Attendance in schools in Mysuru district shows a steady improvement with each passing week and more number of students attending classes in rural than in urban areas.
There are nearly 4.25 lakh students in the district studying in various classes from 1st to 10th standard and the attendance in both the Government and private schools continues to rise and was pegged at 84 per cent almost 3 weeks after the reopening of primary schools. There was graded opening of schools due to the pandemic. While primary schools reopened from October 25, classes for those between 6th and 8th standard had commenced in September and for 9th and 10th, from the last week of August.
Deputy Director of Public Instructions Ramachandra Raje Urs said that the attendance in primary schools had reached 78 per cent while it was 86 per cent in high schools. For LKG and UKG which reopened from November 8, the attendance rate was steadily improving and 58 per cent of the children enrolled for classes were attending. In areas where the attendance is low the Department of Public Instructions is initiating measures to encourage students to attend classes by way of interaction with parents etc.
Meanwhile, the long gap of almost 20 months was beginning to tell on the performance of the students and they have been identified and the learning gap is maximum in the subjects of Mathematics and English. NGOs working in the field of education too had expressed concern over the absence of serious academic activity for nearly 20 months due to which children, especially those in the primary schools, would have lost their learning ability and skills. This was reckoned to be true in the rural areas and Government schools with first generation learners.
“We have initiated remedial classes apart from starting special classes in those subjects. In case of students in whom the learning gap was wide, special attention was also being paid to shore up their learning while bridge course to brush up the fundamentals has also been introduced’’, said Mr. Ramachandra Raje Urs.
The commencement of classes also brought to the fore the shortage of teachers and the Government has approved the appointment of guest teachers to handle the subjects and make good the shortfall. “For Mysuru district 468 guest teachers were approved and they have been recruited and deployed across various centres where the shortage was acute’’, according to the DDPI.
Meanwhile, the admission process for schools was being kept open for a few more days due to the peculiarity of the situation arising out of the pandemic. Many students whose parents have migrated, do not have transfer certificates and they had to be accommodated, said Mr.Urs.
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