Bharti Kalra, the vice principal of a government-aided school, that is, Sarvodaya Vidyalaya in Rohini Sector-8, has been honoured with Delhi State Teachers’ Award this year for her exceptional contribution in helping poor students with their online classes during the pandemic. Kalra went above and beyond to help underprivileged students by providing them with smartphones.

She collected 321 smartphones through her family members and friends and gave them to the poor students so that they don’t miss the online classes due to the lack of facilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic last year. She is one of the 122 school teachers who had been felicitated with the state teachers’ award by the Delhi government on the eve of Teachers’ Day.

Kalra, in a conversation with ANI, said that she had not applied for the award, and getting nominated for the same came as a surprise to her.

Talking about her initiative, Kalra recalled how many students of her school couldn’t attend online classes due to lack of resources, that is, laptops, tablets or smartphones. She said, “I felt so helpless at that time. Then, one of our students lost his father due to Covid. I couldn’t possibly ask him to buy a smartphone during that time.” Kalra herself gave him a smartphone but realised that he wasn’t the only kid who couldn’t access the online classes.

She told the news agency that all the teachers of her school contacted their friends and acquaintances on WhatsApp and discuss the problems faced by these kids during the pandemic.

While it was a difficult task to convince people in the beginning but slowly people started coming forward to help them in their endeavour. The vice-principal also informed that the kids who couldn’t take online classes were given worksheets to encourage them to keep studying during the pandemic.

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