Major changes in academic calendar on anvil

| | Dehradun
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Major changes in academic calendar on anvil

Thursday, 13 August 2020 | Gajendra Singh Negi | Dehradun

With the union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) emphatically denying any possibility of declaring the current academic session for the schools as zero session due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the education department of Uttarakhand is working on a three pronged strategy for the ongoing academic session.

 It is learnt that apart from reducing the syllabus by 30 percent for classes IX to XII, the education department of the state is planning to obliterate the winter vacations and extend the academic session 2020-21 by at least two months. The actual plan and its implementation would however depend on the date from which the union government gives its nod for opening the schools.

As of now the union Government has made no decision on opening of schools in the country. However it is expected that guidelines for opening of schools and colleges would be released later this month.

Though the education department is looking at the centre’s guidelines for opening of schools it has kept its plan ready for the ongoing academic session. The department has already expressed its intention to reduce the syllabus of students including those who would be writing the board examinations. Another step under the circumstances is abolition of the winter vacation year. A senior officer of the department confirmed that there would be no winter vacation this year. The winter vacations in the schools are for a period of 15 days in the state. Apart from these measures the education department is planning to extend the academic session 2020-21 by at least two months. When the schools start the department would focus more on the students of Class X and XII so that they are prepared well for the board examinations.Meanwhile the State Council of Education Research (SCERT) would soon release the shortened syllabus for classes IX to XII. It is also focussing on the online training of teachers during the period the schools are closed. The director SCERT, Seema Jaunsari told The Pioneer that special five day training on English, mathematics and science has been imparted to about 2500 government school teachers. She claimed that under the Anandam module about 6000 teachers have undergone training.

When contacted the education secretary R Meenakshi Sundaram told The Pioneer that the state would follow the guidelines of the central Government on opening of schools. He said that online teaching is being provided to the students but accepted that the problem of connectivity and affordability of devices like smartphones and laptops act as a dampener for online teaching in rural areas.

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