"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."

At Impact Network, last week was our second full week back in school since March. For the first time, we saw our familiar students’ faces, our teachers engaging with their scholars, and our management team back in the field. With very little time, we mobilized every aspect of our work to reopen classroom doors safely. Similar to many schools across the globe, we have split most classes into two sessions and students attend every other day for a regular school day. We require and supply masks, ask students to distance themselves, hold outdoor classes when we can, and clean the classroom multiple times a day. I have been so immensely proud of our team during the school closures, and this pride grew over the last week as we got back into our classrooms each day. It has been so heartening to see everyone working together to ensure our students receive a quality education, particularly:

Watching our students line up for school, excited to be back and adhering to the new rules we have laid out. Our management teams in the field sent picture after picture of their school visits with the same visual we have been seeing across the globe – students smiling behind their masks, standing far apart, excited to be back!

Our Teacher Supervisors observing their teachers, and conducting coaching sessions and meetings safely. While our teachers are slightly out of practice, our Academics team is working hard to make sure that they receive the adequate support, coaching, and resources to ensure they can be successful! Their first week back saw them teaching students about masks, why wearing them is important, and setting new classroom rules to keep everyone safe.

Our Operations Coordinators using their creativity skills to create hands-free washing stations, build new hand-washing facilities where needed, and make sure that schools have the supplies they need. It was a busy week to get all of the deliveries and printing done, but our Operations team have been amazing!

Our Communities coming together safely to ensure our schools still have active PTAs and community involvement. We held a few critical outdoor meetings with communities and PTA members to make sure they knew the precautions being taken at the schools. We also worked closely with heads of schools to schedule and plan for the coming term.

To me, the last few weeks have been the culmination of the famous African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." As we look forward to our final school term of the year, these words could not be more true. As we welcome back our Impact Network Scholars, let’s plan to go far, together.

-Reshma