Govt must release academic calendar: Schools association

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Recognized School Managements Association (TRSMA) demanded that at least this year the state should release an academic calendar and ask all schools to follow it irrespective of whether classes are conducted online or offline.
They said that in the last academic year, there was not much learning, especially for class 1 to class 8 students, as there was no academic calendar.“No one took studies seriously as there were no assessments or exams. In the end, they were promoted to the next class without even learning much,” said Shekhar Rao Y, president, TRSMA.
The managements said that the state had responded positively and added that it might release the academic calendar with the total number of working days, assessment schedule, among other details by July 1 as online classes will most likely begin from July 1. They, however, said that attendance will not be considered this year as many students do not have devices to attend online classes regularly.
While budget private schools have tied with third-party apps to broadcast lessons, the government teachers have asked the state to telecast digital lessons through the TSAT channel for this academic year as well. “In the last one week, teachers were asked to monitor students and ensure that students of class 3 to class 10 have downloaded TSAT app on their smartphone and also submit a daily report.
Before asking to implement such orders, the education department should first find out whether all students have access to smartphones or not. It would be better if the state continues to telecast lessons primarily through TV,” said K Ramana, president, Telangana Progressive Teachers Federation. He said that even for those students who have access to smartphones, data will be an issue.