Several government schools have decided to hold classes online during the extended summer vacation so the students remain engaged in studies as much as possible.
Several schools said an extension of the summer vacation meant fewer class hours. Students, they said, will not be able to make up for the lost time if teachers do not make an extra effort.
Next year’s Madhyamik and higher secondary exams will be held based on the entire syllabi.
Many students’ performance in the first summative test held before the summer vacation started on May 2 has left teachers worried.
Sanskrit Collegiate School, which has so far been conducting online classes for the students of Classes IX and X, will now hold online classes for the students of Classes III to VIII as well, said headmaster Debabrata Mukherjee.
Sakhawat Memorial Government Girls’ High School, which held online classes till May 21, has decided to resume the exercise during the extended summer break, the headmistress said.
The Advanced Society for Headmasters and Headmistresses appealed to the chief minister on Monday to reconsider the decision to extend the summer vacation.
The government cited “extreme heatwave conditions” while announcing its decision on Monday to extend the summer break in schools by 11 days, till June 26.
“If the classes are not held, the syllabus will remain incomplete and the students will struggle to write exams. So we have decided to resume online classes,” said Papia Singha Mahapatra, headmistress of Sakhawat Memorial.
Over the past two years, the board exams were held based on truncated syllabi because the schools had remained closed for in-person classes as a precaution against Covid.
Shampa Nayek, assistant mistress-in-charge of Multipurpose Government Girls’ School, Alipore, said a notice had already been issued for online classes for the primary students.
The school, she said, has plans to conduct classes on digital platforms at the secondary level, too.
“The performance of the students in the board exams, the results of which were published recently, have not been what we expected. The performance in the first summative test shows that students have forgotten even to write. The guardians have also been telling us to take steps so that students don’t lose touch with studies,” said Nayek.
Students in the government and aided-schools are assessed through a combination of three summative and three formative tests. The second summative tests are scheduled for July.
Usually, the summer vacation in government and aided schools starts on May 18 and lasts for three weeks.
A teacher at Sanskrit Collegiate School said offline classes create peer pressure because of which students try to outperform each other, leading to an improvement in the collective performance.
“If a student fails to answer a question in class and sees that someone seated next to him has come up with the answer, he tries to put in an extra effort so that he does not fail the next time,” the teacher said.
