Teachers of government higher secondary schools have not been able to complete a chunk of Plus Two portions.
The mid-term tests will start within a few days in Tiruchi and will culminate by mid-November. Thereafter, the teachers will be left with only 15 to 20 working days to prepare students for the half-yearly examinations that would usually cover full portions.
‘Substantial time will be taken for evaluation of papers and even if special classes are conducted after December, we will not be able to do full justice to the students. It is another matter that students will shift their attention away from teaching-learning to the revision examination in the run up to the public examinations,’ a senior teacher in a government higher secondary school in a rural location lamented.
‘Expecting teachers to complete portions in new syllabus within six months of commencement of academic year is a tall order. It was simply impossible, particularly because of the delayed supply of text books for some subjects. Also, a large number of teachers had to spend a week to attend orientation programme conducted by the school education department on the new syllabus,’ another senior teacher who did not wish to be identified said.
The probability for teachers to have completed even 70 % of the portions is bleak. We will be required to run through the remaining portions in a slip-shod way. It is, no doubt, an injustice to students. But, there is no other way, he explained.
‘The new syllabus is quite exhaustive. We are not complaining as the students need to learn more though there is no certainty on how they will cope with the challenge all of a sudden. We are not really confident about the performance level of students,’ he said with a tinge of apprehension.
The teachers say the situation may turn for the better next year since the teachers will have more number of meaningful teaching-learning days at their disposal.
In contrast, teachers of private schools are not unduly worried as they had rushed through the portions through conduct of extra classes. According to parents of wards in private schools, the institutions are concentrating more on coaching students for NEET and JEE. ‘In many schools, the completion of text book portions was considered an incidental factor,’ a worried parent said.
