Covid-19 Pandemic hit the world most unexpectedly and India was no exception. While most of the industries were left grappling attempting a way to make it work and the Indian Education system was also not far behind. Things changed from the unexpected to the inevitable in the span of a few months. The education boards were trying to come up with an idea that would work, and they chanced upon the idea of online education.
Also, keeping in mind that schools had remained closed for longer than expected and seeking for ideas to manage the long syllabus for each subject within the time leftover for the academic year, Central Board of Secondary Education was the first to announce a reduction in the syllabus for the students and then the ICSE followed. Apart from these announcements, within the span of a few days, the State boards also followed suit, thus moving towards the inevitable, because of the current Covid-19 pandemic.
As the new School year approached, schools were at a loss on how to manage students via online classes and make up for the academic losses incurred by the children. Thus, the various education boards from CBSE to state including the CG board or Chhattisgarh Board of Secondary Education along with others decided to prioritise education and came up with the decision to reimagine the syllabus with more focus on topics that are the key highlights of each chapter for a subject. Sources announced that proper monitoring was to be done to ensure that the curtailed syllabus was being followed by CGBSE for the academic year. The syllabus for subjects from English to Social, Science and Maths were reduced by almost 30% for most of the state boards.
While this is indeed a crisis for the education industry, it is also the opportunity to explore things that were hitherto considered as impossible before the pandemic. Meanwhile, below are some steps that the education boards can undertake to change education for the better:
- Moving education to an open area is one way to grow beyond the custom teaching curriculum and also a method that helps to adopt social distancing.
- This in a way helps to promote the mental health benefit of the students and this is most required as almost every students’ mental health has taken a toll during this pandemic.
- Schools should focus more on building social-emotional learning lessons. Help reduce their anxiety issues.
- The reduced syllabus is just another attempt by schools to grapple with the loss of classes due to this pandemic
However, apart from these, it is seen that many students incurred academic losses as they were unable to attend the online classes. Hence. as a damage control measure, some boards put a lot of stress on the need for remedial classes and special treatment for weak students, especially for those who failed to take the benefits of online classes. They also stressed that the issue is very critical and lack of proper and timely steps could cause inequality in the education system.
Meanwhile, it is also seen that some state boards such as Jammu and Kashmir state board of school education have recommended the Administrative Council to provide an option for the Board students to attempt only 60 to 70% of the Board exam question papers for this year’s board exam, which is expected to be conducted as usual at the end of the academic year for the respective classes. Despite these prevailing issues, it is, however, possible for the boards to focus on building and improving the quality of education with proper curriculum reforms. The New education policy 2020, when launched will be a stepping stone of this reform.
