Students of all government and government-aided elementary and middle schools in the district will light candles and take a pledge, in a symbolic gesture to affirm their commitment to dispel the darkness of ignorance and spread the light of knowledge, when the schools reopen on Monday.
Under the joint initiative by the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (Education for All scheme) and the Department of Elementary Education, all the schools have been instructed to light the “education lamp” in every class immediately after the school assembly on Monday morning, said V. Jayakumar, Chief Educational Officer, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and District Elementary Education Officer (in-charge).
Teachers and students have been instructed to bring candles from their homes to light the lamps at the classes when the students will take a pledge affirming that they will come to school punctually; accord respect to parents, teachers and the aged; maintain their classroom and the school campus clean; be friendly with all children and participate in all learning activities so as to improve his innate skills under the guidance of the teacher.
“We thought this will help kindle the interest of children in learning when they start an academic year afresh. We hope it will spur them to participate in the activity based learning, which is being given a push now,” Mr. Jayakumar told The Hindu .
Mr. Jayakumar said they had brought out compact discs containing video presentations to be screened at the classes after the teaching sessions. The visual content, they hope, would keep the students interested in the subjects and help them understand the lessons taught in the classes better. A calendar, listing various activities to be taken up by students in the class each day as part of the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation system, has also been brought out and supplied to the schools. This will ensure that a system of activity based learning is fully implemented with the participation of all students, including slow learners, so that no student feels left behind in the learning process, Mr. Jayakumar added.
