The COVID-19 pandemic has kept students away from their schools for almost two years. For the past 22 months, children are taking their classes virtually. This has brought in a sea change in the educational trajectory. The shift from offline to online mode of education has affected students’ development in both – positive and negative – ways. However, the demand for physical classes for the students has been rising since the cases began to subside.
Many secondary and senior schools and colleges had resumed last year with strict COVID protocols. But with the new Omicron variant, the COVID cases surged suddenly. Due to this most of the educational institutions were shut down in January.
Unlike the last academic session that began with studies from home, there are fair chances that the physical classes would resume in the upcoming session of 2022-23.
Resuming Classes with Subsiding COVID Cases
With the subsiding COVID-19 cases, many states have already reopened the schools from 1 February 2022. States like Haryana, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Maharashtra have reopened secondary and senior secondary schools. In some states, only those students who got at least one vaccination in the age group of 15-18 are allowed to attend physical classes in schools.
The education minister of Karnataka earlier stated that all the schools, colleges, and other educational institutions would reopen from January 31 with strict implementation of COVID-19 protocols.
The primary section will also resume in most of these states with the improvement of conditions.
Petition for offline classes
The offline class has almost snapped the communication with the real world. On Republic Day (26 January) more than 1,600 parents in Delhi signed a petition to reopen the schools and Anganwadi centers. They requested resuming physical classes on priority as the government began lifting the COVID-19 restriction as the cases began to dip. Shopkeepers, housewives, lawyers, doctors, drivers signed this petition. The petition concerns the physical and mental health issues of young children. It points out the risk of social isolation and other developmental issues that came up due to the closure of schools.
Term-2 examination: Online or Offline?
News regarding the cancellation of the Term-2 examination was doing rounds at the beginning of January. The release of CBSE sample papers has hushed these rumors. The detailed pattern of question paper can be found on the official CBSE site on different pages for class 10 and class 12. The Term-2 exams will be different from Term-1 in terms of question patterns. While Term-1 had multiple-choice questions (MCQs), Term-2 will mostly have subjective questions.
Since the number of cases has begun to decline in most of the areas and vaccination drive for the young students is also on full swing, the board is considering offline examinations. We can expect the release of the exam date sheet for Term-2 by the mid of February.
Students had been demanding online exams for Term 2 as well. Some had also asked to defer the exam and some sought cancellation. Whereas some sincere ones are in favor of these exams. Students need to switch their preparatory mode on and utilize their time in hand. They need not panic. They can use different online materials to keep themselves abreast. The model sample papers are available in myCBSEguide.com in different modes. These are very comprehensive and detailed which can help students gird up. Teachers and students can generate their desired question papers in various modes like manual, express, and automated mode.