Primary schools to start lessons from scratch

Heads of primary wings in government schools that reopened last week after a year of remote classes said they would be starting lessons from scratch for students, especially in classes 1 and 2, to tackle the learning deficit

Heads of primary wings in government schools that reopened last week after a year of remote classes said they would be starting lessons from scratch for students, especially in classes 1 and 2, to tackle the learning deficit. School teachers said that only about 10% of students had managed to keep up with remote classes through WhatsApp and a majority need hand-holding.

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Deputy district education officer Kalpna Singh said that students couldn’t do much during remote learning and bridging the gap could take a long time. “If a child in a junior class goes on leave for even a day or two, it takes some time to get back into the routine of structuralized learning. Due to the pandemic, students were deprived of classes for one whole year. Online classes did not have much of an impact on students of classes 1 and 2. Gaps and delays are bound to happen,” said Singh.

She said that teachers had been directed to engage the attention of students and encourage more students to join lessons. “Students have returned to classrooms after a year. First and foremost, we need to focus on keeping them engaged. Once that happens, we can direct energies towards covering the learning gap since the break caused due to the pandemic will have a long-lasting impact,” said Singh.

Neelam, primary in-charge of the government primary school in Bhondsi, said that nearly 60% of the class strength was back in school. “We will be starting the curriculum from the beginning. Many of them couldn’t comprehend the lessons taught during remote classes and forgotten the basic concepts of writing and reciting. After a long gap, the struggle will be to get them back into the fold,” said Neelam, who goes by her first name.

She said that the school had formed groups of students based on their current understanding of lessons to facilitate a needs-based approach.

“We are encouraging group learning so that students can support each other. Some students are better placed since they received hand-holding support from parents during remote classes. These students are being asked to work in tandem with others who didn’t have access to lessons during remote classes,” said Neelam.

She said that while teachers were paying extra attention to students, the co-learning approach seemed to be working. “In group activities, we see that students are motivated by seeing others practise the same concepts. At least until the schools close for vacation, we will continue with collaborative learning till all students catch up with lessons,” she said.

Bijender, head of government primary school at Darbaripur, said that only 10-15% of students continuously engaged with remote classes through WhatsApp and most couldn’t keep up with the syllabus.

“Online classes did not have many benefits for younger children. We have a month or more to go before schools might shut for the summer break. In this limited time, we have to ensure that at least the basic concepts are taught. To aid the same, we have created a refresher course with important topics and areas that need attention. Our focus will be on covering the basics for now,” said Bijender, adding that schools might have to cover the remaining syllabus after the summer break.