Bhubaneswar: To improve matric results, the state government has initiated a plan to offer classes on Sundays in government schools.

Recently, the school and mass education department served show-cause notices to schools that recorded less than 60 per cent pass percentage in the annual High School Certificate (HSC) examination this year.

The initiative began with Ganjam, where 340 students in the district's 638 government-run schools had secured very poor marks. The headmasters were instructed to submit written explanation with reasons for poor result in their schools.

"We have fixed the accountability of the schools and teachers for the poor performances of the students. Therefore, many schools in Ganjam district have started taking classes," said school and mass education minister Badri Narayan Patra.

"We hope schools in other districts will also start having classes on Sundays. The teachers are taking the remedial classes as corrective measures and there is no such fixed duration for it," added the Minister.

This year not a single student in 36 schools cleared the 10th examination. The state average pass percentage was below 80 per cent, a first time in the last five years.

The department informed that the district education authorities in some districts had already enforced the rule to fix accountability. The schools with poor results and the teachers responsible for it are being taken into consideration.

Terming six days of teaching in a week as insufficient, the authorities of a high school at Bhanjanagar in Ganjam had proposed opening schools on Sundays to the department.

"The move would ensure that the students who have not fared well get a chance to perform better. It should be taken in a friendly manner so that students take interest in the classes," said social activist Asit Behera.