Kochi: The last few years saw the Central Board of secondary Education (CBSE) chalking out revolutionary measures like the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation for holistic development of children which put additional strain on both the teachers and students.
But complaints poured in from schools on the lack of time for such comprehensive programmes, let alone teaching the regular syllabus, particularly in a state like Kerala where hartals are the order of the day for political parties upon the slightest provocation.
Interestingly, now the CBSE has extended the working days of schools to six days from 2015 for secondary and senior secondary divisions.
Besides, it has instructed schools that teachers may be retained after school hours for an additional one hour 20 minutes which can be used for planning/ preparation/ checking/ follow-up work.
However, it has not gone down well with the majority of the teaching community and students who argue that proper planning of academic and extracurricular activities is the need of the hour rather than making Saturdays compulsory working days.
“Agreed, harthals and natural calamities result in losing working days and if necessary we can make those particular Saturdays working days, but the ‘six working days a week’ is not going to be well received. The board has introduced activity-oriented programmes in the curriculum, so the students need free time for these assignments,” noted Shiny V Thomas, Principal, Global Public School, Perumpallissery.
“Saturdays are the only day for us for non-academic activities. We also need time for entertainment and relaxation,” said Vijayanand Anilkumar, a Class 1X student.
However, cine actor and Class X student Samskriti Shenoy says, “In a state like Kerala, even otherwise you are getting too many holidays, thanks to adverse climate and hartals. So we welcome the six day working rule as we don’t have to rush when examination time comes close.”
“It is a mixed bag. Extending the working hours to six days a week has positives and negatives. Teachers will be more relaxed to finish portions especially in a state like Kerala where there are many hartals. But they will have to rearrange their personal schedules, like bank and insurance staff, while doing away with a holiday,” said Maya Mohan, principal, Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Vaduthala.
The Kerala CBSE Schools Management Association, though, is not very concerned over the proposed measure. “Already about 80 per cent of the schools work on most Saturdays to make up for the loss of around 20 working days. And the parents too have welcomed the move. The opposition from teaching and student community could be very short-lived,” its general secretary Dr Indira Rajan said.
Politicians like MP, Shashi Tharoor, feel it’s too early to analyse the merits and demerits of a measure that is going to be implemented in 2015 whereas the teaching community feels they are being further overburdened and want the measure to be reviewed.
The CBSE curriculum already states, “Every teacher shall devote in a year not less than 1200 hours to the actual teaching in classroom in Classes I-VIII, out of which not more than 200 hours may be required to be devoted for remedial teaching and attention to weak and gifted students before or after school hours.”
Next: 7,000 students to take part in CBSE Kalolsav
7,000 students to take part in CBSE Kalolsav
Nadeesh Kareemadathil
Thrissur: The 19th CBSE State Kalolsav will be held at Holy Grace Academy, Mala, from December 12 to 15.
Organized by Kerala CBSE School Management Association, about 7000 students from various CBSE schools across the state are expected to participate.
Kalolsav logo and the main stage prepared with environment – friendly products like jute and coir. —DC
The programme will witness a colorful beginning at 9 am on Thursday after the Malayalam Cine artist Mala Aravindhan hosts the Kalolsav flag. At a function to be held at 3.30 pm in the evening, Education Minister PK Abdu Rabb will formally inaugurate the festival.
“'Art and heart with nature' is the motto of the Kalolsav. The Kalolsav village will be free of flex boards and instead stages prepared with environment – friendly products like jute and coir will be a special attraction. The Kalolsav village is ready to host the mega event” says Giji Jose, principal Holy Grace Academy.
“During the Kalolsav, the participants will take two pledges to protect nature and to keep the state Litter-Free and against alcoholism and drug addiction” he held.
On December 15, KP Dhanapalan MP will inaugurate the valedictory function. The chief guest of the function Malayalam Cine artist Manju Warrier will give away the prizes to the winners.
