The academic year has gone haywire for city schools too. The international schools were the first to down shutters when the swine flu scare erupted in the first week of August. The state board schools followed suit, following a government directive of an eight-day holiday from August 12.
Most schools usually conduct their second unit test before the start of Ganeshotsav. But, owing to the emergency situation this time, the education department gave schools permission to scrap the unit test. This came as a relief to students, but left schools looking for ways to finish the syllabus before the semester exams in October.
However, not all will be running against time. “We had finished our syllabus and started a continuous assessment programme before the closure. When the school reopens, we will start preparing for the semester exams,” said Lalitha Hariharan, principal, Rizvi Springfield School, Bandra.
Thanks to the cancellation of the second unit tests by the education department, state board schools can now concentrate on finishing the syllabus for the terminal exams. However, other boards schools, such as RN Podar School, Santa cruz, had to postpone first terminal exams due to the unscheduled holiday.