The Department of School Education has made arrangements for smooth conduct of the Test of English as Foreign Language (TOEFL) certification exam in government schools across the State on April 10 and 12 (Wednesday and Friday).
As many as 4,53,265 students of Classes III to V drawn from 13,104 schools will appear for the test to be conducted by the Education Testing Services (ETS) from Princeton in the United States on Wednesday, while on Friday, 16,52,142 students of Classes VI to IX from 5,907 schools will write the exam.
On the eve of the examination, Principal Secretary, School Education, Praveen Prakash directed the District Education Officers (DEOs) to ensure that all the Interactive Flat Panels and smart TVs were in good condition, as they would be used to conduct the test. Referring to the competition among schools to be the best in the district, Mr. Praveen Prakash directed the officials to ensure that there was no unhealthy competition for the title.
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Printing of textbooks
Officials are gearing up for printing 4.42 crore textbooks to be distributed to students on June 12, when the schools reopen for the academic year 2024-25.
Bilingual (one side in Telugu and the other side in English) textbooks of mathematics, social science, physical science and biology for Class X are being printed this year. “With this, we will be supplying bilingual textbooks in science, social science and mathematics to students of Classes I to X, becoming perhaps the only State Board to do so,” said Mr. Praveen Prakash.
He said the ‘Future Skill’ subject will be introduced in the academic year 2024-25 and related textbooks would be provided to students of Class VIII. Workbooks on TOEFL will also be provided to students of Classes III to IX to help them prepare well for the test. A PDF copy of the new version (academic year 2024-25) of all the textbooks from Classes I to X will be made available on the website cse.ap.gov.in from April 23, the last working day of the current academic year, he said, adding that it can be downloaded free of cost, and should not be used for commercial purposes.
Mr. Praveen Prakash also wanted officials to ensure that the ‘Water Bell’ concept should be implemented effectively in schools in order to prevent cases of sunstroke in view of the prevailing heat wave conditions in the State.