BHUBANESWAR: With the Covid-19 pandemic improving significantly in the State and situation returning to the old normal, the government is considering restoration of school syllabus to 100 per cent from the 2022-23 academic session.
School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash told The New Indian Express on Friday that the new academic session is expected to commence on time this year with full restoration of school syllabus from Class 1 to XII.
The department had reduced syllabus for all classes by 30 pc during 2020-21 and 2021-22 owing to the massive disruptions caused by Covid-19. The successive waves of the pandemic not only delayed commencement of academic sessions but also kept schools closed for the larger part of two years.
Though there has been no official announcement yet on the date of commencement of the 2022-23 academic session, the SME department has moved a proposal before the State government for early starting of classes from May this year by reducing summer vacation.
Meanwhile, the Minister said exams of students in the current (2021-22) academic session will only be held for the secondary and higher secondary students, while the students at the elementary level (Class I to VIII) will be promoted to the next class.
The summative assessment-II (final exam) has already started for the Class IX students from April 13 and will commence for Class X students from May 3.
The annual Plus II exam for Class XII students will be conducted by the CHSE from April 28. On the other hand, the parents’ body in the State has demanded that the 30 per cent omitted from the syllabus in the two previous years be taught to students in the 2022-23 session to bridge their learning loss.
As the academic session will have 280 days, extra classes should be conducted for the students to cover important chapters of all subjects that they had skipped in their previous classes owing to revised syllabus, the members of Odisha Abhibhavak Mahasangh stressed.