THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After announcing special orientation classes for higher secondary students on various socially relevant topics at the beginning of the new academic year, the general education department has planned similar sessions for students from the lower primary to high-school level.
The orientation programme from June 3 to 13 will cover themes that include road safety, personal hygiene, health and fitness, discipline in using digital devices, protection of public property and mutual cooperation. One hour will be set apart for these sessions every day, General Education Minister V Sivankutty told reporters here on Wednesday.
“For effective recollection of what children have learnt in the previous academic year, similar experiences have to be created for them to facilitate their smooth shift to new textbooks after the summer vacation. This requires suitable interventions to bridge the learning gaps,” Sivankutty said.
Such bridging initiatives at the beginning of the academic year should also include inculcation of social values, he added. The school resource groups have been tasked with preparing the module for each class in a way that it appears as a natural learning process for students.
The District Educational Officers and Assistant Educational Officers have been directed to coordinate the activity. While Block Resource Centres and district institutes of education and training will give academic support, the SCERT will undertake the task of preparing the material.
The orientation sessions will ensure the participation of all students from Classes II to X. While preparing the modules, school resource groups have been directed to make them appropriate to the respective age groups of the students.
The general education department has also brought out a timetable specifying the theme that has to be handled on a particular day for each section of students. Earlier, the minister had announced a six-hour-long orientation session, spread across two weeks in the beginning of the new academic year, for Plus-II students.