Most private schools, especially those affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), in Karur have begun online classes.
Unlike the State Board schools, CBSE schools generally start the new academic year in April. The classes will go on up to the last week of April and classes resume in June after summer vacation. They would usually complete at least 15 to 20 % of the syllabus by April.
But, due to the extended lockdown in the wake of the spread of COVID-19, several schools could not complete the examination process of 2019-20 academic year and start the new academic session as usual. The situation is still fluid regarding the new academic year schedule. However, several schools have reached out to the students by launching online teaching so as to make up the lost time in a constructive manner. While some schools designed their own online teaching modules, some are taking classes on Skype, Zoom and other platforms.
Classes are mainly taken for students of IX, X and XII. The classes that begin at 9 a.m. continues up to 1 p.m. Though the schools, teachers and students had initially undergone teething difficulties, it is said that they have adapted to the new challenge.
“We need to adapt to the emerging challenges. We have successfully reached out to all students by mobiles, laptops or desktops. We find that the online education works well particularly during the current circumstances,” says C. Ramasubramanian, Senior Principal, Bharani Park group of institutions, Karur.
He said that almost all students had high-end mobile phones with a lot of features. Students were initially given orientation classes on joining online classes, efficacy of maintaining the secrecy of username and password, safety precautions, video and mic usages, importance of signing out after the end of the classes. The students had begun to enjoy online classes.
Mr. Ramasubramanian said that teachers had been impressed upon the need to make use of the available technology. Many of them had quickly adapted to the situation. The online education would come into picture whenever the schools were closed in view of heavy rain or other reasons.
