It is learnt that due to disturbances in the academic schedule caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Directorate of Education (DoE) has extended the academic year 2020-2021 by eight additional days.
This has been done to enable schools to complete the portion for the year. It must be said that due to the pandemic students have to undergo a lot of difficulties.
Many of the schools had difficulty in online teaching due to poor connectivity. The ‘no detention’ policy of the government for the school students up to grade eight as a part of their Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation under the Right to Education Act has clearly failed to achieve its purpose in Goa.
However the academic year 2020-2021 has been a unique year for school students. For various reasons the students may not have been able to keep up with their studies. This will have a profound impact on the average and below average students.
Though the students have been studying hard, many may not be able to pass the exams and get promoted to the next class. It would hence be desirable to promote all students from class I to class VIII to the next class irrespective of their performance in the examination.
This year has been an exceptionally trying year for school students and they should not be burdened excessively.
