PANAJI
Despite the Education Department’s circular permitting schools to begin offline classes for students of standards IX to XII, an ongoing schedule of examinations in the online mode for classes IX and X has delayed the restarting of physical classes as institutions preferred not to disturb their planned schedule.
Higher Secondary Schools however held examinations from Monday in the offline mode for students of classes XI and XII.
An official of the education department said, although the circular was issued on Sunday detailing the SOPs to be observed and permitting institutions to restart physical classes from Monday, there was a clause in the circular which left it to the discretion of the management of the institutions. Students of schools and higher secondary schools have been off campuses and carrying out all academic work in the online mode since March 2020.
Several experts have warned of adverse impact of the situation on the students including knowledge gap for a generation of students if it is allowed to continue any longer.
For over a month, UNICEF-India has been lobbying hard with governments across the country to prioritise the return of students to school campuses.
