New schemes lined up to address school students’ learning gap

CHENNAI: As the schools for elementary and middle-level students were expected to be opened soon, the State government has planned a series of activities, including improving basic literacy and numeracy among children from classes 1 to 3.

Also, to address learning gaps, a learning enhancement programme will be launched under which worksheets containing video and assessment QR codes for students from classes 1 to 8 to access the content digitally will be distributed.

A senior School Education Department official told DT Next that feedback from teachers suggested that most class 1 to 3 students from government and aided schools have forgotten alphabets and numbers due to the closure of schools for more than a year and half.

“Therefore, once the schools reopen, the government is planning to launch “Ennum Ezhutthum” project to improve basic literacy and numeracy among these students, and also to ensure that every child attains the fundamental skills of reading, writing and doing basic arithmetic,” he said.

The Rs 66.7 crore project also focuses on capacity building of teachers and resource material for teachers and learning material that would contain more comprehensive exercises than the existing textbooks, he said. “A robust monitoring mechanism is also being put in place to track the performance of each and every child,” the official added. Under this, all school headmasters and senior staff should upload performance data in the Education Management Information System (EMIS).

“Similarly, in order to address learning gaps, we will also distribute worksheets containing video and assessment QR codes for students to access additional content and assessment material digitally. For this scheme, the government has allocated Rs 34.78 crore to print and supply the materials. Teachers would also be given training on the teaching methods of the worksheets,” he added.