Renewed focus on Saksham Plus, new courses for upcoming academic session

Under the upgraded initiative, the progress of students in Mathematics, Hindi, and English in classes 4, 6 and 8 will be monitored.

A month after schools in all four blocks of the district were declared ‘Saksham’, the education department has started preparing schools for the ‘Saksham Plus’ status. ‘Saksham’, a statewide initiative seeking to achieve grade-level competency in schools, was completed last month.

A month after schools in all four blocks of the district were declared ‘Saksham’, the education department has started preparing schools for the ‘Saksham Plus’ status. (Representative Image) (AP)

Under the upgraded initiative, the progress of students in Mathematics, Hindi, and English in classes 4, 6 and 8 will be monitored. Eighty per cent of the students of a block are required to achieve the grade-level competency by securing at least 70% marks in the three subjects being tested. While the first round of competency tests will take place once the new session starts in April, teachers are already being trained to familiarize themselves with the course curriculum.

“As part of ‘Saksham Plus’, English will become an additional subject. It has usually been seen that children in government schools struggle in English. We are trying to ensure that students are able to overcome their hesitation of using the language. Teachers are already being trained and apprised of the various ways they can adopt to familiarize students with the language, be it through games or activities,” said Premlata Yadav, district elementary education officer.

Yadav added that in addition to English, focus on Maths and Hindi would be renewed. “The department is working towards creating sample questions bank for all three subjects,” she said.

Additionally, for the new academic session, the education department will be holding counselling session to gather students’ feedback on new elective courses which will be initiated in the upcoming session. “A counselling session for students of class 9 and 10 would be organized to inform them about the various electives they can choose from. Newer courses like psychology, computer sciences, and fine arts will be introduced in schools where they are not being offered,” said Dinesh Shastri, district education officer.

Through the counselling session, students would be informed about the future career prospects of various subjects, he informed. “In addition to the counselling session, a meeting of the school management committees of all the government schools would be convened. Through the meeting, both the parents and students will be apprised about the courses. This would help them in making an informed career choice,” Shastri added.