Schools Plan Online Classes During Dasara holidays to Cover Rain-induced Disruptions

Hyderabad: As heavy rains had disrupted regular school schedules in July and August, schools have resorted to conducting online classes during the ensuing Dasara vacation to ensure that students do not fall behind in their curriculum. Schools across the state have Dasara vacation from October 13-25.

Some schools are planning to conduct one to two-hour online classes until October 18.

Persistent rains had led to cancellations and interruptions of physical classes, raising concern among teachers and students about the impact on the academic calendar. With the board exams ending on October 12, online classes for those students will go on by up to five days. Meanwhile, classes for CBSE and ICSE students have already commenced.

"The decision to conduct online classes has been necessitated to complete the portion for the second term before the first week of December. A meagre 50 days is not enough s we also have to finish a unit or two from the previous term that we missed out on," said Prasanna Kumari, principal of a private school in Vidyanagar.

Another teacher, Gayatri P.G. said that students need to be adequately prepared for various other crucial assessments and unit tests, and any further delay could hinder their performance.

Ramya Sri, member of a parents’ association in the city, said that it had been quite challenging for her 6th grader to finish all units.

"While no student should be forced to attend online classes during holidays, they, nevertheless, could help them to catch up and stay on track for the exams. The decision must be left to the students and parents," she told DC.

Sushma Pandiri, a teacher at a local school, assured parents and students that these online sessions wouldn't involve extra home work.

"Our primary goal is to ensure that students can cover the chapters and units that were disrupted by rains. We won't be overburdening them with additional assignments during this period."

Students, on the other hand, said that they do not like the prospect of online classes and would prefer an extra hour of classes or skipping PET classes to make up for the portion.