KOCHI: As schools in the state are slowly getting used to physical lessons, teachers and students are trying hard to make up for the lost time. Though discussions are under way to extend class hours, teachers will still find it hard to finish the syllabus for the year, as they lost most of the academic year to online classes. To add to this, due to the lack of school buses and private vehicles, many children in primary classes are still at home and taking online lessons.
Higher secondary teachers said many of them are yet to start the practical classes in laboratiories. Since classes are functioning at half the strength and class hours have been reduced, a student gets only one-fourth of the time he/she used to get in school.
This reflects badly on final examination results too. Focus Point by SCERT was put forth to address this — where students are required to study only selected portions from every subject to compensate for the class hours they missed.
However, the department is yet to introduce the Focus Point. Director of State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT), Dr R K Jayaprakash said a ministerial decision is pending. “We are also waiting for a green signal from the Union HRD ministry,” he said.
Balancing two streams
Arun Kumar R, who works at Madhava Vilasam Higher Secondary School in Karyavattom, Thiruvananthapuram, said teachers are managing online lessons too besides physical classes, and this is why it is harder to finish the portions in time. Some schools are also skipping online classes to reduce the additional burden on teachers, he said.
“The main concern is that we may not finish the portions in time,” said Arun, who is also the state president of Aided Higher Secondary Teachers Association (AHSTA). If portions are not completed, the evaluation will have to be liberal as it was last year. Alternatively, the examination dates should be extended, he said.
Physical lessons are bound to improve the mental health of kids and that is why it is being promoted, said CEO of Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) Anwar Sadath. He added that Victers will continue broadcasting classes as usual, except the extra classes for Class 10. “Only 25 per cent of the classes are being covered at school. So, the lessons from Victers will support the kids’ learning process. Even if the physical classes are extended till evening, these broadcast lessons will continue, at least till the end of this academic year. The scheduling of the same will be decided later,” he said.
Lack of transportation is yet another problem. Most school buses haven’t passed fitness tests and private vehicles have limitations when it comes to ferrying kids. In effect, parents who cannot dropkids to school, have to depend on online classes.
“The teachers insist every student record the follow-up session of online lessons and send it to them through WhatsApp. Though the class is being held only for an hour, they are getting enough homework to practise the portions too,” said Soumya C S, a parent from Thiruvananthapuram, whose kids are taking online classes.