Delhi government’s Directorate of Education (DoE) has chalked out a two-phase plan to bridge competency gaps due to Covid-19 in students of Classes 3 to 9 from the commencement of the new session next month.

The new academic session in Delhi government schools will be starting from April 1 and it would be the first time that students will be attending the new session physically after a series of coronavirus lockdowns in the past two years, the DoE said in a statement.

Director Education Himanshu Gupta conducted a meeting with all Deputy Directors of Education (DDEs) and Head of Schools (HoSs) of Delhi government schools and directed them to exclusively focus on emotional well-being and foundational skills in the first quarter of session 2022-23 for students of classes 3-9.

The DoE has prepared a two-phase action plan to bridge the competency gap among the students, according said the statement.

Explaining the rationale of the approach, Gupta said the class-wise syllabus would be reduced to give opportunity to every child to not just rebuild their foundational competencies but also build conceptual clarity before taking up subject-wise topics.

Teachers will be specially trained to address learning-related issues of children in the new session and implement the two-phase plan in schools. A weekly review will be conducted by the Director Education to assess the implementation of the plan, the statement said.

The plan will include two hours class daily at Delhi government schools for Happiness Curriculum and numeracy and basic reading classes under Mission Buniyaad in new session.

A Mega PTM will be organized in the first week of April to apprise the parents about Mission Buniyaad and to ensure regular attendance of children.

In the meeting, Director of Education Gupta, Principal Advisor to Director Education Shailendra Sharma and Additional Director (School) Rita Sharma discussed the detailed action plan with HoSs and teachers.

Shailendra Sharma highlighted the need for teaching students according to the level where they are presently at, rather than imposing the syllabus. The focus in schools would be on basic reading, writing and numeracy skills under Mission Buniyaad, so that a strong foundation is laid for the students.

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