Even a year after the resumption of in-person classes, teachers said the impact of the pandemic was still evident in the answerscripts of students, who need more time to overcome the learning gaps created during the two years of online education.
The impact is more felt among students in classes IX and XI, who will write board exams next year. In at least two schools, more students are having to take retests than the pre-pandemic average.
“Retests are being administered to students who have a possibility of passing. If they fail miserably, they are being detained,” said a principal.
In two schools, the class average has gone down.
Teachers said there has been a rise in the number of students who are just managing to pass the exam. The final term has concluded in most schools and teachers have almost completed the evaluation.
“The learning gap is still huge. It will take time to get over the impact that the pandemic has had on their learning ability,” said Koeli Dey, principal, Sushila Birla Girls’ School. A section of students across schools is struggling to concentrate during exams. They are struggling to write long answers or write continuously, said teachers.
“Their attention span is much shorter now. The students who generally score high marks have maintained their standard, but the class average has gone down,” said Anil Jha, academic coordinator (classes XI and XII), The Heritage School.
Students have shown an improvement in the final term compared with the first term, but they still have not reached the pre-pandemic level, schools said.
“Despite showing improvement, we understand they will take time. In two years of the pandemic, they did not read enough or write well. These factors will have an impact now,” said Terence Ireland, principal, St James’ School.
The jump is massive from Class X to XI and students have been casual about it, which is showing now, said a principal.
“There are students who did not study in the two years of the pandemic but managed to sail through. They suffered because they were unable to comprehend the jump in standard from Class X to XI,” said Amita Prasad, director, Indus Valley World School.