VIJAYAWADA: Officials of the Education Department in Krishna district are gearing up to rise to the expectations of the State Government, which has set clear targets in respect of pass percentage in the SSC examinations.

District Education Officer D.V. Krishna Vinayak has made it clear to his deputies, staff and head masters of schools across the district that the only way to pass the litmus test is to burn the proverbial midnight oil. His busy schedule these days includes marathon subject-wise review meetings with headmasters of all divisions to identify the grey areas in teaching and rectify the follies, if any.

Speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of a review meeting with headmasters of 540 schools in the district recently, Dr. Vinayak said that it had been found after a thorough assessment that most students found mathematics and Hindi tough and, thus, were not able to clear these subjects. "Since these students account for the maximum number of failures, I have instructed the headmasters to ask teachers of these subjects to make these students sit in the staff room, where coach will be imparted after school hours," he said.

Absenteeism

Deviating from the usual practice of conducting pre-final examinations in February, the department had decided to postpone them to March this year. This was to prevent absenteeism by students during the period between pre-finals and final examinations. "It was brought to our notice that most students tend to skip classes that are held after their pre-final examinations. It's important for them to stay in touch with their subjects when they appear for their exams. So we thought of breaking this gap," Dr. Vinayak explained.

Motivation classes

Besides distribution of study material and conduct of a 40-day orientation programme, the department had instructed headmasters to impart special coaching to the below-average students and also held review meetings at regular intervals to assess their progress. It had asked subject teachers concerned to `adopt' academically poor students. In addition to this, the DEO was contemplating motivation classes to students, who would be given tips on how to overcome the `examination phobia'. "I don't know how far I will succeed in this in view of the short time we have. But I firmly believe that confidence plays a significant role while appearing for an examination," Dr. Vinayak observed.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail