The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has planned a host of activities this academic year with an eye on academic enhancement of students as part of the State government’s General Education Protection Mission.
As part of a holistic approach to education, the SSA is implementing Pratibhotsavam to identify students’ special talents and hone them over the long term.
“Identifying students’ talents is a challenging job. Then, attention has to be paid to developing these over the next few years so that they can make a mark in their chosen area,” says SSA State Project Director A.P. Kuttikrishnan.
The SSA will conduct four-day camps for upper primary students during the summer vacations to identify their talents. Class V students who are interested will be invited as well. The State-level camp was inaugurated recently by Minister for Finance T.M. Thomas Isaac at Mullakodi in Kannur. The plan is to hold similar camps in one school in each Assembly constituency under the leadership of the respective MLAs.
Emphasis will also be laid on Balotsavam, which aims at presenting a school’s achievements in society so as to make it aware of students’ potential, thereby attracting prospective students and parents to public schools.
Students academic achievements, their creative talents, projects, and teachers’ activities will be exhibited as part of Balotsavam.
As part of the education mission, the SSA will launch work on setting up biodiversity parks in schools on June 5, World Environment Day.
“The parks are not just mere gardens; they are aimed at knowing nature up close. To familarise students with what the parks are about and how to go about setting them up, the SSA will publish a workbook called Venal Pacha for students from Class I to VII. A handbook for teachers will also be brought out,” Dr. Kuttikrishnan said.
With national studies showing State students lagging behind in subjects such as English and Maths, the SSA had drawn up specific projects last year to improve their performance.
It had been found that the importance given by people to English was one reason why students were admitted to schools where the medium of instruction was English. To counter this, the SSA launched the Hello English programme last year with the goal of enhancing lower primary students’ confidence in using English language by training their teachers to instruct in it. This year, Hello English will cover the remaining lower primary teachers in schools, and be extended to upper primary schools.
Similarly, Ganitotsavam that was held in select schools in the State to familiarise children with mathematical concepts and kindle their interest in the subject will be carried forward this year with focus on two aspects. First, identify students who fare poorly in Maths and concentrate on improving their fundamentals to achieve the learning outcomes required. And second, equip students who are gifted in the subject to do even better and take up Mathematics for their higher studies.
Malayalathilakkam, which envisages intensive training in a short period of time to the small minority of students who do not know how to read and write in Malayalam, Surili Hindi that was started on a small scale last year, and Sastrotsavam will also be continued this year.
