Education Ministry issues alternative academic calendar for 9th to 12th standards

Alternative Academic Calendar (AAC) for next eight weeks for the secondary stage has been released by the Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ virtually on Tuesday.

In order to engage students meaningfully during their stay at home due to COVID-19 through educational activities at home with the help of their parents and teachers, the alternative academic calendars for students, parents and teachers for all the classes I-XII has been developed by the NCERT under the guidance of the Ministry of Education.

AAC for four weeks and next eight weeks for primary and upper primary stages and for secondary and higher secondary stages for four week were released earlier.

Speaking on the occasion Pokhriyal said that the Calendar provides guidelines to teachers on the use of various technological tools and social media tools available for imparting education in fun-filled, interesting ways, which can be used by learner, parents and teachers even while at home.

However, it has taken into account, the varying levels of access to such tools-Mobile phone, Radio, Television, SMS and various social media. The Minister highlighted that many of us may not have internet facility in the mobile phone, or may not be able to use different social media tools- such as Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc., the calendar guides teachers to further help parents and students through SMS on mobile phones or through voice call.

This calendar caters to the need of all children including Children with Special Need- link for Audio books, Radio programs, Video program will be included, Pokhriyal added.

The calendar contains week-wise plan consisting of interesting and challenging activities, with reference to theme/chapter taken from syllabus or textbook. Most importantly, it maps the themes with the learning outcomes.

It also covers experiential learning activities such as Arts Education, Physical Exercises, yoga, pre-vocational skills, etc. This Calendar contains class-wise and subject-wise activities in tabular forms. It includes link for Chapter wise e-content available on the e-pathshala, NROER and DIKSHA portal of Government of India. All the given activities are suggestive in nature, not prescriptive, nor is the sequence mandatory.

Features of AAC had been disseminated through video conferencing with SCERTs/SIEs, Directorates of Education, Kendriya Vidyalay Sangathan, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti and CBSE. This calendar for eight weeks for the secondary stage is placed on NCERT website for dissemination across the states/UTs.