The Andhra Pradesh School Education Department has issued an alternate academic calendar to be followed by schools in the state for the next 40 days, starting from July 27 to September 4. Schools are tentatively expected to reopen on September 5, depending on the COVID-19 situation then.
While schools were already asked to follow MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) guidelines for online classes and the alternate academic calendar issued by NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training), School Education Commissioner V China Veerabhadrudu issued further explicit orders for the next 40 days, with school managements and teachers’ associations seeking more clarity.
As per the instructions, teachers have been asked to create individual instruction plans for each student, while dividing students into three categories, depending on their access to technology. A few government school administrators said that they have already collected this information from students and parents and have categorised them as high-tech (students with access to internet), low-tech (students with access to television and radio) and no-tech (students without access to any such media).
For students of classes 1 to 5, to promote basic learning abilities, teachers have been asked to create worksheets for revision and send them across to students through parents. For classes 6 to 8, teachers have been asked to encourage students with technology access to partner with students who lack access.
Teachers are allowed to conduct assessments to gauge the students’ learning outcomes, but no tests or exams are allowed on the syllabus from the upcoming academic year.
While workbooks have already been sent out to students as part of the Vidya Varadhi bridge course, a government school headmaster from Vijayawada said that textbooks have not yet been distributed, which makes teaching and following-up with students a bit of a challenge. While textbooks have been sent out to schools, the government had planned to give them to students as part of the Vidya Kanuka scheme along with other essential items like school bags, uniforms etc.
While the state government had planned to make English medium compulsory for classes 1 to 5 in all schools, the matter is still pending in the court and therefore, the medium of instruction remains ambiguous for these students, the headmaster said.
Virat Babu, a teacher from Prakasam district said that distance learning has been difficult for school children, especially in remote areas. “Of course direct interaction is ideal for teaching, and none of these methods, like Whatsapp groups and phone calls and TV lessons are very effective. But we have to continue to make some attempts so that students don’t forget what they’ve learned so far,” he said.
Schools have also been asked to go ahead with admissions for the academic year 2020-21.
Online classes are to be conducted as per MHRD guidelines, but only to cover the syllabus which is part of the alternate academic calendar. This means schools are forbidden from holding any online classes for pre-primary grades. Class 1 to 8 can have upto two sessions of 30-45 minutes per day, while classes 9 and 10 can have upto four such sessions.