Can your child, who is in class 1, sing songs, narrate stories in Kannada, and read four-letter English words? Can he or she gather notes and coins to make up ₹20, or identify the sun, the moon and the stars?
Now, such questions parents have will be answered by a colourful manual they can leaf through.
In a first, the Department of Primary and Secondary Education has developed learning outcomes for students from classes 1 to 5 in an easy-to-understand draft manual. Parents can use it as a guide to gauge their child’s progress in the classroom.
The Department of State Educational Research and Training has published the draft learning indicators in English and Kannada for four subjects — English, Kannada, mathematics, and environment science.
Each subject has five or six tasks that students should be competent in. Every instruction has illustrations and information. For instance, a class 5 student should be able to write stories and poems in Kannada, understand the properties of living beings and inanimate objects, answer questions based on day-to-day experiences, and read in English.
P.C. Jaffer, State project director, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, said the manual would help parents understand what their children are supposed to be learning in the classroom. “Learning indicators, done by several agencies, are very technical. This draft aims to give a simplified version to parents,” he said, adding that it can be used by parents of all State board schools — private, aided and unaided.
Ajay Seth, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Primary and Secondary Education, said the manual would also be put up on the walls of schools and placed in the report card from the next academic year.
The department is developing similar manuals for parents of class 6 and 7 students. Various studies have pointed to learning outcomes not being up to the desired levels in the State.
The Annual Status of Education Report-2016 conducted in rural schools in the State had shown that over half the students with elementary education were unable to do a simple division or read easy sentences in English.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development has decided to include learning outcomes as part of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. Following this, the MHRD came up with a draft learning outcomes list in January this year.
