Why Should Schools Shift into Semester wise Education than the Annual Method?

Schools usually in the Asian region typically work in the year-round method where the students from all age groups study all round the year to give exams of each and every piece of content they have learned throughout the years. This method of education provided by these educational institutions has been going on for years. Today in the modernized countries, we see that even the schooling system has shifted their learning method into semester system since it not only provides students more time to focus on particular subjects, but it helps to increase the quality of learning since it decreases the burden on students. Generally, even the small kids find it challenging to memorize 3rd grade spelling words while learning how to multiply and divide numbers. It is usually complicated for students to work at so many things at once, let alone the number of books they have to carry. On top of this, having multiple homework for different subjects can cause a lot of stress since students generally study 8 subjects simultaneously in the annual system. This forces small kids to carry eight other textbooks and notebooks for each and every subject, respectively. This piles up to a hefty load these kids have to bear with themselves while walking towards their classrooms. This results in health issues since it puts on a lot of strain on the body and dehydrates it at the same time.

We must realize that there is a reason why educationalists in the developed nations have eradicated the annual system for the root. For schools and universities, it has also proved to be highly cost-effective since schools now do to have to pay a lump sum amount of money in the shape of teachers’ salaries since they don’t need to hire the same teacher throughout the year. Since one subject ends in one semester, the next semester, school or university does not have any reason to pay that particular teacher since one batch of students has already passed that subject. So this allows such educational institutions to enable admission twice in a year and accommodate more students. As the number of students will increases, these educational institutions start to earn much more than what they used to make. But this option should only be availed if the institution thinks that they can hold a particular standard of learning within students since have many students with no quality of teachers or the academic profile is of no value to any of the parties involved. Many schools had a good reputation until they failed to keep the standard up due to the number of students entering the institution. This can be in terms of spelling test for grade 3, where the teacher focuses less on learning and more on cramming. These are just some of the scenarios where the situation for such institutions can get worse if they don’t manage their capabilities to their maximum.

While such things today are an essential topic of discussion, something to ponder on is the fact that how pandemic has affected the entire educational system around the world. Understandably a great pause was experienced by the students when the epidemic first broke out. Today educational institutions are trying to find ways on how to keep the learning process rolling while adapting to the instructions set due by the virus. Masses are now turning to online platforms such as Zoom and Spellquiz for online meetings and testing and exams through online medium. These methods have proved to be profoundly productive and a necessity at this hour of need. Many universities who followed the semester system had to pass their students onto the next semester just by expected grades. But the semester system has been extensively used under the pandemic environment since schools realized the number of pressure students had on them due to the lack of experience of learning through online mediums. For this, putting pressure on multiple subjects at once has resulted in student’s burnout and excessive stress. For this, dividing the subjects into smaller segments has resulted in students getting much more motivated and confident.

In conclusion, economically, quality-wise, and time-wise semester systems have proved to be far more superior than the annual system, let alone the relevance it has in the given pandemic environment. We must realize that school and academies cannot stop while students can not tackle numerous subjects at once due to the virtual classrooms having lesser of an impact on students in terms of learning. Hence, to strike a balance between catering to the virus as well and not putting students in a lot of pressure, institutions must realize the benefit semester system has now more than ever. This is not the time to argue on resisting change since change is what is required the most at this time.