A high percentage of students of the Higher Secondary Schools in Kerala come from the rural background. They do not have the financial capability to attend coaching classes to prepare for the Entrance Examinations for admission to Professional Degree Courses. So they are not able to score high marks in the Entrance Examination, on various grounds. However, they score very high marks in the Qualifying Examinations.
The proposed Public Entrance Examination Coaching Scheme (PEECS) aims at imparting training to students of Government/Aided Higher Secondary Schools & vhse Schools in Kerala, free of cost, to prepare for Entrance Examinations.
This will be by way of telecasting of classes with the help of experts in various subjects based on the syllabi of the Entrance Examinations, providing the facility for the students to interact with experts and clear their doubts, attend practice tests etc.
The classes are to be telecast during the school hours through VICTERS Channel. Students will be able to watch the telecast with their teachers. There will be a repeat telecast in the evening/night.
There will be a website for PEECS where students will have to register to use the facilities. They will take practice tests at this website. They will also get the facility to get answers for the questions in the test, post questions related to the topic to the resource person and get the answers etc. The students will be able to track their performance too. There is also a proposal to set up a Question Bank with the assistance of expert faculty.
One component of PEECS will be the telecasting of classes, each of one hour duration, based on the topics in the syllabi for the Entrance Examinations of Kerala.
Coaching will be imparted for Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology (Botany and Zoology). The one hour session will have a ‘subject’ discussion part and ‘question & answer’ discussion part. The number of classes for each subject for covering the entire syllabus is likely to be around 60. The classes will be telecast through the VICTERS channel of IT@ School. The telecast will be so scheduled during the school time so that the students get the facility to view the programme along with the teacher engaging the subject in the school. The classes that are telecast during the school time will be telecast again in the evening/night.
The second component of the scheme is the online practice test. After the telecast of a class on a topic is completed, the students will get the facility to attend online practice tests on that topic as per the Entrance pattern. This facility will be provided through the PEECS website to be hosted with the technical support of IT@School.
This test can be taken by the student from the school or from home or at any place having a computer with internet facility. After the test is completed, the student will get to know the score, the answers to the questions with explanatory notes. As the scheme progresses, more question sets will be added to the Question Bank being developed side by side so that the students will get the facility to take more practice tests. The students will have to register at the website to get all these facilities. This will be done through the institutions they are enrolled.
The student will also get the facility to post a question to an expert in the subject and get answer to that. The progress of the students will also be monitored under the scheme. By the time the entire course is covered, the student will have the facility to answer a full question paper online as per the entrance pattern. A Question bank is also being planned as a component of the scheme. The entire facilities related to the scheme will be provided free of cost to the students.
Faculty from Higher Secondary Schools and Colleges and retired faculty from Colleges have been identified for engaging the classes under PEECS. Although the scheme is being implemented for the KEAM Entrance Examinations now, it is expected to be extended to more areas in the coming years.
