines across classes and sections in a strength of about 700 students at the school. The initiative which started in October 2021 was a brainchild of Mr. Rakesh Joshi, Regional Director, Apeejay Education Society and Acting-Principal, Apeejay School, Nerul. In less than two months, Mr. Joshi with his able team of staff members, Ms. Swagata Das, Content Head and Head of English Department and Ms. Samita Vij, Creative Head and Head of Computer Science Department along with the support of teachers, students and parents came together to publish the magazines for session 2021-2022.

A one-of-its-kind initiative, the school team endeavoured to add colour and creativity in the lives of young learners by encouraging them to express their creative streak through writing, painting and designing. Talking about the process, Ms. Das says, “Due to a massive spike in Covid cases in Maharashtra, we have been at home and have been working, learning digitally. This was a great time to come together and curate our learnings from the pandemic. In that spirit, we sent out circulars to each class and class teacher to come up with their contributions across themes. Students sent their entries in different languages which we teach at the school, such as English, Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit and French. Then, we did a shortlist and forwarded these submissions to the respective subject teachers for editing. Post this, each class readied their own PowerPoint presentation of their magazine and submitted it to the IT department of the school.”

Ms. Vij, highlights how each student contribution was also checked for originality of thought and content by the IT team. “The design and conversion into e-magazines was done by the school. Currently, all the links are downloadable and accessible over mobile and desktop,” she says.

“Our Principal sir, Mr. Joshi, did not want children to lose out on any opportunity to showcase their talent. It was delightful to see how he personally made sure that each student participates in every class. Through this initiative, our students have learnt the nuances of publishing, writing, art, photography etc. We have also received heartfelt thank you notes and appreciation from parents of our students. We look forward to taking up more such initiatives as a school” says Ms Vij.

The school magazines were inaugurated at a virtual ceremony by Dr. V.S. Garg, Senior Education Advisor, Apeejay Education. At the event, he appreciated the efforts of the school teachers, staff and students for putting up a great show.