The directorate of school education in Kashmir has rolled out a planner for schools in the valley for improving academic standards and streamlining the exam sessions.
According to the planner, the department has decided todivide schools into three categories based on student performance.
The schools that display good learning levels among studentswill be categorised as Green, schools with average performance of students willbe put in Yellow category and government schools with below average learningoutcomes will be categorised as Red.
The move comes months after the national survey presented agrim picture of J&K’s education sector in its 18th report, raisingquestions about decrease in learning levels among students and enrollment ingovernment schools.
The ASER findings revealed that only 22.3 percent childrenof class 3rd can read the text from 2nd primary text books and only 36 percentstudents are able to do subtraction.
Similarly, only 41.9 percent students are able to read textfrom 2nd primary text books and only 25 percent can do division.
“Only 32 percent students from class 8th can do division,”the report reads.
The dismal performance of students on learning outcomes wasreported despite the school education department roping in around 20 NGOs forproviding academic assistance in schools.
Now, the directorate has stressed on strict implementationof the academic planner in all the schools.
“The schools should prepare an institution plan withtimelines covering all the aspects detailed in the academic planner keeping inview the available resources and the social context,” reads an order issued bydirector school education Kashmir (DSEK).
The order says that a school performance index (SPI) will bedevised by the department on the basis of the academic calendar to measure theperformance of schools for grading them.
Last year the department had devised an academic planner forschools aiming to compensate academic losses on account of frequent closure ofeducational institutions amid disturbances in the valley.
This year, the department has stressed on making optimum useof a teachers’ manual and priorities activity based learning (ABL) for primaryclasses.
In its new academic planer, the department mulls to have atleast 182 working days in schools from November 2018 to December 2019 excludingvacations and scheduled holidays.
“In case of a shutdown (strike), unforeseen event, forcedclosure of the school, the next holiday should be deemed as the working day(7-8 hours a day) to avoid academic loss of students,” reads the academicplanner.
The annual planner also suggests making attendance ofstudents obligatory in order to strengthen the school system.