The overall winner will be awarded ‘The Shabarish Gopalan Memorial Golden Cup’.
Next: Kochi to host annual maths meet from Jan 10
Kochi to host annual maths meet from Jan 10
Kochi: The 48th Annual Conference of the Association of Mathematics Teachers of India (AMTI) is scheduled to be held from January 10 to 12 at the Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir, Elamakkara, here.
The conference is jointly hosted by Kerala Mathematics Teachers’ Association (KMTA) and the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Cochin Kendra. A forum for ‘Mathematics Education’, especially School Mathematics, the conference would cover recent trends in theme, curriculum, pedagogy etc.
Apart from three plenary talks – Prof Narasingh Rao Memorial Endowment Lecture by Prof N. Jayasankaran (Former VC, Kanchi University), Prof P L Bhatnagar Memorial Lecture by Prof A. Vijayakumar (CUSAT) and Prof R.C. Gupta Endowment Lecture by Prof E. Krishnan (Trivandrum), there will be paper presentation, maths quiz, exhibitions and the like for school students. This conference is open for school Mathematics teachers, students and Math lovers.
Three hundred delegates from different parts of the country have registered so far.
Next: Pallavi’s grey cells work faster
Pallavi’s grey cells work faster
Cris | DC
Thiruvananthapuram: Pallavi Kailas does not like to sit idle. When they go out on a drive she would ask her mom to give her Mathematical problems to solve.
She is one of those rare nine-year-olds fond of the subject. No wonder then that she became the level 3 champion of a national abacus championship held in Hyderabad.
Pallavi Kailas with the trophy —DC
The competition attended by over 4000 children from all over Kerala had a good participation from Kerala too.
Pallavi solved 60 sums in five minutes and 55 mental sums in three minutes to become the champion.
She has been attending the Brainwave training institute of Abacus in Thiruvananthapuram run by Professor Lissy Antony Eapen for a year and a half. Pallavi is a student of Holy Angels' ISC School, Nanthancode.
Next: The Wound takes Aditya, 13, into the limelight
The Wound takes Aditya, 13, into the limelight
Pooja Nair | DC
Kozhikode:13-year-old Aditya Dev, did not just watch films on the big screens and forget about it, he used his skills to come up with a film of his own. And that is how this eight standard student of Silver Hills School converted his dream to reality by making ‘The Wound’, a short film scripted and directed by him.
The film, which was released two months ago, has already been screened at 7 different venues in the city and has received three awards.
In the Lakecity Short film International Festival, Bhopal, the film was selected as the best film from among 21 categories and was adjudged as the best film at the Sadhrishya Short film festival at Thrissur.
Aditya at work
Also, out of 25000 short films in the Dakshini Short film festival at Chennai, Aditya's film has been selected as one of the best 12 films.
The 17- minute short film that focusses on the theme of relationships, highlights the self-absorption of a parent towards his son.
Aditya, through his film, conveys the complications in human bonding and traumas of difficult relationships.
Speaking about his film, Aditya says, “‘The Wound’ is a story I created but not with the intention of making it into a film.
After discussing the story idea with my father I thought of giving life to my characters. ‘The Wound’ is not my first film; when I was studying in the fourth standard I had made a 7 minute action movie, along with my mate, in which all the work from story to direction, camera, editing and music was done by both of us.
But, it was done without any seriousness.
However, the experience helped me to add professionalism to ‘The Wound’. The only challenge that I faced was the discouraging attitude shown because of my age by people I knew". He add that for his film, he chose his house as the main location for the shoot.
At the age of 10, Aditya completed courses in graphics and editing, said the boy’s father, Venugopal who is a renowned cinematographer in the South Indian Film Industry.
At a very tender age, Aditya has shown a keen interest for films which is evident in the way he observes each film that he watches.
He is now in the process of writing a story for his next movie.
Aditya, who made the film at a cost of Rs 30,000 is awaiting the results of the ten International short films in different part of the country.
