The Great Mystery Finally Unveiled

For days and weeks many minds have been curious as to what really are these houses everyone is talking about. Students are desperate to know about this strange project that is going to be introduced in the school. Among all these curious and inquisitive minds, one was mine too. I like everyone else was trying to investigate the mystery of this project. Finally after all the searching around and spying on secret meetings and eavesdropping, I managed to track down the mastermind behind this auspicious project…Miss Huma Shayan. And so at last after getting that great opportunity to interview her, who was I to not avail it. After interviewing her on a mobile phone (which was really weird) I was able to collect the needed information that was there to satiate the curious minds.

I: What were you thinking and what inspired you to start this project of houses?

Huma Shayan: Well it was science fair season and there was loads of pressure to bring something new this time. There was a lot of stress on innovation, I thought about what could be done. So I thought to myself, innovation is just finding a new way to solving a real world problem. A major problem that I face as a teacher is student motivation, more than I would care to admit, I find myself resorting to yelling at kids to get work done. And so the idea of this project just fired up in my mind as a way to overcome this problem. 

 The main inspiration I got for this project was of course from the Harry Potter books. As a child I always wanted to grow up and own my own school. When I read the Harry Potter books, the house system, the whole “Ten points to Gryffindor!” thing just excited me to no end, the ending of each movie when Dumbledore announced “Gryffindor wins the house cup!”, it was always the highlight for me! I wanted to bring some of that magic to our school. And that’s what I hope it will be.

I: How was this project executed?

Huma Shayan: After I got the idea to pursue this project in my mind, I was ready to do this alone by myself. But after some constant thinking I figured that the involvement of some students would also be a learning experience for them. And then one day when I was in school, an eleven grader ,Hiba Arman , came to me to ask whether anything related to the science fair was being done, so I told her about my idea of the project and asked her for the participation of 4 students. Hiba didn’t have a team, but she said she knew a IX grader who was sharp. That’s how the second participant for the project was chosen, Sufiyan Salman. Now only two more students were left. I talked about my project in my class X-D, and asked for a volunteer. Arshaq Kirmani raised his hand and willingly became the third team member, Muhammad Fariz was selected after one of the members before him quit to focus on his studies. 

Finally I had my team and I was ready to put the plan into action. 

I: What contribution did each group member made?

Huma Shayan: Hiba Arman mainly worked on the project presentation for the science fair. Sufiyan Salman did most of the creative work such as the logos and slogans, He gave the main theme for naming the houses. Muhammad Fariz worked on the website, extracting data from the database and displaying it on the webpage. Arshaq Kirmani was the app developer and created the entire app.

I: How would this project or system work?

Huma Shayan: Every student would have a card which would have a QR code on it, representing the GR no. of that student. If a student does something good or bad, the teacher could use app on her phone to award or deduct points from this student’s house. She’d have to Scan the QR code of that student and then select the points which are to be awarded or deducted, simultaneously providing a reason for the award/deduction and that’s it!

The reasons are going to be predefined in order to make the data meaningful for analysis.

I: What hurdles do you think will be faced upon launching this project and what can you do to fix them?

Huma Shayan: Whenever a new system is introduced anywhere, natural resistance comes from people who have to use it. It is a very natural and common reaction as it makes people uncomfortable when something new is introduced to them. And so the same is to be expected here. I have already mentally prepared myself for the problems I know I am going to face ahead. For example:

There are going to be some trouble getting teachers to use the app regularly. As you already know that every teacher has tons of responsibility on her head and burden on her shoulders, not every teacher can take out time to enter the points of a student in the app. So from what I have figured, what can be done is that teachers can be encouraged to use the app and willingly participate in this project because if they will show enthusiasm from their part then what is stopping the students from doing the same. 

Other than that I also believe there will be a lot of carelessness from students in wearing their cards. And in order to resolve this issue, I can ask the management to make sure the students wear their cards. A second solution is that the teachers can search students by name if cards are not available.

I: Do you think this project will change anything?

Huma Shayan: Yes. I think this project will make a difference but only if it is implemented and applied properly. Remember when Imran Khan kept saying that you have to make cities play against each other in domestic cricket? “It would give people someone to root for,” he said. No one cares if a certain bank win or not, but everyone from Karachi is cheering for Karachi to win. Few years later, PSL happened. Now tell me, how interested are you normally in a debate or speech competition when it’s happening? Maybe you’re into it when your friends have participated, maybe also when someone from your class is up there. Being in a house will make sure you always have someone to root for! 

Student of the same house will encourage and motivate each other to participate and in this way everyone will get a chance to show their hidden talents and come forth. Students who are favored a lot in general won’t be the only ones getting a chance but in this system everyone will get rewarded for their talents.

I: What do you see as a future enhancement in this project?

Huma Shayan: Well I’m very excited about the data we collect. We can draw all sorts of conclusions from the data collected by the use of this app. It’ll be really simple to do awards like “Student of the year” or “Prefect of the month”, or “Sportsperson of the year” because the data shows who earned the most points in particular categories and who scored in all categories and became an all-rounder.

The app developed by the students during Zoom In – 2018 was said to be a prototype, the official app was later developed by Mr. Saqib Shakil, a professional Software Engineer, as a side project. Beta-testing of the app is expected to start in mid November. Ms Noor Fatima, Ms Mudassir Raza & Ms Huma Shayan have been involved with the implementation of the House Cup at Beacon Light Academy.