SCERT has developed a supplementary calendar for the students to self-study: Varsha Gaikwad

Varsha Gaikwad, the Minister of school education, recently took to Twitter to announce that the State Council for Educational Research and Training has developed a supplementary calendar for the students to self-study.

कोरोना मुळे शाळा बंद असल्या तरी शिक्षण थांबू नये यासाठी पाठ्यपुस्तकांच्या सहाय्याने विद्यार्थ्यांना स्वयंअभ्यास करण्यास सहाय्य करण्यासाठी राज्य शैक्षणिक संशोधन व प्रशिक्षण परिषदेने पूरक शैक्षणिक दिनदर्शिका विकसित केली आहे.https://t.co/BKoAmPlfIc@CMOMaharashtra @bb_thorat

— Varsha Gaikwad (@VarshaEGaikwad) June 19, 2020

Gaiwak also added that along with the calendar, the students can self-study with the help of textbooks. Therefore, their education will not be affected because of the outbreak of coronavirus. The schools in Maharashtra have remained closed due to COVID-19 and this statement comes at a time when schools are said to resume e-learning.

Uddhav Thackeray, the CM of Maharashtra, had earlier agreed to the SOP submitted by the education department. As per the SOP, the department has asked for no e-learning classes for up to class two students. The decision was taken in a video conference which was also attended by Varsha Gaikwad. The school education department had drafted an SOP for the educational institutes to adhere to during the outbreak of the coronavirus. According to the SOP guidelines, online classes had been suggested for the school going students. E-learning has been scheduled for higher classes. Since the approval had been pending before, the schools had done their own planning and arrangements with respect to online classes. However, in recent developments, the government has said that students up to class two are exempted from online teaching which applies to the entire state and all the boards. 

With the outbreak of the coronavirus, parents across the country have been hesitant about sending their children to school. As a consequence of the contagious nature of the coronavirus, putting young children at risk can be avoided. It will be crucial to see how schools maintain social distancing protocols to safeguard their students if educational institutions resume in all the states post the lockdown. As of now, around 290 million school going students are pursuing education at over 1.4 million schools. Educational institutions have been closed since the third week of March and are yet to resume. It is alleged that in Maharashtra schools will resume in the month of July but only in the COVID-19 free areas.