As educational institutions remain shut all across the country, the Gujarat state government has come up with a unique initiative to reach out to school students to ensure there is no academic loss amid the Coronavirus outbreak. The state government on Wednesday announced that students of Classes 7 to 9 and 11 will now be able to revise and practice their subjects from the comfort of their homes using regional TV channels that began broadcasting daily hour-long tutorials, from March 19.
This move comes after the Gujarat Government decided to shut down its schools, establishments and cinema halls for two weeks from March 16 due to the pandemic. The various subjects for which the revision and practice sessions have been arranged include Mathematics, Science and English for the Class 7 to 9 students and Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, and Accountancy for the students of Class 11.
Students can also avail the service online by choosing from a number of Gujarati TV channels so they do not miss out on their academics due to the shutdown, the government stated. "Students cannot just sit idle at home during this crucial time of the academic session. This entire alternative is being planned out to make up for the lost teaching days and also to avoid any delay in the next academic session. Further, planning will be chalked out in view of the situation that develops in the coming days," said Gujarat's Education Secretary Vinod Rao, as per an Indian Express report.
For revision ahead of the annual examinations that were earlier scheduled to begin in March end or the first week of April, nearly 1.5 lakh government primary teachers have been directed to reach out to all individual students and hand over worksheets, all 51 weekly tests (periodical assessment tests) and also their answer sheets of the second semester already conducted for Class three to eight students. During this process of door-to-door reaching out to students that began on Wednesday, the teachers have also been asked to publicise and make the beneficiaries aware of the lessons through television initiative.
No positive case of the novel Coronavirus has been recorded in the state yet. In Surat, a part of the Veer Narmad University hostel was converted into a 500-bed quarantine ward for persons returning from international trips. Along with a team from the city municipal corporation and police is also present there. A man, who returned from Nagpur and had close contact with a COVID-19 positive patient, was admitted to an isolation ward of the government hospital in Surat and his sample sent for examination, authorities have said. In Ahmedabad, two new suspected cases have been admitted to the government hospital.
