What Are The Changes That New Academic Session Will Be Subjected To?

Nidhi Bansal Jul 29, 2020

Amidst such difficult times, technology is proving to be vital in many sectors, including education. Education is one of the sectors which have been largely affected by the current situation. Schools and colleges have been working for various ways to connect with their students using technological aids and providing education to students at their personalized screens. Schools are even set to continue the online classes in the new academic session with some of the following changes –

1. Duration of Online Classes - The HRD Ministry’s cap on the duration of online classes has thrown private schools in a dilemma as they need to balance between good and bad screen time while trying to address curriculum concerns of senior classes. This Pandemic made us all creatively rethink and rework all our previously laid procedures. However, increased exposure to the screen can have serious repercussions and as a school, we understand our responsibility towards the mental and physical health of our children. Our current timings followed aren't very different from the latest guidelines issued by the MHRD ministry, however, we would revisit our course of action in conducting online classes to reduce the chances of any such unpleasant situation with our students.

2. Reduction in CBSE Syllabus - With this pandemic disrupting the academic calendar, HRD minister announced a major CBSE syllabus reduction for the new academic year 2020-21. CBSE reduced the syllabus by 30% for Classes 9th to 12th with the help of suggestions from NCERT. The syllabus has been rationalized so that students’ core concepts can be retained as in the virtual interactions it is difficult to complete the whole syllabus like before. Still, it will take some time to analyse and see what has been kept and what has been removed from the curriculum as it is a matter of students’ career.

3. Counsellor for mental well-being - While the transition to online classes has not been easy for teachers as well as students to continually attend the virtual classes from their laptops/mobiles or PCs. However, teachers are asked to address the issues of “quality learning”. Struggling to engage learners/students gainfully, getting them to respond and collaborate during lessons, assessing the learning outcomes, regularly following up and supporting students mentally and psychologically, and keeping them all safe in cyberspace has been a huge challenge for the teachers. So to overcome all the challenges, every school need to have particular professional counsellors which should be assigned to different age group students.

4. Co-curricular classes for wholesome learning - Besides academics, co-curricular and extra co-curricular activities play an instrumental role in shaping and making overall growth and development of the human mind. Due to this pandemic, face-to-face activities have been rendered impossible during this period. In the face of this challenging moment, some online Co-curricular Learning activities have been designed for students to make them feel fresh and energetic. Moreover, participation in such activities like poetry competition, singing, dancing, etc. helps students in emotional development, social skill development and overall personality development.

5. Objective tests and assessments - Assessments are the most significant part of the education system as it gives an accurate picture to the students of where they stand. Conducting tests, nowadays, should not be stressful as technology has revolutionized the whole education system. Conducting assessments online has become easier as there is no requirement of using the paper-and-pencil option rather students just need to solve the Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) which is very less consuming and easy to solve. In the middle of the Online classes, MCQs are the more reliable assessment for the students which plays an authentic role as it is a critical component of the online classroom where teacher-student interaction allows the teacher to provide feedback to the students.