Delhi govt announces slew of education plans for Covid-19 lockdown: From data packs to daily activity SMS

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https://www.indiatoday.in/education

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia announced a slew of decisions on Monday for students who are stuck at home in the Covid-19 lockdown as all schools and colleges in the state are closed.

“We are worried about the education of our children during the lockdown period. Several measures are being planned,” Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal tweeted.

“If necessary, we will start classes via television channels,” said Deputy CM Manish Sisodia.

Among these are online classes for students of 11 and 12, promotion without exams till class 8, data package for students, regular SMS/IVR to parents for daily activities, and even plans for a home syllabus and TV broadcasted classes.

These measures are meant to ease the education gap being created due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Measures taken by the Delhi government for students in Covid-19 lockdown

Here are the measures taken by the Delhi government as listed by the official Twitter handle of the Aam Admi Party:

1. Nursery to Class 8 students will be promoted.

2. Home Syllabus being laid out

3. SMS/IVR will be sent to parents for daily activity

4. Online classes for Class X, XII

5. TV broadcast of classes being considered

Online classes for Class 10 and Class 12 students along with data package

As per the announcements made by the Delhi government, students studying classes 10 and 12 in Delhi government schools will be given online classes and the government will also provide the data packages for the students.

Direct promotions till Class 8

The Delhi government is promoting students from Nursery to Class 8 directly without any exams. This is akin to the decision taken by many other states in view of the Covid-19 lockdown.

“Students studying in Nursery to Class 8 will be promoted directly to the next standard, under Right to Education,” Manish Sisodia said.

Daily activity SMS for parents

The Delhi government is known for taking the initiative to involve the parents of children studying in Delhi government schools by conducting India’s largest Parent-Teacher meeting last year.

Amidst the Covid-19 lockdown as well, the government has decided to keep them involved in their kids’ education with the decision to send a daily activity through SMS or recorded phone calls (IVR).

“For Nursery till Class 8 students, one activity/project will be sent to their parents every day through SMS and recorded phone calls,” he added.

Exams postponed and education gap

As the country is currently in the middle of a Covid-19 lockdown, students are unable to attend school and colleges.

Owing to the dangers of the Coronavirus pandemic, the HRD Ministry has also ordered CBSE, NTA and NCERT to create new academic calendars since board exams have been postponed till the situation normalizes and all physical classes are on hold.

But since India might need to extend the Covid-19 lockdown, there are questions about how the government can help fill the wide education gap that is being created, especially because thousands of children in India are unable to continue studies at home since they come from impoverished backgrounds.

The measures taken by the Delhi government will ease a lot of problems being faced by students in the Covid-19 lockdown if implemented properly.

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