BHUBANESWAR: As Class-VIII students will be attending schools after a gap of 18 months, the School and Mass Education (SME) department has decided to assess their knowledge of the previous curriculum through a test and impart remedial teaching accordingly.
The assessment test, however, will be based on the curriculum of Class VI as they have not studied the syllabus of Class VII in physical mode last year following the outbreak of Covid-19 in March 2020.Issuing guidelines for reopening of schools from October 25, the department on Monday said that assessment tests will be conducted for the students in three subjects - Odia, Maths and English - on October 27, 28 and 29 respectively.
The exam duration will be one hour and question papers will be provided to schools by Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA) and State Council Of Educational Research and Training (SCERT).
The principals/headmasters of government and private Odia medium schools have been asked to ensure that students, who are not coming to school, also appear for the test from home. After going through the assessment test results, the school authorities will impart remedial teaching.
As per the decision taken by the department, no classes will be conducted for the VIII students on the first two days of reopening of schools on October 25 and 26. During these two days the teachers will guide the students about their curriculum and co-curricular activities. The department has asked principals/headmasters to compulsorily take classes on a daily basis and also inspect classes taken by other teachers. The principals/headmasters will hold a 30-minute meeting with teachers after the classes conclude every day.
OSEPA will operationalise the School Monitoring Application to make the process more effective. As per the government norm, the district education officers will appoint guest teachers wherever needed.
While the government has decided to continue online classes along with the offline classes, any student or teacher found suffering from cold, cough or any other Covid symptoms, will not be allowed into the school premises.