Category: Education

NAGPUR: Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) will now accept scanned copies of assignments via email so students don’t visit study centres before the April 30 deadline to send them. The submission of the assignment is a compulsory precondition for year / semester-end review to appear.

Tutor-marked assignments (TMA) are essential components of Ignou’s distance learning programs. They must be handwritten and the query type and marking scheme is identical to the one to be used in actual analysis. TMA’s aim is to verify that the student has understood the content of the study material.

Ignou Regional Director P Sivaswaroop said, “We have told our coordinators and staff that students are allowed to send scanned copies of hand-written assignments via email. Evaluation methods for these e-assignments were explained to them. “Due to the lockdown in state and later across the country, the earlier March 31 submission deadline for assignments had been extended by a month. The term-end exams usually take place in June / July, for which no specifics have yet been published.

Typically, students will flock to research centres for guidance on study materials and topics that are not possible because of lockdown. Ignou had stepped up its online and radio outreach campaign for the last week. Gyan Vani FM Radio (105.6 MHz) will coordinate the Environmental Studies Course (BEVAE-101) telephone-in counselling program for three days, from 7-9 April, from 9 am to 10 am. In this time the telephone number to connect is 0712-2510002.

Ignou’s regional centre in Nagpur also adopts different ways of interacting with students and functionaries at the study centre. “Live induction meeting for students spread across the district, which covers all of Vidarbha, was held via Facebook. Sivaswaroop and regional adjunct B Sasicoumar explained about Ignou and the method of analysis and evaluation. Also, students were taught about different methods of keeping themselves protected from COVID-19 by preserving hygiene and social distance practice.

Nagpur: The education department of Maharashtra has authorized the valuation of SSC and HSC papers from home in the wake of the state’s coronavirus scare and lockdown.

Teacher unions have been as demanding after They proclaimed the virus to be a pandemic. The order ended up arriving on Monday. All HSC papers are over, although at present only one SSC paper (Geography) is pending. It now seems that all papers will have already been assessed by the time Geography exam is taken. Nevertheless, the State board explained that the decision is for this year only.

Ashok Gavhankar, Vidarbha Junior College Teachers Association (VJUCTA) general secretary said, “In a time like this, paper evaluation work should certainly be given to the teachers to finish from home. Right now the goal is to contain the outbreak. The method was like that just a few years ago, but due to some malpractice, assessment was imposed from school premises, “said Gavhankar, who is also head of Rao Saheb Thawre High School and Nagpur Junior College.

Madhusudhan Mude, president of the Headmasters Association (district of Nagpur) said the latest move by the state government is a successful one. “This would ensure that the outcomes of the board are announced on time which is incredibly essential for students to prepare for the future. During such a time teachers will also continue to be successful. However, I don’t believe this should be turned into a standard for the years to come, and the best way to test papers is to come to school and do it, “said Mude, who is also Major Hemant Jakate School and Junior College’s principal.

Dilip Bose, secretary of the Charitable Association of School Headmasters said the board made a wise decision. “Homecoming was a risky thing for teachers to do. This decision will now protect them from coronavirus wrath. Homework is the need of the hour, “Bose said. The principal of Bhola High School Premlata Tiwari said: “It is important to announce the results on time so that there are no obstacles to the future education of the student.” Ashnarayan Tiwari, Principal of Adarsh Vidya Mandir said that the issue would be to obtain answers in times of complete lockdown and therefore to delay the assessment. “When teachers go out to collect papers it won’t be curfew breach. Not only that, it is susceptibility the teachers and school staff to the virus. Though timely assessment is necessary, the situation is a matter of life or death, “Tiwari said.

Nagpur updates:-State school education minister Varsha Gaikwad declared a home-policy job for teachers on Friday. The minister said the decision was taken after those groups ‘ members had petitioned the government for the same.

Earlier, the department of education had allowed schools to rotate workers on a capacity basis of 50 percent, which effectively means employees who work every alternate day.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said earlier in the day that the number of workers in government offices would be reduced from the previous 50 percent to 25 percent. Fortunately Gaikwad did one better for the students. “We’ve adopted teacher job from home,” Gaikwad said.

She explained that this is not applicable to anyone relevant to conducting board exams. “SSC exams will be conducted according to the standard schedule,” Gaikwad said.

