NT NETWORK
Panaji
The State Council of Education Research and Training, Goa (SCERT-Goa) on Wednesday announced curtailment in syllabus from Class I to Class VIII to the extent of 30 per cent for the current academic year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education had already issued a similar circular about curtailment of syllabus for classes from Standard IX to Standard XII.
Presently, the schools – from primary to higher secondary level – are conducting online classes for students.
SCERT-Goa director Nagraj Honnekeri told ‘The Navhind Times’ that the schools have been informed about curtailment in the syllabus up till Class VIII.
“We have sent all the details as to which part of the syllabus should be curtailed, this academic year,” he added, pointing out that only such parts of the syllabus have been curtailed which the students will have to study next year, so that they will not miss anything in their school studies.
Maintaining that the Board of Studies of the SCERT-Goa has recommended the curtailment in the syllabus, Honnekeri said that although the no detention policy is in force for classes from Standard I to Standard VIII, the schools continue conducting the internal unit tests and terminal examination for their students, under the continuous and comprehensive evaluation setup.
“Till now, the schools up to Class VIII have gone ahead with teaching the syllabus as per the annual schedule. However, they will now have to follow the curtailment in syllabus as recommended by the SCERT-Goa, during the second term,” he informed.
Honnekeri said that the schools, under the CCE, usually conduct formative assessment as well as summative assessment of the students up to Class VIII.
“They carry out formative assessment chapter-wise as per the syllabus, and take up summative assessment at the end of the term,” he added, pointing out that since physical classes are no longer conducted by the teachers, they will have to employ different methods to conduct these assessments for the students.
The circular issued by the SCERT-Goa to the schools has clarified that the curtailment of the syllabus is only for the limited purpose of conducting the examination for the academic year 2020-21.
“The curtailed portion should not be included in the term-end examination,” it has said.
There is no curtailment of any portion of grammar and language skills in all language subjects at the upper primary level, as per the circular.
The circular also has said that as far as possible, teacher may encourage students to self-study the portion that is curtailed, and to assist the students in solving difficulties, if any, in this particular portion.
