Goa education department proposes to commence new academic year for schools from Monday

PANAJI: The directorate of education (DoE) has sent a proposal to the state government to begin the new academic year 2021-22 for school students as scheduled from June 21, sources said. Given the persisting pandemic situation, the DoE has proposed to conduct classes in the online mode only. Almost 2.8 lakh students enrolled from Class I to XII in state schools are expected to start the new academic year from Monday.
The DoE is now awaiting the state government nod.
Though the state curfew due to the pandemic has been extended by the government upto June 21, teaching and non-teaching staffers have already resumed duty in schools. And with classes planned to be conducted in the online mode, the curfew is unlikely to affect the teaching.
Also, the academic year, which usually begins, in the first week of June has already been pushed DoE to June 21 by revising the academic calendar.
However, there are some issues that need to be addressed.
The DoE sent its proposal to the state government, as per sources, to start the academic year from June 21, before the announcement by chief minister Pramod Sawant that the state curfew has been extended till June 21.
Besides the curfew, with cancellation of the Class X and XII public examinations, teachers of these higher classes in schools will remain engaged until at least mid-July in preparing the results for these students of the 2021 batch. The results are likely to be tabulated at the school level by teachers themselves based on students’ internal assessments, which will keep the teachers busy.
“These issues remain and it is now for the government to take a call on reopening for the new academic year,” said an official.
Sources said that there will be no change in the method in which online classes are conducted in the new academic year as well, at least in the first half of the academic year.
“Due to pandemic, classes will have to be in online mode itself. Classes will take place just as they were being conducted during the last academic year. For primary school students, worksheets will be handed out to be completed at home, while for students of high schools and higher secondary schools live classes will be conducted using platforms like Google Meet,” said a DoE official.