How to continue education for the students, without conducting exams for the 12th boards in the Pandemic?
ROLLOVER Schooling: Is the ideal way of tiding over the mess of loss of academic year of the students. Reformations in Schooling
Rollover Schooling, Squeeze In Curriculum, Out-of-School, Teaching Methods. (ROSSCOSTM)
Students have lost a year of school term all over, during the pandemic lockdown in many countries and has put children into limbo, their studies have been put on hold and their habitual learning has been disrupted, many have also taken to local vocations and helping their parents in their farm communities in many developing and under developing countries. With the entire academic year practically lost, in the year 2020–21, there are over 300 million children in the world ready to join pre-schooling in the Year 2021–22 this will put tremendous pressure on Governments to provide the basic infrastructure and the teaching staff to accommodate the inflow of children into schools or put a halt to the admissions in the pre-primary.
The Governments across the World must find innovative ways to overcome this tsunami of children entering schooling, the danger of students fall-out of schooling and the ratios of GER (Gross Enrollment Ratio) with countries like India & Pakistan having the lowest ratio, will further drop across the schools in the world to an all-time low, and due to lack of infrastructure and teaching staff in schools, an entire generation of student life will be lost, the GDP will drop due to unavailability of technically skilled workmen in the Industries and the educated generation, to further the development, innovation and research across the nations.
My suggestion to the Governments is to implement immediately the ROSSCOSTM, systems to furthering the school education, without losing a year of schooling for the children and having to burden a generation of student’s life and increasing the poverty level. Those Countries, that will innovate new methods of schooling and further the education without loss of a student’s year of education will prosper and leapfrog into becoming the new superpowers.
The concept of ROSSCOSTM –
Rollover Schooling: The school children must be rolled over into the next higher class with minimal assessments and appraisal method, and the new students in the pre-primary schooling must be enrolled, the students rolling out of schools or colleges in the final year of studies, using this method that is 12th standard final year and the 3rd years degree students, must have out-of-school academic periods of 9 months with the curriculum squeezed into, and have stringent methods of assessments to grade them and giving an opportunity to students who couldn’t cope up with the flow, a chance to appear for their examinations in the next 3 months period, keeping within the academic period of the next term of students.
Squeeze-In-Curriculum: Students to cope up with the higher classes on passing over to the higher class, with uncompleted curriculum, due to the rollover method of schooling the curriculum must be squeezed in, along with the uncompleted previous class curriculum with the current upgraded class into one academic year so that the standard of education is maintained to the same level of education as prevailing in schools.
Out-of- School Students: Students in the final year who have not completed their term of education will, however, be out of school without completing their course, due to lack of accommodation of the classes and teaching staff, the students will attend their classes for blended learning and for experimental learning after the regular school timing and on Sundays and Holidays in the same school /college with a squeeze- in- curriculum into 9 months period and have their assessments, however, if there are students who cannot cope up with the curriculum can complete within the next 3 months and appear for their exams so that there is no loss of the academic year.
Students passing without appearing for exams: Those joining the degree courses and professional degree courses, the students must be promoted or graded on their assessments in the previous 2 years study, and allow them to take up courses on the merit list as per their grades achieved, without writing any entrance exams due to COVID, like JEE / NEET/BITSAT / NDA / NIFT/ AIEED etc as in all colleges, the 1st year studies are common for all courses in the institutes, for example, Engineering-IIT: Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, Aerodynamics etc a common for the 1st year studies and subsequently based on their examinations in the 1st year professional course results, the streams can be allotted to the students on their preference of choice and institute of choice from the 2nd year onwards. This will help solve the problem of appearing for 12th standard examinations for CBSE or State Board examinations as well as Entrance exams for various courses for the year 2021.
This method of operations in schools, colleges and the Universities can have a positive effect in offsetting the loss of academic year and without having a major impact to the economy of the country and loss of a students academic year.
Sampat Daniel is an education reformist, living in Mumbai, INDIA
