Page 22 - EW December 2020

Education News

DELHI schools. Along with other stakehold-
Rising reopening pressure ers they want the uncertainty about

exams to end.
Gerry Arathoon, chief executive
and secretary, Council for the Indian
School Certificate Examinations
(CISCE), which has 2,341 affiliated
upscale schools nationwide, has writ-
ten to chief ministers of all states/
UTs to restart conventional classes
for classes X and XII students who
will be writing their school-leaving
examinations next March, with ef-
fect from January 4, 2021, subject
to school managements adhering
to Union education ministry safety
protocols. “If senior school students
attend in-school classes, this time
will be utilised for practical, project
work and for doubts-clearing. This
will be very beneficial for students
who need to directly interact with
Out of school children: zero academic year prospect their teachers,” says Arathoon.
With legislative assembly elec-
lmost every private school Training (NCERT), a subsidiary of tions due to be held in five states
and education minister at the Union education ministry, 30 — Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, As-
Athe Centre and in the states percent of 9,000 students in Kend- sam, Puducherry and Kerala — in
have been proclaiming great suc- riya Vidyalayas, Jawahar Navodaya May-June 2021, Arathoon has also
cess in smoothly switching over to Vidyalayas (well-funded Central requested the chief election commis-
online teaching-learning following government schools) and upscale sioner to share the election schedule
prolonged closure of all education CBSE schools surveyed, reported so that board exams can be fitted in.
institutions since mid-March in the that online classes are difficult and/ Informed monitors of the national
wake of the global outbreak of the or burdensome. In this scenario, education scene in Delhi endorse Ar-
novel coronavirus pandemic. even best online pedagogies aren’t athoon’s proposal to reopen schools
But surveys/studies conducted achieving learning levels of conven- for senior students in early January,
by reputable NGOs including ASER tional in-school classrooms. The big giving them three-four months to
Centre, Oxfam, Centre for Budget picture therefore is that the shift to prepare for board exams which can
and Policy Studies among others, online learning, which was an emer- be deferred to May-June. “To make
indicate these claims are over-hyped, gency measure, has at best engaged up for lost time, it would be advis-
and that 2020-21 may well be a ‘zero students but learning outcomes are able to have senior class X and XII
academic year’. Even in middle class likely to be poor. students back in school by mid-Janu-
homes, the majority of children Against this backdrop of students ary to prepare for board exams which
haven’t been able to access Internet floundering in shallows and mis- should be deferred to June. With
connectivity and/or digital devices ery, the conduct of examinations, the summer holiday cancelled, this
because in most cases, the same de- which will measure what students calendar will give them three-four
vice is being shared by working from have learnt online, has emerged as months to do practicals, remediation
home parents or siblings for stud- big a challenge as the shift to online and bridge learning gaps. Mean-
ies. On the other hand, the digital education. Most school exam boards while, depending on the progress of
learning initiatives of state and local have completed the registration senior in-class students, primary and
governments have proved a dismal process for their public examina- secondary children should be gradu-
failure for the same reasons multi- tions and are set to announce the ally allowed into campus classrooms
plied many times over. dates. Meanwhile a huge majority from April onwards by when vaccine
According to an August 2020 of students are reportedly under availability will blunt the pandemic.
survey conducted by the National great stress as they haven’t attended Thus the new academic year 2021-22
Council of Educational Research and physical and practical classes in their can begin in July,” advises Ashok

22 EDUCATIONWORLD DECEMBER 2020