HYDERABAD: With the reopening of educational institutes looking unlikely any time soon, teachers and school managements in the city said that it’s time the state government form a committee to consider reducing the syllabus.
They said the state government should also consider bringing in reforms when it comes to examinations and give more weightage to objective type questions, assignments/worksheets over descriptive questions. “It might not be possible to start schools immediately, but there is a need to form a committee and look into all aspects and to ensure schools reopen as soon as possible. To ensure there won’t be a spike in drop-out rate, child labour and child abuse cases, it is important that students are back in schools,” said M Ravinder, vice-president, Telangana Progressive Teachers Federation, adding it won’t do any harm if the syllabus is reduced by 30% to 40% or the number of working days is reduced.
They said that although the Union human resource development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal had earlier said schools and colleges can be reopened in the second phase of unlocking or after mid-August, at the state level, there is not much of a discussion on the way.
“The state should immediately form guidelines on how schools need to function after reopening,” said Y Shekar Rao, president, Telangana Recognized School Managements Association. They said the state should also make its stand clear on online classes and direct private schools to conduct virtual classes until a decision is taken.
While the calls to the department of school education officials went unanswered, State Council of Educational Research and Training officials refused to reveal whether or not they are working on the reduction of syllabus or alternate academic calendar.
They said the state government should also consider bringing in reforms when it comes to examinations and give more weightage to objective type questions, assignments/worksheets over descriptive questions. “It might not be possible to start schools immediately, but there is a need to form a committee and look into all aspects and to ensure schools reopen as soon as possible. To ensure there won’t be a spike in drop-out rate, child labour and child abuse cases, it is important that students are back in schools,” said M Ravinder, vice-president, Telangana Progressive Teachers Federation, adding it won’t do any harm if the syllabus is reduced by 30% to 40% or the number of working days is reduced.
They said that although the Union human resource development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal had earlier said schools and colleges can be reopened in the second phase of unlocking or after mid-August, at the state level, there is not much of a discussion on the way.
“The state should immediately form guidelines on how schools need to function after reopening,” said Y Shekar Rao, president, Telangana Recognized School Managements Association. They said the state should also make its stand clear on online classes and direct private schools to conduct virtual classes until a decision is taken.
While the calls to the department of school education officials went unanswered, State Council of Educational Research and Training officials refused to reveal whether or not they are working on the reduction of syllabus or alternate academic calendar.
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