During a regular academic year, December would mean half-yearly examinations and a long break for the students. However, with campuses remaining shut since March, schools are now mulling putting in place some form of assessment while also factoring in a short break from the online classes for the students.
State board schools are yet to receive information on whether there will be changes to the syllabus or if they need to conduct virtual exams at the end of the second term. Most schools that have been conducting online classes are already considering conducting exams, in a virtual format, which is feasible for the students.
“While students from the senior classes have been attending online classes regularly, taking an initiative to learn, we have been facing challenges while ensuring that students of Classes 6 to 9 learn in some way or the other,” said G.J. Manohar, headmaster and correspondent, MCC Higher Secondary School.
For these classes, the school was planning on having term papers that would mainly act as a way to review learning over the last few months, he said.
‘Not mandatory’
In accordance with the guidelines issued for conducting online classes, schools have been holding assessments that have not been mandatory for students, so far.
While the second-term breaks start after December 23, usually extending till around January 2, schools are considering the possibility of working for a few days after Christmas and before New Year. A few holidays are expected in January as well, and the schools are keen on having classes for a few days in between, particularly for the senior classes.
The principal of a private school said that while there would be holidays for Christmas and New Year, they were considering a shorter break, compared to the previous years. “We are awaiting directions from the School Education Department in this regard,” he added.
Analysing efficiency
Stressing the need to have some form of assessment or evaluation, R. Visalakshi, president of the Tamil Nadu Private Schools’ Association, said schools could consider having short exams, with multiple choice or one-mark questions, for a majority of the classes.
“Only this way can we get an idea of how much the students have learnt, all these months, through online classes. The idea is to analyse how effective the learning has been and to bring about some seriousness among the students,” she added.
