Says these books are usually distributed to govt-aided schools at end of May
PANAJI
The schools have started and children are physically back to school after two long years of online classes. However, this academic year has started on a different note, with school text books not yet in hand. The parents have equipped their children with all other gear – school dress, bags, rainwear, shoes, notebooks and stationery, but the teachers have yet to distribute the school text books to them. Day one of school for students of class I to VIII went without books on their desks.
“The books of class I to VIII are usually distributed to government aided schools in Goa at the end of May by Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan every year but, these books have not yet reached us even after the reopening of the schools on June 6,” admits Anant Agni, headmaster, Ravindra Kelekar Dyanmandir at Margao. The school, started with its all-inclusive approach to education and teaching-learning process and is completing 10 years on Monday (June 7) and celebrated a get-together at Konkani Bhavan.
The books of class IX to XII are provided by the Goa Board and usually printed by the publishers in the State and students have to buy these from the bookstalls on their own. “These books are available at the shops,” says Agni. “However, the books of lower classes are printed outside Goa and these have not yet reached us,” he adds.
Asked about the pricing of the books and whether they are more expensive this year, Agni affirms and points out that after the decision of printing school books in multicolour with four-colour pictures to make them attractive, the prices have gone up a bit.
“For example the price of the Konkani subject book for std IX changed after the printing cost went up, as coloured pictures were included in it. NCERT has adopted a trend to make the books colourful and attractive and is now being followed for the past decade. The books for std I to VIII are provided by the SCERT and these also are being printed in colour now,” states Agni, an active educationist.
However, he also points out to the fact that with so many scholarships available at all levels, schooling is no more a burden on parents. In Goa, people are habitual of using second-hand books, and parents who cannot afford to buy new books, provide these to their wards studying in higher classes, beginning from std IX to post-graduation level.
There has been no change in the syllabus post Covid and what was taught in the academic year 2019-20 is being continued in 2022-23. For the past two academic years, 2020-21 and 2021-22 the syllabus was curtailed for std I to XII, which has been regularised from this current academic year. It’s a fact that students have missed out some part of their portion during the covid pandemic, and it will be little difficult for them to cope up this year.
That’s the reason teachers in most schools are focussing on this lost portion. More than the Board or the Education department, this should be carried out at the school level, feels Agni. Apart from the missed out portion, teachers are seeing to it that the students who are out from the confinement of their homes during the pandemic, should be filled with hope, positivity, curiosity and enthusiasm for learning.
“It’s important that we make the children comfortable. To bring them to their normal self should be our motto, for the first six months of academic year. We have to develop concentration and patience among them and instil positive approach towards learning and examination process,” says Agni who has instructed his faculty to focus on positivity and capabilities of students who have forgotten their skills. Making students aware of their skills and bringing them to normalcy is what most other schools also are concentrating in the first half of the academic year.
During the pandemic the parents’ approach to exams and overall learning process had altered. It’s time to look at these things differently and take learning more seriously. The intellectual growth of the child should be the focus of both parents and teachers. The Konkani Bhasha Mandal’s Ravindra Kelekar Dyanmandir with its joint student capacity of 600 at primary and school section has students coming from 25-30 km radius.
“We have students from Balli, Cuncolim or Quepem too,” concludes the headmaster and boasts that his school is known for its inclusive approach towards the students, who come from different social, cultural and financial backgrounds.
