SHILLONG: Where there is a will, there is a way, so goes the maxim. But to live up to it is another story. And this is what 14-year-old Cleric Jayden Wanniang achieved.
Despite pandemic and the consequent closure of schools, Cleric chose not to waste time even though school was not close by but seized the opportunity to attend 111 online programmes comprising 14 online courses, 82 webinars (both at national and international level) and 15 online quizzes starting from July 21 last.
A student of Seven Set Higher Secondary School, he is currently in 8th standard and is the eldest among three siblings.
“I would attend any online courses. I started using every second of my time to its fullest capability. Therefore, I firstly started with WHO courses and later, I began taking up various other online courses,” he told The Shillong Times.
He made sure that during the lockdown he kept himself busy with various activities with his daily routine that starts at 6 am, doing few dryland exercises followed by studying and preparing for his academic online classes.
Being the eldest, he does lend a helping hand in household chores a little and attends many webinars and online courses most of the times.
“However, when attending these webinar and online courses, I would always keep in my mind that there must be a balance between these activities,” he said.
He also said, “All I wish right now is for a vaccine manufactured by God through our prayers”.
Not getting an opportunity to catch up with his passion for swimming due to the pandemic and the lockdown, online classes and webinar caught his attention.
He said his parents motivated him to take up these webinars and on seeing his mother’s preparation for online classes, preparing assignments, organising WhatsApp classes to her college students, he was inspired to take up such webinars, thinking it will help to develop his co-curricular educational activities.
“As I had no idea of what was a webinar all about, I initially attended the webinar with my mother and later I started attending these online programmes on my own,” he said.
Later, he developed an interest in attending the webinars/online courses and found out that there are various organizations and universities which offer online courses.
Wanniang would also love to attend more webinars as he believes that there is always room for learning and to gain more knowledge and information with the outside world.
“I am very much satisfied with the number of certificates/achievements I have received till date but, however, with the present lockdown scenario and the environment we are living in, I would like to utilise most of my time with more studies, information and exploring the ICT world through webinars, online courses etc. E-certificates collected will serve as a purpose for record-keeping in my academic world”, he said.
On attending the WHO courses, he said the courses gave him more information and knowledge with regard to various aspects of COVID-19.
Again, UNICEF course gave him insight into the topic ‘GBV( Gender-based Violence) Risk within the COVID-19 Response’, enlightening him about domestic violence at home faced by women and children during the lockdown besides battling lack of education, child protection, nutrition, shelter, food security, sanitation (cleanliness).
The other is Bitdegree, a blockchain-based education company, that provided him knowledge on how to create a website.
The others are Gaples Institution courses, Harvard Medical University, International and National Institutions, namely British Indian Psychiatric Association (England), CSO Group(North York, Canada), University of Lincoln (England), SOER (Oklahoma, USA), PowerUp Ur Instruction (New York, USA), Lady Keane College (Shillong), St. Aloysius Institute of Education (Mangaluru), Birla Global University (Odisha), to name a few.
On the experience of interacting with people from different parts of the world, Wanniang said it was a very nice experience meeting different people from different parts of the world, listening to them, sharing information.
“Although we hardly converse during the webinars session, asking questions in the group chatbox is interesting and helps us interact more with each other rather than voice mail,” he said.
His parents were his pillars of support as they provided him various resources such as an internet connection, device to access the webinars and courses, etc. and some of his well-wishers helped him by providing various links to webinars, online courses, etc., so that he can get enrolled and register for such classes.
“My peers and classmates always encourage me to take up more courses and share my findings with them”, he said.
Despite getting the privilege of internet facilities, the 14-year-old is bothered about a number of issues arising out of modern internet connection.
“Yes, we may have online classes through various platforms but there are several issues faced by many students while attending these online classes. Some may have problems with the availability of gadgets, some may face problems with the internet, et al. Therefore, at the end, no matter how advanced the world has become, online classes can never replace classroom teaching,” he said.
The message to his peers is short and simple — not to waste precious time in unproductive work but to utilise time in learning as ‘Learning is the key which unlocks Future’.
