After a year-long struggle, which included even facing rebuke from the police for extra classes during the late evening, in their bid to improve the district’s SSLC pass percentage, teachers are hoping for a better performance as students are set to write the examinations from Monday.
An official from the Department of Public Instruction said policemen trooped into the Syed Madani School in Ullal noticing children coming out of the classroom around 7.30 p.m. on March 14, which was a day after a four-year-old girl accused her school driver of sexual assault.
“The policemen questioned teachers for holding classes for Class 10 students. They were not ready to hear the purpose of holding the classes and teachers were heckled before students. The conduct had hurt the teachers, who are taking up the issue with the Police Commissioner. Despite such an incident, we have not let go of our efforts to support slow learners,” the official added.
As many as 36,752 students, including 1,352 private ones, are writing the examinations in nearly 100 examination centres. The First Language exam will be held first, while the last exam will be of Social Science on April 13.
The emphasis is on the improvement of the performance of students; more so, the slow learners, as district has been lagging behind in the overall performance iin the last two years. The district — which is known for having good education standards — was ranked 29th last year.
It was ranked 26th and seventh respectively in 2013 and 2012 respectively. The challenge for the teachers was the change in syllabus for Class 10, which has a curriculum that is similar to that of Central Board of Secondary Education, from the 2014-2015 academic year.
This will be first examination under the new syllabus.
Moreover, there will be Comprehensive and Continuous Evaluation (CCE) in which 80 marks will be for theory, while 20 marks will be for assessment of namely the behaviour, extra-curricular activities and projects that students have done.
The preparation began from the start of the academic year, when teachers were given an orientation on the syllabus and also of the CCE.
As the Mathematics syllabus found to be tough, lectures were arranged from experts from the Mathematics Teachers’ Association of India.
In line with the preparation was the initiative of Chief Executive Officer of Zilla Panchayat Tulasi Maddineni who made a good number of class 10 students write the National Talent Search Examination, which is based on the CBSE syllabus.
The blocks — Puttur with ‘Mission 95 +’ and Belthangady with ‘Jnana Deepika’ — came out with a plan to train slow learners, which was followed by other blocks.
The training intensified from February when the block-level, district-level and State-level preparatory examinations were held. While some schools organised night classes for boys, others organised special classes on Sundays and other holidays.
Seshashayana, Block Education Officer of Bantwal, said extra efforts have been put in by teachers in the schools that fared poorly last year. “We are hopeful of 80 per cent students clearing the examination.”
Similar hopes were expressed by Block Education Officers from Sullia, Puttur, Mangaluru South and Belthangady.
“A student, who was scoring marks in single digits, is now confident of scoring 30 marks. This is a significant change,” said G.S. Shashidhar.
As many as 36,752 students will write
the exams in nearly 100 centres
The First Language exam will be
held first