Odisha: Students’ absence affects revision plan

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government’s plan to cut short summer vacation to recover students’ learning loss, caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, has failed to get desirable results as over 30% students currently remain absent in classrooms.
The government had decided to curtail the vacation this year from 48 to 11 days to implement learning recovery plans (LRP).
As the LRP programmes are yet to begin, schools are revising last year’s courses in classes from 6 to 9am. Cooked mid-day meals are also being provided to students of classes I to VIII. Despite that, students’ attendance in classes I to VIII in Malkangiri, Boudh, Gajapati, Sambalpur and Nuapada districts is less than the state average. The attendance rate in higher secondary level is abysmally low in some districts.
“Teachers have not yet received any module to implement the LRP. They are revising previous classes’ lessons that students failed to grasp due to closure of offline classes during the pandemic,” said Prakash Chandra Mohanty, secretary of the Odisha Secondary School Teachers’ Association.
Teachers said they have received a booklet, describing topics they would teach during this period.
“The government has sought sealed tender from various agencies for the LRP to be implemented in schools. Currently, students are being taught as per the activity calendar issued to teachers. The tenders are scheduled to open on May 18,” said an official communique from the school and mass education department.
To bring students back to schools, the school and mass education department has asked all district collectors to devise location-specific strategies.
“An analysis should be made to know the whereabouts of the absentee students. Apart from visiting students’ homes to motivate them to rejoin schools, teachers will hold meeting with school management committees, community leaders and seek help of Panchayati Raj institute members and women self-help groups to reduce absenteeism among students,” said school and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash.
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