Does it make the grade?

Nonika Singh takes a look at the new CBSE grading system that has thrown up a plethora of questions in the mind of all concerned – students, parents and teachers

• A mother is worried how her academically sound son with little interest in sports will fare in the new roadmap to education reforms.

• Yet another parent wonders aloud whether it would be a good idea to take his son out of school that is only till Class X.

• A school principal has serious apprehensions about the Comprehensive Continuous Evaluation (CCE) work in classrooms where student-teacher ratio is 60: 1.

• Parents are anxious and have serious reservations about the fairness of teachers in internal assessments.

Speaking about possible fault lines, Asha Malhotra, Principal, Kendriya Vidalaya, Chamera 2, Chamba district, says, "There are several." From the loaded grading system to optional board examinations, to the impractical CCE, reforms, according to her, do not bode well for excellence. She has serious doubts as to how the CCE can be put into practice. "In a nation where even many principals have not cared to read the National Curriculum Framework 2005 on which the present plan is based, what can you expect from teachers?" she laments.

A discriminatory system? The reforms have thrown up yet another contentious query — is the grading system discriminatory? Agrees Asha Malhotra, Principal, Kendriya Vidalaya, Chamera 2, Chamba, “How can you put one student with 90 per cent and another with 95 per cent in the same category?” Besides, she feels “A category of grades that says ‘Needs Improvement’ is absolutely preposterous, more so since the country hardly provides enough vocational opportunities afterwards. We need a change the mindset against blue-collar jobs as nobody wants to be a plumber or electrician.” Indeed, as India churns out millions of unemployable graduates, it is woefully short of youth with specific skill sets. Although the CBSE has already introduced many vocational subjects in the past it is aware that vocational education needs more attention.

Foolproof method Vineet Joshi, Chairman and Secretary, CBSE, allays fears and insists that the present Class IX, which will have the prerogative of not taking the board examination, will be the “first beneficiary” of a system that has been framed to benefit all. The increased frequency of assessments, including formative (quizzes, discussions, project work) and summative assessment, involvement of more than one teacher in evaluation process, these all are measures to safeguard the student community and promote quality education.

However, many public schools authorities claim to be more than geared up for the CCE. Both Neena Khanna, Principal, Army Public School, Ambala cantonment and Daman Duggal, Principal, Vivek High School, Sector 38, Chandigarh, insist that their schools have already been assessing the students, based on multiple intelligence parameters for long. "All we need to do is extend the system to senior classes," add the two.

Vineet Joshi, Chairman and Secretary, CBSE, fails to understand the fuss about the CCE that has existed in some form or the other in all CBSE schools across the country. "Only now it gets more regulated and standardised," adds Joshi.

Come to think of it, very few are against reforms per se. The disadvantages of learning by rote, the very basis of Indian examination system, have been criticised time and again. Without doubt, with undue emphasis on marks and percentage, the education system in India has created stress levels, which have proved fatal. Even if the increasing suicide rate among students is attributed to other factors besides exam-related stress, our present system is known for stifling creativity and encouraging bookish knowledge. For those who believe that this kind of anomaly exists in government schools where the education standards are supposedly not up to the mark, a survey conducted in many top schools of the nation has found serious gaps in student learning.

Students not only faltered on interpretational and analytical skills, but even on language skills, which were being studied as a subject and not as a tool to enhance knowledge. A global study found no connection between what was being taught in classrooms in schools, colleges, universities and the knowledge and skills required at the work place.

So the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) has a valid point "External examinations are largely inappropriate for the knowledge society of the 21st century and its need for innovative problem solvers. Questions, if not framed properly, will call for rote memorisation and fail to test higher order skills like reasoning and analysis, lateral thinking, creativity and judgement."

With undue emphasis on marks and percentage, the education system in India has created stress levels, which have proved fatal.

Very few people are against reforms as these lay greater emphasis on holistic development. Photos: Pradeep Tewari

It further adds that external examination make no allowance for different types of learners and learning environments and induce an inordinate level of anxiety and stress.

Joshi points out another flaw in the board examination pattern that has stilted the spirit of enquiry. "Not only did teachers finish syllabus by October or November and thereafter did little except take examination, still worse was the trickle-down effect being felt in junior classes where even students of Class VI were being tested on the board pattern."

