As new academic year begins for Pune schools, no clear data on how many students joined online classes

Tuesday marked the first day of the new academic year for over two crore primary school students across the state as, in keeping with the tradition of the last few years, state board affiliated private and public schools began online classes for students from Class I to IX.

State Education department officials had issued a notification making 50 per cent physical attendance in schools mandatory for teachers of Class I to IX while 100 per cent attendance is mandatory for teachers of Class X and XII. The latter group of teachers are currently engaged in evaluation work as results for students are being tabulated since board exams have been cancelled for both classes.

Due to the pandemic situation, the classes are currently being held in online mode. However, it is not clear how many schools actually started online classes on Tuesday and what percentage of students attended the classes.

Dattatreya Jagtap, director of primary, secondary and higher education, said, “We have given the date for reopening of schools as June 15 but it might take a day or two more in certain places, depending on the situation. In the next few days, we will assess the ground situation and will know the numbers. From June 26, the schools will begin teaching a bridge course for each subject and class. The course has been designed by the Maharashtra State Council of Education, Research and Training.”

The board has also instructed teachers to make students aware that educational videos based on the syllabus will be telecast on Doordarshan’s Sahyadri channel.