Closing the Gap: Importance of Remedial Classes

What is Remedial Education?

Remedial education, sometimes referred to as developmental or compensatory education, is a style of instruction created to assist kids in achieving their expected level of proficiency in fundamental academic abilities including literacy and numeracy. To ‘remedy’ is to heal or to fix, in the most literal sense. Similar to this, remedial education assists underprivileged students or students with special needs in achieving the level of proficiency that is appropriate for their age. Remedial education, to put it simply, helps close the achievement gap between these kids and their peers.

Approach and Implementation

It is frequently decided which students would take remedial classes for which lessons based on the outcomes of standardized examinations or the suggestions of the instructors. Research indicates that the earlier the remedial classes, the better the learning and grades in courses such as reading, writing and math. Remedial education focuses on academic shortcomings that may constitute learning barriers and may be given one-on-one or in groups. Among the advantages of remedial teaching techniques is that they can lay the groundwork for further in-depth study of a subject. Before students may develop a thorough comprehension of the subject of study, they must first learn these skills. 

Significance in the Learning Journey

Despite the fact that some children in our schools do not have any shortcomings, there are some students who urgently require help gaining greater proficiency in reading and other core functions. Here, remedial education provides reinforcement especially for those areas that can be easily forgotten or have learnt in a faulty manner earlier by students. It provides necessary confidence and foundation to improve future learning. 

Remedial education helps to mitigate the achievement gaps in children between different socio-economic groups. Students from low-income and underprivileged communities often find it difficult to access resources that are normally available to their peers. Remedial classes provide extra support to these students to help them succeed academically. It also helps to decrease the retention rates in schools. Increased self-esteem and motivation is another important advantage of remedial classes. Through these classes, students tend to gain confidence to perform better in their classes and also in other co-curricular activities. 

Bridging the Gap

Remedial classes have recently gained so much popularity in the context of the post-pandemic scene. Covid-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected vast numbers of vulnerable students across the country. The learning gap that has occurred in the two years of lockdown has resulted in a drastic sink in the learning curve and with the implementation of online learning, India’s digital divide was once again transparent. Remedial classes have been of so much help in the context of mitigating the learning gap that was caused by the pandemic and is the perfect solution for making your base stronger.