NCERT develops teaching strategy for children with special needs

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June 4, 2020

The alternative academic calendar developed by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), gives special direction for teaching disabled students.

The calendar proposes teaching through audio books, radio programs, video programs, so as to assist such students in learning at home. The plan necessitates teachers to give clear and sufficient verbal and visual instructions to all students, especially students with special needs.

Parents and teachers, with the regular mapping of progress, are required to put in efforts to make students “self-learners”, the plan suggests. As per the directives, an appropriate worksheet is to be assigned to the students for sustained learning.

Earlier, NCERT has released alternative calendars for students of studying in primary (Class 1-5), upper primary (Class 6 -8) and secondary level (Class 9-10) to facilitate uninterrupted education during the lockdown period. The academic calendar prompts teachers to educate the students with the help of technology and social media at home.

During the coronavirus lockdown, schools across the country are increasingly adopting alternative methods like online resources to teach the students.

The plan promotes the use of social media such as SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Twitter as well as Google mail and Google Hangouts. Links of online resources developed by the ministry of Human Resource Development are also provided.

HRD Minister releases alternative academic calendar for Classes XI and XII

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June 3, 2020

Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal’Nishank’ released the alternative academic calendar for Classes XI and XII. The calendar has been developed by the NCERT under the guidance of the MHRD to engage students during their stay at home due to COVID-19.

The HRD Minister said the calendar provides guidelines to teachers on the use of various technological tools and social media tools available for imparting education in fun-filled, interesting ways, which can be used by learner, parents and teachers even while at home.

However, it has taken into account the varying levels of access of students to different tools and platforms-Mobile, Radio, Television, SMS and various social media.

Pokhriyal said that the students who do not have internet facility, or may not be able to use different social media tools- such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc., this calendar guides teachers to further guide parents and students through SMS on mobile phones or through voice call.

The Minister added that this calendar will cater to the need of all children including children with special needs- link for audio books, radio programmes, video programme will be included.

The Minister informed that the calendar contains week-wise plan consisting of interesting and challenging activities, with reference to theme/chapter taken from syllabus or textbook. He added that it maps the themes with the learning outcomes.

Pokhriyal highlighted that the calendar also covers experiential learning activities such as Arts Education, Physical Exercises, yoga, etc. This Calendar contains class-wise and subject-wise activities in tabular forms. This Calendar includes activities related to four languages as subject areas, i.e., Hindi English, Urdu and Sanskrit. He added that this calendar also gives space to the strategies of reducing stress and anxiety among teachers, students and parents. Calendar includes link for Chapter wise e-content available on the e-pathshala, NROER and DIKSHA portal of GoI.

Vikash Kumar Bhakat, Principal, Evergreen English School, Janamdih, Jamshedpur urges parents to pay fees

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June 3, 2020

The situations have become tough for all the schools due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Undoubtedly, almost all schools are facing a financial crisis.

Our school is in a remote tribal-dominated village of Jharkhand. We often have a financial crisis as we impart free education to the many underprivileged students. We charge only a meager amount of fees to the students, who belong to financially stable families to some extent.

National lockdown owing to Coronavirus pandemic made us financially dormant. The Education Minister of Jharkhand Jagannath Mahato has instructed all the private schools of Jharkhand not to charge fees for three months (i.e., April May and June ).

Several private schools raised voice against the decision and started sending reminders to collect fees.

We had held discussions with our School Management Committee in this regard. As we are well aware of the fact that lockdown has put many rural people on the verge of poverty. In view of this undeniable fact, the decision has been taken unanimously to exempt three months’ fees ( i.e., April, May and June), it will definitely relax our students’ parents in this pandemic situation.

For this I sincerely appeal to our students’ parents to pay the previous dues at their earliest convenience so as to meet the essential needs of our school.

UGC may allow universities to conduct exams by July

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June 3, 2020

University Grants Commission (UGC) may allow higher education institutions to hold the pending semester exams before July. According to reports, the UGC will allow individual varsities and colleges to decide on the exam dates that may be in line with the current prevailing condition in the district or zone.

If favorable conditions prevail, colleges and universities might be able to hold exams even before 1st July 2020. However, UGC has not issued any official notification for the same.

Media reports also claim that UGC Chairman Dr DP Singh has given a statement saying that the academic calendar that was released earlier was suggestive in nature and didn’t enforce the dates during which Final Semester Exams 2020 are to be held.

As per the academic calendar released by UGC earlier, the Final Semester Exams 2020 for university and college students were to be held between 1st to 15th July, 2020.

The report also claims that the UGC has taken this decision to allow greater autonomy to universities and colleges to hold exams before 1st July 2020, after receiving requests for the same from several state governments and universities.

Universities from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have reached out to the regular requesting permission to hold the Semester Exams 2020 in June month.

