A city school has decided to include observations of parents in the children’s report cards.

Sri Sri Academy will involve parents in the assessment of children because parents are collaborating with teachers in implementing online teaching during the pandemic. The parents’ observations will be part of the reports of the 1,400-odd students from nursery to Class V.

For those in middle and senior sections, the school is planning self-assessment by the students with some observations by parents.

The school has recently sent a feedback form to the parents of the students in the junior school. The parents have been asked to state whether the children are following the teachers’ instructions and whether they are showing any change in behaviour during this period.

“During the pandemic, parents are partnering with the teachers to oversee learning. We felt that if we do not

include their observations in the report cards, it will be an incomplete report. Teachers cannot make a complete assessment on the basis of what they see online,” said principal Suvina Shunglu.

The school says in a note to the parents: “Thank you for being such a pillar of support for us as we navigated our way to newer methods of online teaching during the lockdown... This (the feedback document) will help us understand how your child has advanced through our online teaching sessions.”

The feedback form that has been sent to the parents include questions like how the children have reacted to the lockdown and whether they have come to terms with the fact that they cannot go out to play.

Other questions include whether children listen to instructions, whether the instructions need to be repeated, whether they are completing their task in an organised manner and whether the parents are helping the children complete the task.

The questions have been framed according to age groups and expected learning outcomes, the principal said.

The report card also includes observations on social behaviour and work habits, apart from mentioning the numeracy and literacy skills, the school authorities said. “If teachers are not seeing the child in the classroom, how will they judge the child?” Shunglu asked.

On online platforms, all children in the class are not visible on the screen always. In in-person teaching, a teacher can observe every child. Observations include how a child is behaving in the class, with peers and on the playground.

During online teaching, the video at times gets switched off because of poor connectivity, hampering interactions between teachers and students. Also, to eliminate any background noise, children are asked to keep their devices on mute when the teacher is speaking.

For those in middle and senior school, self assessment will be a part of the reports.

The students will be asked questions like how much effort they are putting in for online classes and how they think they can improve. “Even after the pandemic, self-assessment can be retained in the reports,” said Shunglu.