The Directorate of Education (DoE) of the Delhi Government has issued a circular on the approach and implementation strategy to conduct teaching-learning activities in all government schools from Nursery to Class 12. It has directed the school authorities to implement the new strategy for the current academic session until schools re-open.

The action plan for the new session 2021-22 which includes a staggered approach for students to ease into the teaching-learning process has been divided into three stages.

In the first stage, which will commence on June 28, the DoE has directed school authorities to contact students and parents, update their details and make WhatsApp groups and prepare a list of students with smartphones, normal phones, or no phones.

During the second stage, which will start from July 5, teachers will connect with their students to enquire about their well-being, understand their situation and need for support, and introduce light activities like reading, writing, etc.

As per the DoE circular, “For classes 9 to 12, the focus would be recapitulating and understanding where the child currently is through online classes and worksheets apart from supporting emotional well-being. This stage will be till the end of July.”

During the third stage which will commence from August, DoE has directed to focus on class-specific activities to bridge the learning loss. “While Nursery to Class 8 will receive generic and subject-specific worksheets, for classes 9 to 12 the online classes by the respective subject teachers shall be conducted,” DoE said.

The circular emphasizes that “the focus of the online classes for the classes 9 to 12 will to guide the students on how to learn. Students who have difficulty accessing digital devices will be provided short notes capturing the points of their online classes. These notes can be collected by the parents from the school on a weekly basis.”

DoE’s circular said, “In terms of assessing students, there shall be regular monthly assessment, using an innovative approach to understand the participation level and learning of students. The nature of these assessments will be based on Project/Activity/Assignment. The record of such assessment shall be maintained by the schools which will be uploaded on students’ module as part of Internal/External assessment for the session 2021-2022.”

Meanwhile, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, reiterated that schools will remain closed until the Covid pandemic situation eases but the engagement between teachers and students will resume immediately, using an online and semi-online approach.

“With the onset of the pandemic, learning loss has been massive. This year, we not only need to reduce the learning loss but also provide deep emotional support to our children. They need to be mentally prepared for any teaching-learning activities,” he added.