English 
हिन्दी 
Encouraged by the positive outcome of a pilot project initiated by the Faridkot district administration in 2023, about 400 regular teachers at various government-run schools reach their institutions early every day to hold remedial classes for students battling with learning issues.
Spearheaded by deputy commissioner (DC) Vineet Kumar, the district education authorities have identified 5,400 students from classes 1 to 10 enrolled in 200 schools where the catch-up classes for science, mathematics and English are held before the regular school time for an hour from 7.30 am.
Kumar said the targeted students hail from a humble socio-economic background and lack support for home learning. In the last academic session, a total of 8,035 students were identified who were unable to perform in classrooms and qualified teachers were outsourced to give extra coaching.
They were paid an honorarium by panchayats and the administration. “In the post-pandemic scenario, it was observed that the academic work of these students was hit further due to digital disparity. As it was seen that students in the government schools were facing difficulties in classroom learning, we hired educators who held classes after school time. Statistics show an overall improvement in the performance of the targeted students where an incremental change has been seen in marks between 1 and 25 for about 59-66% of students in the three key subjects,” added the DC.
At the Government Senior Secondary School at Dhilwan Kalan, a total of 137 students attend the remedial classes at 7.30 am for almost two months and parents laud the initiative where the teachers volunteered to be part of the novel move to conduct bridge classes.
“My daughter studies in class 8 and being a marginal farmer with six members in the family, I have no means to arrange a private tuition for her. Due to our poor educational background, no one in the family was able to guide her. Last year, the students were made to sit for longer duration from July to January and she has started showing interest in studies,” said a man in Dhilwan Kalan.
Renu, a social science teacher at this rural school, said she can devote more time to the needy students. “Students with the underprivileged family background were lagging behind. We found that remedial classes held last year were beneficial indeed but a regular teacher understands the performance of each student better than the outsourced educators. Now, I get extra time to revise lessons efficiently,” she said.
A science teacher at a senior secondary school at Bargari, Satinder Kaur said students, who scored less than 50%, were enrolled and the catch-up classes are showing improvement.
She said other students have also started attending the bridge coaching.
“An appeal from the deputy commissioner to teachers to volunteer to hold special classes for the needy students impacted us all. We get students from about 12 villages and following a persuasion, parents have also shown interest as most of the targeted students report in time for the remedial classes,” she added.
Prabhjot Singh Sahota, principal, Girls’ Senior Secondary School, Kotkapura, the largest government-run school in Farikdot district, said now the teachers have decided to voluntarily start bridge classes in other subjects.
“Now, parents understand why the schools are holding free classes and their support is adding strength to the project. Teachers get motivated on noticing that the deputy commissioner interacts with them digitally and educators are also voluntarily contributing to make it a regular feature,” added Sahota.
