ITANAGAR, 14 Jul: Education Minister Taba Tedir has appealed to all stakeholders, “from the school and community level up to the cluster, block, district and state level,” to come together and help improve the performance of Arunachal Pradesh in the upcoming education surveys and indices.
In a press release, the minister on Friday informed that in December 2022, the SCERT, in collaboration with the Reach to Teach Foundation, had conducted a state-level achievement survey in nine districts of the state to identify the learning gaps.
“The findings of the survey helped in developing the necessary teaching and learning materials and training which are being rolled out in the current academic year,” he said.
The minister said that the education department has undertaken “a series of initiatives to enhance the quality of education in the state from the 2023-’24 academic session onwards.”
“As schools reopened after the summer break on 1st June, the ‘school readiness programme’ was rolled out across Classes 1 to 5 in all schools to ensure that students are able to return to the process of learning and participate in classroom activities,” the minister informed.
He said that, in order to help teachers and students “bridge the existing learning gaps which widened as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic,” the state has launched the “learning recovery programme.”
“To support this process of learning recovery, a set of 24 books (teacher handbooks and student workbooks) for Classes 1 to 12 have been developed by the SCERT and the Reach to Teach Foundation. These are in alignment with the learning outcomes set out by the NCERT. These books consist of experiential and activity-based units to complement and supplement the existing textbooks, and to make learning more engaging for students and to help them attain grade-appropriate learning levels,” the minister said, and added that the education department is working actively to ensure that these books are disseminated across all classes in all schools at the earliest.
Tedir further informed that an “exams and beyond toolkit” for students and teachers of Classes 10 and 12 has also been launched, “which consists of exam blueprints, practice papers, activities and strategies to support teachers in guiding and students in performing better in the board exams.”
The minister further informed that the state has introduced a centralised assessment system for Classes 1 to 12, which includes unit tests, and half-yearly and annual examinations.
“To facilitate this, the SCERT is developing assessment questions and sharing these with the districts to ensure standardised conducting of tests. The results of these tests will be analysed to understand the learning levels of students and, based on this, the state will plan targeted interventions,” he added.
The minister informed that the state has also launched a “bagless Saturday” programme, which will be focused on the development of life skills, promoting mental and physical wellbeing, enhancing creativity, and encouraging holistic development of students.
