Remedial classes in government and government-aided schools in West Bengal have brought to the fore some severe learning deficiencies among students, teachers said.
The headmaster of a government school in central Kolkata said the absence of a basic concept in science among a section of students who will write the board exams next year, has left them worried. A similar problem is troubling students in the humanities subjects.
A life science teacher at Uttarpara government school said the urge to ask questions is missing.
The headmistress of a government school in central Kolkata said they are trying to firm up the foundation in subjects like physics and mathematics among students through remedial classes.
Sanskrit Collegiate School has been conducting remedial classes from July for students who will write Madhyamik and Higher Secondary examinations next year.
Headmaster Debabrata Mukherjee said some students of Class X are not being able to describe the laws and definition of gas owing to a lack of a basic concept.
“The mass and temperature of the gas should be mentioned during the statement of relation with volume and pressure. This is a basic concept. A section of students seems to lack this. How will they write the Madhyamik examinations based on the full syllabus next year?” said Mukherjee.
Madhyamik was held on a truncated syllabus this year because of the pandemic.
Since in-person classes resumed in mid-February, the state secondary board and the HS council have announced that next year’s board examination will be on the full syllabus.
Be it English, history or Bengali, students are struggling in every subject. At the guardians’ meeting, I have told parents to take note of this,” said Mukherjee.
Schools started the remedial classes after the assessment of scripts of the first summative tests held either before the summer vacation or after the completion of the 57-day-long summer vacation in late June. The classes for those in Class XII started after the assessment of the scripts for the Class XI annual exam.