The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in its latest instructions to the teachers has asked them to make the period of quarantine productive. Most of the teachers are already either on break or working from home as 21 days nationwide lockdown was announced by the government of India on Tuesday evening amid the rising cases of Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) in the country.
Giving specific instructions, CBSE has asked teachers to make the curriculum for the next year along with the planning of student and teacher enrichment activities.
In a letter to the stakeholders, CBSE Director of Academics, Joseph Emmanuel said, “The Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India has directed to work from home,” adding that, “We may utilize this period for undertaking different activities, making the best possible use of technology.”
CBSE further added “suggestive activities” to make quarantine more productive for teachers including “Planning for the whole session.”
In the letter, Emmanuel elaborates that planning can include, “defining of learning outcomes for different subjects and classes” adding that the preparation of lesson plans may be done by writing Learning Outcomes (LOs) according to NCERT while integrating assessment activities for the measurement of each LO.
CBSE also suggested integrating art and sports activities keeping in mind the Children with special needs (CWSN).
Another thing that CBSE suggested for teachers was to prepare the ‘Annual Scholastic and Co-Scholastic Curriculum Plan (ACP)’ by integrating the scope for different student enrichment activities initiated by the board and different ministries of GOI, such as, ‘Swachhata’ related activities, celebration of ‘Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat’, heritage quiz, eco clubs, SEWA project, reading challenge, and many others.
Emmanuel added, “No doubt the situation is challenging but there is virtually nothing which cannot be done online. Technology is a blessing for 21st-century learners, so just go ahead and connect with fellow educationists worldwide and try to make the most productive use of this time with the help of technology.”
CBSE further instructed the teachers to prepare the ‘Student Enrichment Activities’ including the video lectures on different topics which may be recorded and uploaded on YouTube or schools’ Facebook page or WhatsApp group.
It added that the “Digital and e-learning platforms provided by MHRD for online education may be referred.”
It further suggested teachers, “As students will not be able to ask a quick question in real-time”, “make your content as lucid and attractive as possible.”
