New Delhi: When the whole country is under 21-day lockdown due to COVID-19 outbreak, reports have surfaced stating that the central government is planning to start the new academic session (2020-2021) for schools from the first week of April.
Secretary of Human Resource Development (HRD Amit Khare, however, said that the classes for the new session will be conducted online due to the lockdown.
He told ThePrint, “Classes will start online from the first week of April, to commence the new academic session. We will begin this process with Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)-affiliated schools and states can join in gradually.”
“Some schools have already started their classes online,” he added.
The government will be directing schools to follow the SWAYAM TV channels run by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in order to conduct online classes.
The channels that are available on direct-to-home (DTH) networks are currently offering study material for Classes XI-XII.
The government has asked NIOS to add content for junior classes too.
Meanwhile, some schools are creating content on their own and making use of government portals such as DIKSHA and the NCERT E-pathshala for the online classes.
Director of Ahlcon Group of Schools in Delhi, Ashok Pandey said, “We have already begun preparations to impart lessons through online mode to our students.”
“For that, we are first training our teachers because online teaching and learning is a very new concept. Our teachers need to be ready for that first,” he added.
The online mode of teaching will help the schools in resuming the new academic session during the COVID-19 crisis.