A government school in central Kolkata is conducting online classes for students who will write Plus-II board examinations next year.
These remedial classes, usually conducted in-person, are being held online despite the resumption of offline classes to plug learning gaps.
Sakhawat Memorial Government Girls’ High School authorities said they decided to hold online classes because the poor performance by students in the Class XI annual examinations.
Headmistress Papia Singha Mahapatra said while the offline classes were being used to cover the syllabus of Class XII, the teachers had been asked to hold online classes so they could take care of the shortcomings among the students.
A government-aided school in South 24-Parganas district said they, too, have asked teachers to address the queries of students who would write the higher secondary examination next year over online platforms apart from holding regular in-person classes.
Students wrote the Class XI annual examinations in April. The assessment of the scripts has brought out the miserable standard of learning, said the headmistress.
“From writing skill to concept, barring a handful of students most of them are struggling. How would they write the next year’s HS which would be based on a full syllabus?” she said.
The classes of those who are in Class XII now started from June 28 after a prolonged summer vacation ended.
“Apart from offline classes, online classes too are being held to check the deficiencies,” said Singha Mahapatra.
A teacher of the school said these students did not write the Class X board examinations (Madhyamik). They did not attend school from March 2020 to February 2022 because of the pandemic. This has severely weakened the standard, she said.
The secondary education board last year had prepared the Madhyamik’s marksheet giving equal weightage to a candidate’s performance in the Class IX annual exams and internal formative assessments of Class X and did not detain any candidate.
The students with exponentially high marks took admission in Class XI last year, but classes had to be held online thereafter with a brief reopening in last November that was followed by another round shut down following a surge in cases.
“Classes resumed again from mid-February. But once these students completed the Class XI annual examination in late-April, they were slapped with a 57-day-long summer vacation from May 2. Now, we are working overtime to address the learning gap,” the teacher added.
Singha Mahapatra said they held classes online during the extended summer vacation so the students remain engaged in studies.
“But despite starting the offline classes, we have not discontinued the online classes. Else, we won’t be able to make time for conducting remedial classes.”
The state government extended the summer vacation in state-run and state-aided schools by 11 days starting June 16 in view of extreme heat-wave conditions.
Chandan Kumar Maity, the headmaster Krishnachandrapur High School, Mathurapur, South 24-Parganas, said students have been told to clear their doubts over WhatsApp or by making video calls.
“They can make normal calls,” he said.
