Assess, understand, help schoolchildren pick up pace: BMC's mantra for students in Mumbai

Students appear for an exam at a school in Mahim. Representation pic/Atul Kamble

Students of Stds I-X at BMC-run schools will receive remedial training and classes to help them overcome the learning gap caused by missing in-person education over the past two years, due to COVID-19.

Like state government-run and private schools, civic schools would also conduct baseline tests or pre- and post-test, to identify and bridge the learning gaps.

The remedial program is in line with the State Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT)'s ‘Setu Abhyaskram'.

Starting this month, all BMC schools will set dates for pre-test to assess the problems students are facing in understanding their previous year's syllabus in language subjects, general science, social science and mathematics.

"We have adopted this program wherein gaps in learning will be identified through a baseline test, following which teachers will conduct a comprehensive revision of the previous year's syllabi over 30 working school days. Thereafter, students will be tested once again," said Rajesh Kankal, BMC education officer.

"During the pandemic, many students migrated to their native place along with parents; hence many had little or no access to online education. Many other issues also contributed to the learning gap for students.

This initiative will help us identify the issues and level of the learning gap, and provide remedial measures," he added.

Because of two years of online schooling, many students lack basic reading and writing skills. Therefore, the civic education department plans to conduct a baseline assessment, said Ajit Kumbhar, joint municipal commissioner (Education).

He added, "The baseline tests will be conducted to assess the abilities of students of all municipal-run schools. Starting this month, schools will conduct tests to determine students' level of understanding and the learning gaps. The assessment would be conducted in three stages in order to boost their studies and provide remedial help."