It isn’t as if the school authorities have been caught off guard. The NCF dates back to 2005 and present reforms have come about after serious deliberations with educationists across the nation. The new reforms not only lay greater emphasis on holistic development but also silence critics who objected to the abolition of board examinations. By making the board examinations optional, it has answered the need of secondary schools and more pertinently of those sections of society for whom matriculation examination is a milestone and the board certificate an essential qualification.

Sushma Gupta, a teacher with British School, Panchkula, who works with underprivileged children in her spare time, doubts the sincerity of the assumption that abolition of board examination works against students who hail from disadvantaged sections. On the contrary, she asserts, it was the fear of board examinations that kept many kids away and led to their dropout from school. The new system, she is positive, will lead to greater retention.

Karan Singh, Deputy District Education Officer, Panchkula, agrees, "Mere certificates do not open doors." Indeed, if we pay heed to the World Bank report 2006 — only one in five secondary school passouts has the necessary skill to get a job — reforms are imperative for all kind of students.

Singh foresees no obstacles in the smooth functioning of reforms. Rather, he cites malpractices like cheating and the mushrooming of teaching shops that have been a result of the annual system of examination.

A discriminatory system? Asha Malhotra, Principal, Kendriya Vidalaya, Chamera 2, Chamba The reforms have thrown up yet another contentious query — is the grading system discriminatory? Agrees Asha Malhotra, Principal, Kendriya Vidalaya, Chamera 2, Chamba, “How can you put one student with 90 per cent and another with 95 per cent in the same category?” Besides, she feels “A category of grades that says ‘Needs Improvement’ is absolutely preposterous, more so since the country hardly provides enough vocational opportunities afterwards. We need a change the mindset against blue-collar jobs as nobody wants to be a plumber or electrician.” Indeed, as India churns out millions of unemployable graduates, it is woefully short of youth with specific skill sets. Although the CBSE has already introduced many vocational subjects in the past it is aware that vocational education needs more attention.

Foolproof method Vineet Joshi, Chairman and Secretary, CBSE, allays fears and insists that the present Class IX, which will have the prerogative of not taking the board examination, will be the “first beneficiary” of a system that has been framed to benefit all. The increased frequency of assessments, including formative (quizzes, discussions, project work) and summative assessment, involvement of more than one teacher in evaluation process, these all are measures to safeguard the student community and promote quality education.

But what of the malpractices that may swamp the new system in which teachers and schools are likely to hold unwarranted power over students? More so, since the CBSE wants the CCE to go beyond written tests and include quizzes, debates, interviews and many more skills, the evaluation of which can be rather subjective. Won’t favouritism and bias throttle the anticipated change? These are the doubts clouding not only parents’ minds but also teachers’.

While attempts will be made to standardise the CCE, surprise and random checks will guard against students’ interest being harmed. "Besides", questions Joshi, " if teachers can be relied upon to assess students till Class IX why so much distrust for Class X?"

Undisputedly, in the new plan, teachers are the significant other half and need extensive training. The CBSE intends to conduct training workshops from October 2009 onwards. The workshops will be compulsory for the schools heads and two teacher representatives.

The CBSE also intends to provide guidelines in black and white to all schools. The CCE documentation has already been sent to all affiliated schools. These guidelines on various aspects of the CCE will be available in the Teachers Manual on School Based Assessment, provided by the CBSE and also on the board’s website.

Nevertheless, while the secondary schools, which only up to Class X, are playing down the abolition of Class X Board examinations, these are not the only ones who want their students to take the optional board examinations.

Neena, who is in sync with the visionary Sibal’s vision, confesses that she will encourage all her Class X students to appear for the board examinations.

But this indeed, is a telling observation that all school heads are not overtly confident about the new system. "In early stage there might be some hiccups but things will fall in place," avers Krit Serai, Principal, Satluj Public School, Panchkula.

Will reforms work in the long run or fall flat in the face? Malhotra warns, "At present our students are doing exceptionally well in foreign universities. Take the "fear factor" of the examination away and brilliance will be sacrificed forever.

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