Holidays over, schools move to exam mode

COIMBATORE: From counselling to additional and sustained classes, schools in the city have started to prepare students for the upcoming public examinations in class 10 and class 12. Most of the schools have completed their syllabus and have started revising lessons. From tests and model examinations to individualised attention by teachers, schools are busy using all the possible ways and methods to ensure that their students score high marks in the coming exams.
Many of the techniques, of course, have been in use for several years. For instance, completing the syllabus before the half-yearly examination in December has now become a regular affair in many schools.
Weaker students are identified and given individual attention during evenings and holidays. They are asked to answer question papers of previous years, and prepare from those parts of the text books, which are likely to contribute to most questions in the pubic examination.
There is even the odd teacher who calls students in morning or evening just to make sure that he is awake and studying.
"A teacher is assigned the task of managing two to three students. The teacher has to regularly counsel these students and even call them in morning or evening depending on the suitable time of study of the student," said Geetha Gopinath, principal, SBOA Matriculation Higher Secondary School.
Similarly, teachers even visit the houses of students, especially those who are weak at studies and counsel the students and parents, she said.
Similarly, for some years a good number of schools allowed students to be at the school instead of letting them go home during study holidays or in between examinations.
"Generally, we have found that students who stay back in the school to study are free of distractions," said Geetha Laxman, principal, National Model CBSE School, Coimbatore. Since they come under the supervision of teachers, students who stay back in their class study better. They are also in a position to get doubts clarified immediately.
Even government and corporation schools are following similar strategies. C K Parimala, headmistress with a corporation school in the city, said that they conduct extra classes till 6pm.
"Recently, the Coimbatore Corporation began to provide snacks for students staying back to study during evening hours," she said. They hold extra classes in the evening as well as during holidays for those who require them, she added.