B'luru govt school teachers hold night classes, wake up students early morning to train them for SSLC exams

It is that time of year when students study hard for the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examinations. And teachers of some government schools in the state are even going to the extent of not only making students stay in schools to study in the night but also wake them up early in the morning. The teachers are working hard to improve the results of their schools and bring them at least on par with the private and aided schools in the SSLC exams scheduled to be held from March 21.

Going the extra mile, teachers at rural schools are going door to door early in the morning helping students to wake up early.

In Bengaluru, the teachers are conducting extra classes until late in the evening and also early in the morning before regular school hours.

Majunath, a teacher from Government High School in Hebbal, Bengaluru, said, "We are conducting classes after school hours. The regular classes get over by 3.30pm and we conduct extra classes up to 6.45pm every day."

This is by taking prior permission from the parents. "Before implementing it we have discussed this with the School Development and Monitoring Committees (SDMC) and had meetings with parents. It would be difficult if parents raised objections," he said.

A government high school located in Rajanakunte, which has 48 students in SSLC, offers both Kannada and English medium. Here, each teacher has adopted 10 students and are personally preparing them for the exams.

Venkatesh K M, an English teacher of the school, said, "In our school, we have adopted students and each teacher is responsible for the performance of these students. Every one of us is spending three hours extra after the school hours to coach the kids."

The schools which have taken extra measures for better results are also providing mid-day meals in the afternoon and some are even providing snacks in the evenings.

Gopalakrishna G K, a Kananda teacher at Government High School in Vidyanagar, Bengaluru North, said, "We have a student strength of 60 and last year’s result was 93%, but this year we are aiming for 100%. For this, we have been taking special classes both before and after school hours since day one of the academic year. As the kids would be hungry in the evening we provide snacks to them."

FOR CENT PER CENT RESULTS

Teachers at the government high school at Bogase, a remote village in Chikkamagaluru district, are doing 'night shift' at this school for the last three months. Manjappa Shetty, the headmaster of the school, said, "Last year we got 100% results and we want to carry that trend. This year we have opened night school where from 6 pm to 11 pm we conduct special classes for SSLC students."

Interestingly, students come from villages 8 to 10 km away. Considering this, the teachers have made arrangements for students to stay at the school until the exams are over.

A separate arrangement has been made for boys and girls to sleep in the school and every day one parent has to accompany the students on a rotation basis during night hours. In this school, the teachers will wake up students at 4 am for a light yoga session. By 5.30 am, kids will be put through the studies supervised by the teachers.

Darshan, a student at the school, said, "We are from a very remote village and we do not have private tuitions like the city students. We are thankful to our teachers who are putting extra efforts for our sake."