HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, on Saturday has released an alternative academic calendar for secondary students studying in class 9 and 10. Earlier the alternative academic calendars were released for primary and upper classes. For all schools the academic calendar will be common and this would also ensure that the students are learning in a systematic and standardised way, during this lockdown.
The calendar has several activities in it where students can be guided through SMS or mobile phones or voice calls. In the secondary stage, parents help can also be taken. These activities have been finalized keeping in mind that there are several students who do not have access to high-end infrastructure.
Keeping in view the choice of availability of tools with the teachers, a week wise plan has been developed for the secondary stage.
National Council of Education Research and Training has developed thee curriculum. In the first stage, the calendar is available for only a four-week schedule and based on the situations and needs it can be extended further.
The calendar has themes and content from the syllabus and has been linked with corresponding learning outcomes and in which ways it can be ensured digitally.
The council called this initiative as a necessity during this time to ensure the process of learning is taking place smoothly.
NCERT claimed that the calendar does not only include general guidelines and activities based on the subjects, but also has detailed material on how to use different technologies and social media tools. The calendar also has different type of activities related to art and physical education. Along with the textbooks,it also includes reference of many learning resources.