The request gives rational of academic loss for students and late start to the academic year as prime reason for early holding of the university exams.

UP Education Minister confirms Class 10 and 12 class Results to be declared on June 27

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June 3, 2020

Uttar Pradesh Board Exam Result 2020 for both High School and Intermediate Students may be announced by 27th June 2020. UP Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, confirmed the news and said that students can expect the UP 10th Result 2020 and UP 12th Result 2020 to be out by end of June month.

Earlier, UPMSP had also confirmed that the Board has successfully completed the online checking of answer sheets for over 56 Lakh students. Recently, UP Board also announced that the pending practical exam for 12th Class students will be held on 9th and 10th June 2020 across the state.

A total of 30.24 lakh students from across the state had appeared for the Class 10 exams. Similarly, for Intermediate Exams over 25.86 lakh students had appeared for the exam. For Class 12, there are 1464604 male students as compared to 1121836 female / girl students, who are awaiting their UP Board Intermediate Results 2020.

Earlier in the week, UPMSP Secretary Neena Srivastava had also issued a statement, in which she confirmed that the evaluation work i.e. checking of all the answer sheets for UP Board 10th and 12th Exam 2020 has been completed successfully by the board.

This year, the evaluation work was hampered by the lockdown announced by the central government to curb the spread of COVID-19 disease and to keep teachers and evaluators safe from risk of Coronavirus infection.

Success story of GreenFields school during the lockdown

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June 3, 2020

Our endeavour to facilitate the academic process while both teachers and students are under lockdown has reached new dimensions says Mini Khanna, Principal, Green Fields School, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi in a conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

Vedanta says, every experience of life is unique & has a learning for us.

In these times of turmoil, the duty and responsibility of a Principal primarily includes to bring in calmness in the minds of all stakeholders.

Academic Year, 20-21 with great enthusiasm and planning. However, the unprecedented COVID-19 lockdown did not let our spirits dampen.

The students had to be engaged gainfully and positively with a new Learning- The Virtual.

Our endeavour to facilitate the academic process while both teachers and students are under the lockdown has reached new dimensions.

Teachers reached into the homes of the students virtually and took the opportunity to connect with parents and students. There were mixed emotions as the new session was underway and all faced this uncertainty in the wake of what the whole world has been experiencing.

We at GFS, are dealing with the situation as it unfolds and taking learning forward.

Through optimum use of technology via E-learning which included PPT’s, videos, modified lesson plans, YouTube, webinars etc. a concerted effort was made.

Our teachers are working tirelessly and making best efforts to take the curriculum forward under the given circumstances. Participation and follow up action by both, parents and students at home is an important factor to ensure successful implementation of E-learning.

Students are thoughtfully guided to follow a routine and see that it is adhered to.

The day begins by sending them the Assembly-virtually which covers Word for the day, interesting facts, riddles, health tips, news updates, exercises, yoga and music. The importance of staying positive, adaptable, determined and come out of this as more responsible and caring citizens was emphasised upon.

Students made handmade masks, were given hand wash/ skipping/ push-up challenges and the videos were shared on the FaceBook page/ WhatsApp group of the school. Students remained motivated as all events and programs were conducted virtually.

Be it the Bhangra dance on Baisakhi or the Mother-Child dance on Mother’s Day. The Meal Planning/ Home Science department taught students to prepare dishes and get involved in household chores- Cooking, cleaning, watering plants, washing and drying clothes to make them independent, active and responsible.

Family bonding was encouraged by sharing common interests with friends and relatives. These trying times for children is a great opportunity for imbibing the all-important Life Skills- what better time than this!

Stay Healthy, stay Safe !!

Solan Public school inculcate life skills, critical thinking within students

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June 3, 2020

With the usage, most of the teachers overcame the fear and hesitation, and used tools effectively says Preetee Kumar, MD, Solan Public School, Solan, Himachal Pradesh in a conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

History of Solan Public School and how it is different from other schools ?

Solan Public School does everything incapacity to give children the right foundation and a head start by instilling the right values in children and transforming them into lifelong learners. By exposing students to Arts, Sports and co-curricular activities, we inculcate life skills, critical thinking and intellectual curiosity within them. Solan Public School has extended the world-class infrastructure facility to the students.

How Solan Public School has handled the COVID crisis?

Solan Public School has taken many adequate measures to handle the Covid-19. The curb the spread of the virus, the school was closed when the lockdown was announced. It followed the Govt’s directives and protocol. All teachers worked from home and conducted teaching through online mode and still continuing the hard work. Periodic maintenance, horticulture, etc was being done by limited staff. All salaries of staff are dispersed through online mode.

According to a survey, only 8 pc school students in India have computers with net link, how has the school handled the crisis, especially in rural areas?

