BMC initiates digital remedial teaching

Mumbai: The education department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has initiated “remedial digital teaching” for civic students. Remedial education is vital for students falling behind in core academic areas.

Earlier, the civic body used to supply remedial teaching material through worksheets and cards, which are now being sent to schools ward-wise in a digital format comprising audio and video lessons. This kind of teaching is being used for Class 1 to 5 students of both Marathi and Urdu medium.

“In every class, there are some students who fail to understand several things as their pace is different from the rest of the students. For such students, we bring life into the lessons with the help of colours, figures, real-life examples or basically sensing the obstacles in their understanding and removing them with personalised techniques,” explained Suresh Chavan, a teacher.

Remedial teaching has been followed in schools since 2010 however they have now made digital equipment available for better results. “We have received a set of pre-made copies from the department which are colourful and lively. These copies are directly shown on the big screen using visual learning and computers or in the audio-visual room where these students can learn,” said Mahesh Palkar, education officer, BMC. The copies were specifically made by experts after understanding the needs of students in civic schools.

Mr Palkar told this newspaper, “Unlike other school students, our children do not take tuitions or coaching classes, given their financial background. Hence, whatever they learn, schools, teachers and lessons in the classroom are the only medium. Every school in every ward gets this facility and teachers, too, are accordingly given training regarding the same.”

Adding to this, to ensure that the copies reach every school from the ward offices/officers, the department has created an online database where schools have to issue a memo every year mentioning the performance of students after attending remedial learning.