The winter break is almost over and schools are now hoping for a year of uninterrupted activities and a return to the pre-pandemic calendar.
Since 2020, there have been disruptions and “half-hearted openings”. Picnics, excursions and sports have vanished.
Around this time last year, there was a surge in Covid cases in the city and schools continued with online classes.
With both ICSE and CBSE authorities having announced their schedule for board exams, January 2023 will be used for pre-board exams and board practicals, officials of schools said.
The board exams start in mid-February.
There were no pre-boards last year because the ICSE and CBSE exams were held in two semesters — in November-December and in April-MayJune.
“ This year, we are going back to the pre-pandemic schedule. Like before, we conducted a few of the papers of the pre-board examinations in December and the rest will be held in January,” said Jessica Gomes Surana, principal, Loreto Convent, Entally.
For the other students, the next one-and-a-half months will be used for sports, carnivals and outdoor activities.
“Outdoor activities are an important part of education,” said Amita Prasad, director, Indus Valley World School.
Prasad said that last year schools had a “half-hearted” reopening in February, before the start of the new session.
Last year, many schools did not bring their junior students back to the campus. Some who did only wanted the students to see their school buildings.
Schools are again planning out-of-school activities that are part of experiential learning. Winter is the best time to take students to museums, a teacher said.
“If it were only about studies and exams, there is no growth in children or even in teachers. For experiential learning, they have to look beyond the text,” said Nupur Ghosh, vice-principal at Mahadevi Birla World Academy.
The school has a carnival scheduled for Saturday.
“There is no resistance from parents, which shows they, too, are keen (that the students take part in outdoor activities) and realised that they had missed out on these activities,” Ghosh said.