Schools seek clarity on starting new academic year

With no clear directives from the education department, government and aided schools are grappling with uncertainty

Amidst the rising Covid-19 cases in the city and a statewide lockdown in place, educationists are gearing up to begin the new academic year in June, with the goal of not repeating last year’s mistakes.

Last year, the government initially banned schools from conducting online classes, concerned that it would affect the youth’s mental and physical health. However, the order was reversed only after private schools moved the issue to the High Court.

Many are concerned that there might be a repeat of last year’s mistakes. “It’s about time the government acknowledged that the pandemic is here to stay. So far, we haven’t heard anything from them regarding how they plan to go about the educational services this year,” says Sumedha Rao, lead volunteer, Whitefield Ready, a non-profit working with government schools.

Despite the lack of action from the government, schools have started preparing, keen to start online classes in the first week of June.

“This year, we’ve planned ahead and teachers have already started preparing for the online classes to commence from next month. We’ve learnt a lot from our experience last year and are looking forward to implementing it this academic year,” says Shefali Tyagi, principal, National Public School, HSR Layout.

While the school has figured out an organized system for online classes, Shefali expresses concern over the authenticity of online assessment, “We want to figure out a more efficient way of online assessment because the current system has some flaws. We don’t want it to affect the students’ education,” she says.

Deccan International School, Padmanabhanagar, is also waiting for a green signal from the government to commence classes, says Radha Swaminathan, senior teacher.

“Teachers have been undergoing training to ensure smooth flow online classes. The syllabus is also prepared. Once the government takes a call, we’re good to go,” she adds.

However, not all schools across the city are as prepared to begin the new academic year. Government and aided schools are frustrated over the lack of response from educational committees.

“We are not even done with admissions yet as the government bodies are yet to give us permission to commence the admission process. So, right now we aren’t even sure if we will be reopening next month or anytime soon,” says Sister Lakanita Sequeira, principal, Nirmala Rani High School, Malleswaram.

As the State Education Board is yet to take a call of SSLC exams, schools are unsure regarding how to go about the new academic year. “We are an examination centre, so the government has asked us to stay prepared in case the SSLC exams are conducted. It’s like we’re left hanging in the middle unsure of what to do,” adds Lakanita.

Digital divide

With online classes being the only possible medium for conducting educational services, many have raised concerns over the digital divide existing in our society.

“Last year we conducted all our classes through WhatsApp because that is all most of our students and teachers could get access to. But that is not a feasible option as it clearly affects the students’ education,” says Wasim, senior secretary, Shama Vidya Shala, Okalipuram. The educational institution plans to give online Zoom classes a try this year.

Over the last year, while the government did put in the effort to address the problems of online education by introducing Vidyagama, educational TV channels, and similar initiatives, there were no efforts on ensuring students across the city could actually access these programmes.

“There is a huge digital gap that has been completely ignored by the government. Be it WhatsApp learning or Zoom classes, the government school children are often ignored as they don’t have access to these facilities,” says Sumedha.

She suggests the drawbacks from Vidyagama should be rectified and the best concepts from the initiative should be used instead of focusing solely on virtual classes.