Union human resource development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank announce the release of an alternative academic calendar for classes 11 and 12 on Wednesday. The alternative calendar guides teachers to use different technology/social media tools to educate students while at home.
The academic calendar was developed by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
"This Calendar directs teachers on the use of various technological tools/social media tools to educate students while they are at home," HRD minister tweeted.
HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal also highlighted some of its key features while making the announcement about the launch of the alternative academic calendar. The academic calendar will also provide special needs for children by providing them with educational content in a medium with which they are comfortable.
The New academic calendar developed by NCERT, will expand online learning in India by empowering students, teachers and schools to use the resources of teaching-learning.
Students and teachers can access educational content through mobile applications, TV channels and NCERT 's official YouTube channel, with the help of this new academic calendar.
A weekly plan has been developed for Classes XI and XII, taking into account the availability of teacher tools. The weekly plan consists of interesting activities and challenges, referring to the topics and chapters taken from the syllabus or textbook across the topics. Most importantly, it maps the learning outcomes to the themes.
This calendar is initially prepared for four weeks, and maybe extended further. The themes/topics were chosen from the syllabus in this calendar and are linked to the learning outcomes. Guidelines for the conduct of interesting activities were developed based on these learning outcomes. But it's a matter of fact that many teachers and parents only have simple mobile phones available in their homes as a tool, and not all teachers and students have virtual classroom facilities.
English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Urdu languages have at present been included in the academic calendar.
In view of this, the activities are designed and presented in such a way that after talking to the teachers over the telephone, many activities can be carried out by the parents and the students themselves.
To access the new academic calendar developed by NCERT, click Here.
