The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Standard V students exempted from ABL

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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Standard V students exempted from ABL

Shastry V. Mallady and Meera Srinivasan

MADURAI/CHENNAI: Std. V students in government elementary and middle schools have been given the option of switching to the textbook mode from the activity-based learning (ABL) methodology.

Fresh guidelines for the implementation of the activity-based learning methodology were issued through a circular by M.P. Vijayakumar, Project Director, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), on Wednesday. The circular said teachers who considered the reading, writing and math skills of their students to be good could switch to textbooks in Std. V.

Speaking to The Hindu on Thursday, Mr. Vijayakumar said: “Teachers can decide to teach Std. V students through textbooks separately, provided the students are able to read well. However, children of lower classes will continue to be grouped according to where they stand and will be taught only through the activity-based learning methodology.”

Officials in Madurai said that so far all students from Std. I to Std. V were taught through the activity-based method, “but the directive exempts the Std. V students from this method, so they will now be learning through regular textbooks.”

“Students who are in Std. V this year had already been part of the activity-based learning last year, when they were in Std. IV. Since they are now able to read and write on their own, they could join the textbook stream,” said K. Sridevi, Chief Educational Officer, SSA, Madurai.

However, as per the decision taken at the start of this academic year, SSA officials included Std. V in the activity-based learning method, but that decision has been withdrawn now.

Two divisions

The guidelines state that in those primary schools where there are two teachers, students from Std. I to Std. V can be formed into two divisions for activity-based learning classes.

Std. V students will be taught through textbooks, which are given free by the government.

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