We had no such problem as Solan is a well-developed Town with wifi and net links and all the students has the necessary infrastructure at home too. With Digital India in the boom, there is good internet connectivity in the city.

Merely moving classrooms online would not mean effective remote learning. One-to-one interactions among peers and teachers are very important for learning, how will the school tackle the crisis post Covid?

The school took lessons for students through many online modes, one of them being through the ZOOM App. Since the App has all the features of video, text , and PPT along with the teachers’ and students’ screen presence, hence it was the best mode of knowledge transfer. There were also other modes where the homework and students’ responses were corrected by the teachers through projects on a daily basis.

Alongside teaching, teachers are also mentored for honing their skills using online tools, through webinars, micro-teaching sessions, which was a compulsory part of their routine work throughout the day.

How will the school tackle ailing disparity in the virtual world could translate into widening educational inequalities among learners?

The old clique “necessity is the mother of inventions”. Before the COVID lockdown, one never imagined that technology would become the single largest tool to disseminate education. Many teachers were not familiar with it, but then it became necessary and hence it was made a compulsory part of the life for effective communication. With the usage, most of the teachers overcame the fear and hesitation and used tools effectively.

In a similar manner, there will be other avenues opened up as we cross each day, to tackle this new post COVID scenario. Truly speaking, we have to live with Coronavirus and carry on just the way we could move on with HIV or other dreadful diseases, whose cure is still pending. Nature will find its way and we will learn new and better ways of coping with the present scenario. We need to be positive and hopeful.

Sanjay Kumar Mallick, Principal, SNSVM Ghatsila, Jharkhand : Started new technological journey

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June 3, 2020

During the first week of March 2020, in the National Capital, schools were closed as a precautionary measure to prevent the possibility of the spread of COVID-19 amongst school children. The total numbers of COVID- 19 cases in the country were 30 at that time. Since then spread of cases, awareness, precautions, and measures to stop the COVID-19 started accelerating. It’s been two months now, COVID-19 became a pandemic and has impacted the lives of people around the world. Transportation, traveling, ways of doing business and, new rules on public gatherings has changed the daily routines of millions across the globe.

We closed our school on 21 March, 2020 following the guidelines of the Government of Jharkhand. Fortunately, we were over with annual examinations, corrections works, results, and parent-teacher meetings (PTM) before the lockdown started. When we sensed that it is going to be long before we open our school for normal and formal teaching in the traditional classroom setup, we need to do something different. We at Sant Nandlal Smriti Vidya Mandir (SNSVM) strongly felt that children cannot be left at home without guidance and significant learning during this lockdown.

Discontinuity in education and learning can deeply impact students’ life. The very thought of this made us think to look for alternate ways and means, knowing that remote learning cannot create the same effect as in the school environment. But now it is becoming a necessity for the best interest of schools, teachers, students, and parents.

We started our new technological journey just after a week of school’s closure. The whole process we adopted for online classes can be shown as below:

In this article my focus will be on – Online Examination, because entire processes detailing of online classes is voluminous and beyond the scope of this article. After three weeks of teaching online, we decided to interact with parents using the same online video platform to know their views on the effectiveness of our efforts. We sent the request messages to parents for PTM and reminded them 2-3 times. Parents’ attendance (94-96%) and responses were overwhelming.

In the very PTM we apprised parents that we will seek your feedback through Google Form and similar technology will be used for conducting online examinations. They have happily accepted the idea and encouraged us that examination through on-line mode will make students more serious about their studies, online classes, and assignments. We were in great eustress. More than 1000+ students, classes IV-XII, 06 subjects up to the secondary section and 07 subjects in senior secondary section, was a voluminous task.

The challenges:

1. Preparation of the question papers MCQ type having single correct option, multiple correct options from lessons so far taught.
2. All teachers are not technological sound to create Question papers using Google Form.
3. Making Question papers in Standardized format.
4. Examination Time Table.
5. Invigilation duties to ensure fair examination.
6. Evaluation work.
7. Who will do what?

Firstly, we created a well-defined structure and a core team for this online examination, which is entirely different from the existing examination system we have in our school.

Core team: Members of the core team were technologically sound, having laptop, good internet connection, and young, energetic and willing to walk extra-miles. Team consisted of-

1. Principal
2. Observers-09
3. Technical Assistant-02
4. Coordinator-02

Flow of work:

Processes we followed:

We created a new email only for online examination and used the drive for easy access and storage. Mail-id was shared with the paper setter to submit the question papers after HOD’s approval. Only the Principal and observers were authorized to check the mails and its contents.
Conducted several meetings with teachers and core team to clarifications, progresses and feedbacks.
Observers were given the training to prepare Question papers using Google form
Observers received the QPs from the teachers in the mail created for the purpose and prepared the question papers using Google form.
Technical assistants ensured that QPs are complete in all respect and released the link to observers for verifications and onward transmission to Class teachers on the given exam date just 05 minutes before.
Parents were requested to act as an invigilator to ensure no unfair means by their wards.
Coordinators numbers were shared with the parents to contact incase of any difficulties, clarification and suggestions during examinations.
After all examinations, observers prepared the result sheets and technical assistant uploaded the result in the school webpage and SMS sent to the parents about the results

Messages to parents:

Instructions to students:

• Fill up your personal details carefully.
• All questions are compulsory.
• Try to submit the paper in 40-45 minutes.
• You are allowed to submit only once, make sure that you have correctly attempted all the questions before submission.
• Make sure you clicked on submit button to successfully complete the test.
• New students must contact their class teacher for the admission number.
• Form will be active for two hours only. For session-I 10.05AM to 12.05PM and for session-II 12.05PM to 2PM.
• For any difficulties while appearing the test please contact Mr. SR Dutta and Mr. Anup Kumar Patnaik.

Duties and responsibilities of Observer

1. Ensure that every class teacher is having a Question Paper link for paper-I by 09.45 AM for session-1.
2. Ensure every class teachers release the Question Paper link to their respective class group with necessary instructions by 10.05 AM
3. Students can take test from 10.05 AM. Students must submit the form to make it a valid test.
4. Inform Class teachers that Question Paper link will be active for 02 hours only.
5. Ensure through class teachers that all students are appearing in the test.
6. At 10.35 AM check the response sheet and apprise Class teachers about the attendance of the class. Inform the names who appeared the test to the class teachers.
7. At 11.35 AM check the response sheet once again and apprise Class teachers about the attendance of the class. Inform the names who appeared the test to the class teachers.
8. Ensure that every class teacher is having Question Paper link for paper-II by 11.45 AM for session-3.
9. Students can take tests from 12.05 PM. Students must submit the form to make it a valid test.
10. At 12.35 PM check the response sheet and apprise Class teachers about the attendance of the class. Inform the names who appeared the test to the class teachers.
11. At 1.35 PM check the response sheet once again and apprise Class teachers about the attendance of the class. Inform the names who appeared the test to the class teachers.
12. At 2 PM, prepare the report in Google Form with help of Class teachers in the given format and mail to Principal

Conclusions: “We don’t grow when things are easy and we are in a comfortable state, we grow when we face challenges”

We are so happy and satisfied with our efforts and outcomes that we have decided to continue online examinations for our Periodic/Half-yearly/Annual examination in our school.

Sanjay Kumar Mallick, an accomplished educationist with a career span of thirty years. He brims with creative exuberance and an industrious zeal. A Research Scholar, Master in Computer Applications, Master in Psychology, Post Graduate Diploma in Management (HR), and B. Ed. Mallick envisions education as the right blend of academic acumen and creative effervescence. He is a Psychologist, Motivator, CBSE City Coordinator (Training), CBSE Master Trainer, CBSE Resource Person, Author, Certified Career Counselor, and a Special Need Educator.

MCC begins NEET PG 2020 second counselling

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June 3, 2020

In a major move, NEET PG 2020 second counselling registration process begins from today. Students who qualified in the NEET PG exam and wish to participate in the second round of counselling can register for the process between June 3 and June 9, 2020.

Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) will process seat allotment from June 10 to June 11, 2020 and will announce result for second round seat allotment on June 12, 2020.

The payment facility for counselling registration will be available till 12 pm on June 9, 2020.

Candidates registering for the second counselling will have time lock their choices from June 4 to June 9, 2020.

Students who are allotted a seat in the second round of counselling will be allowed to report at the allotted college between June 12 and June 18, 2020.

Seats which remain vacant due to non-reporting and non-joining of seats by 6 pm on June 18 will be transferred to State Quota and will be available for NEET PG counselling being held by respective state authorities.

For the first round of counselling, MCC introduced the provision of online reporting for students who could not do it in person due to the covid-19 lockdown announced nation-wide.

Renowned academician Dr Pritam Singh passes away

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June 3, 2020

Dr Pritam Singh a renowned academician and institutional builder passed away due to cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Gurugram. Dr Singh was 78 and is survived by his two sons Dr Vikas Singh , Dr Vipul Singh , his daughter , wife and many grandchildren.

Dr Singh was conferred with prestigious Padma Shi award. He is credited with turning around the fortunes of the Management Development Institute (MDI) Gurugram and also IIM Lucknow. In his 45 years of the career, he mentored around 200 CEOs and organized 50 board level workshops. He stamped his perspectives on policy and government issues that surround both management education and corporate.

Dr Singh was also a member of the PMs empowered panel for selection of eminence institutions of India. He authored several reputed books. He was a globally sought after speaker and has addressed various Indian and global audiences including Chambers of Commerce in various countries.

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