“Child-centred intensive bridge course for SEVAI Shanthi Matriculation Higher Secondary School”

view of one block of shanthi school without books ready for bridge course

Trichy: “School Education Department made an announcement of the introduction of the child-centred intensive bridge course from this academic year.SEVAI Shanthi Matriculation School received from Education Department a detailed lesson plan with guidelines on how to structure the classes over the one month with the aim is to structure the classroom sessions in such a way that students have an opportunity to connect the learning with real-life experiences,” said Ms.Mallika, Principal of the school. The Principal further said “the school received detailed instructions on how to conduct classes for classes I to X. “The bridge course suggests lessons in tables, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, graph theory and geometry for class 10 students. Other classes for class 10 are instructed to cover topics such as individual and society', science in daily life', environmental studies and rainwater harvesting', land and resources' and sanitation and hygiene'” said Mrs.Meena a senior school. It covers topics to be taught, which are essentially the basics of all subjects for each class,” “The topics covered, include grammar and communication lessons in languages, basic exercises in mathematics, formulae and fundamentals in social science instruction, class-wise. She said many schools, even in the absence of such an instruction, were more or less prepared to teach the basics and revise the gist of last year's lessons.

The prescribed sessions are aimed at enhancing students' learning skills of students, increasing their confidence, encouraging self-learning and peer learning through classroom interaction, motivating children to think creatively, the Director of the School Ms.P.Chitra said. Preserving the environment and natural resources also gets attention in the “bridge course”, as many School Education Department officials terms the sessions”. “Our teachers orgnised PRA exercise (participatory Rapid Appraisal of the classes to be conducted and allotted the periods to each teacher as per the capacity of the respective teachers of the schools’. this School Director Ms.P.Chitra added.  The school administration said they had planned trips to places such as organic farming centre, Marutham farm and Rural Technology centre situated in the vicinity to give students practical exposure.
The bridge course guidelines claim to prepare students for regular classes by making them confident of basic concepts. "School teachers had developed a plan, as they received the guidelines. It teaches life skills using activity-based methods. "It will be beneficial to the students as even though they score high marks in their exams, they don't get the opportunity to develop their general awareness and public speaking skills," Ms.Chitra added.-Govin