J&K Education department issues guidelines for holding online, offline classes in schools

The guidelines have been issued in continuation of the government directions wherein the schools were allowed to start offline physical classes for students of class 10th and 12th with limited attendance.

An order issued by the Principal Secretary of School Education Department Bishwajit Kumar Singh said the schools had been asked to continue online synchronous learning for three sessions of 30-45 minutes from standard 1 to 5 on each school day.

“Online synchronous learning should be undertaken for four sessions of 30-45  minutes for elementary level students (class 6th to 8th) on each school day,” the UTs Education department order reads.

The department has further ordered that the schools should take five online sessions of 30-45 minutes each for class 9th students.

The Union Minister of Education recently said that 70 per cent of students in J&K  do not have access to digital devices, which implies that these children do not have smartphones and laptops to avail online education facilities.

The lack of these facilities among the students has been a major hurdle in the delivery of education to the students.

Meanwhile, in the case of classes 10 to 12 students, the schools have been asked to conduct in-person teaching of students in line with the instructions issued by the Disaster Management Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Department on September 12.

“The order should be followed in letter and spirit by the concerned heads of the schools,” the order reads.

The schools have also been allowed to conduct offline pre-board examinations for classes 10th and 12th for the current academic session of 2020-21.

The government has also allowed the J&K State Council of Education Research and Trainings (SCERT) to impart offline teacher training with a restricted gathering of 25 people.