City schools introduce flexi-attendance for students unable to attend physical classes
Times of India | 30 December 2024
12 Kolkata: To help students avoid missing classes due to various reasons, several city schools are encouraging them to continue their education with live online classrooms. They are introducing apps for submitting classwork and taking online tests as well.
South City International School is allowing children to attend live classes if they are not in the city or country, or if there is an emergency. Principal Satabdi Bhattacharjee said, "Earlier, if children had emergencies, including health and family-related matters, they had no other option choice but to miss classes. So, we decided to provide online support that allows them to attend classes along with other students. They can communicate during classes, ask questions to the teachers, and experience the classroom atmosphere while away from the school."
From this year, South City International has introduced online admission tests for different classes. Conducting exams, interactions, and publishing results are all done online. "There are many students from outside the city who wanted to take exams but could not because they were unable to attend physically. So, we made it more flexible through our online platform, and several students from outside Bengal were able to participate," Bhattacharjee said.
There are several other schools in and around the city are using digital platforms if a child misses classes. Ashok Hall Girls' Higher Secondary School, GD Birla Centre for Education, and Mahadevi Birla Shishu Vihar have introduced mobile applications to provide class assignments, homework, performance updates, and real-time attendance updates.
GD Birla Centre for Education principal Craig Lucas said, "The new website is designed to be more informative, illustrative, and interactive, while our ERP will facilitate better communication, accurate information, and a closer connection between our parents and the school team of teachers and leaders. The changing times demand that we reimagine, reinvent, and redefine the way we transact education. Students will get all the class updates even if they are not in the classroom and will receive details of homework even if they miss attending classes for some reason. Everything will be uploaded immediately after classes are over. Parents can monitor their wards while they are in school through technological support."
Ashok Hall Higher Secondary School's principal Atreyee Sengupta emphasised that these tools enhance collaboration and streamline communication for a brighter future.