Principals in Nagpur are now waiting for the order to arrive in writing so they can bring it into effect. “We know the decision has been made but we can not go ahead with it until the same is provided in writing from the department of education,” a principal said.

The other demand that the teachers had was that they should be permitted from home to do board evaluation work. Gaikwad said, “We’ve discussed this with officials from the state board, but they’re not in support of it. That’s because certain malpractices in these situations have been found in the past. 

Anyway, we’re doing a shutdown for now and further decisions will be taken after March 31. “A teacher said earlier that there was a lot of confusion about why schools can’t be shut down when students don’t come. 

“Kids aren’t coming and most of us aren’t board exams involved. But we still have to report to do regular work because the management of the school would prefer to have us around, “the teacher said.

Non-teaching staff at some schools are still coming on a regular basis and those working at CBSE institutes are saying they should also get the same support. “The issue with CBSE schools is that when the situation is serious, no-one takes responsibility. CBSE states that we are not interested until standard VIII and the government of the state says we are not affiliated with them. We’re trapped in no-man’s-land, “a member of the clerical staff said.

CBSE is unlikely to issue any job for its teachers from home circular unless the HRD ministry is guided to do so. For the ministry, the circular relating to statements made by Gaikwad is likely to be released by Friday night.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, Minister of Education Varsha Gaikad told Maharashtra that the exams for class 9th, 11th will be held after April 15th, 2020. And all exams from class 1 to 8 will be canceled. All students to be promoted to the next classes without review. As per the details, teachers can work from home except those for class 10. And there are 2 Class 10 papers left, and it will be completed according to schedule.

Nagpur: CBSE and ICSE results are likely to delay as both boards postponed all exams until March 31 as a preventive measure against coronavirus infection. CBSE made the announcement late on Wednesday evening while on Thursday morning ICSE released its comment. SSC (Std X) is actually the only board exam in Maharashtra that has not yet been called off.

Many CBSE and ICSE schools announced their teacher’s vacation until March 31 as well.

The decision of CBSE was prompted by a letter from the school education department at the center under the ministry of HRD, which spoke of taking effective proactive measures to curb Covid-19’s spread. The letter addressed to CBSE, National Open Schooling Center, National Testing Authority, AICTE, NCTE, and UGC discussed how to achieve a balance between academics and safety in health.

Amit Khare, Secretary, HRD ministry, wrote, “While it is important to maintain the academic schedule and calendar, the safety and protection of the students who appear in different exams are equally important.”

Following on the letter from Khare, CBSE Secretary Anurag Tripathi released a statement saying that not only board exams but also assessment work must be stopped until March 31. Tripathi said the new timetable for assessment research would commence from April 1, unless the board told otherwise.

ICSE’s chief executive and secretary, Gerry Arathoon, also released a statement stating that the council (as referred to in the official language) “decided to postpone all ICSE and ISC exams scheduled between March 19-31 in the interest and well-being of students and the teaching community.”

Both boards themselves will reveal their updated timetable around March 31.

JEE Main postponed Nagpur: The National Testing Agency (NTA) postponed the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE-Main) due to a potential dates conflict with rescheduled CBSE board reviews to be held in April. Instead of preventive measures against coronavirus, CBSE board exams were put on hold until 31 March.

The JEE Mains examinations were scheduled for 5,7,9 and 11 April. The admit cards to be issued Friday will be issued now after March 31.

The letter from HRD secretary Amit Khare claimed that JEE Main will require examiners to travel to different cities, and the dates might conflict with rescheduled CBSE and other board examinations. JEE Main will also be rescheduled and a new date will be declared on March 31 after the situation has been re-assessed.

Local coaching classes have expressed excitement over the news that it would be of interest to students. Rajnikant Bondre, Sneha Classes director said “This is a great relief for students because they were under a lot of stress asking what would happen with their test. This government transparency has soothed nerves and also given them extra time to prepare for the all-important test.

In view of the novel outbreak of coronavirus, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University on Monday postponed all of its summer examinations. The Nagpur University registrar Niraj Khaty told PTI 187 examinations were postponed, which were expected to begin on March 19.

“About 90000 students will be affected by this,” he said.