Editor’s note – The author is a NRI college student in Canada who questions the debatable initiative by the CBSE called the “Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation”
Author’s note – When I was in Class X, we had the board exams. There was less stress in studying for the exam, than in hearing everyone around you comment on how you should study, what marks you should get etc. As a result, numerous students often cribbed on how “stressed” out they were. Now the present students in Class X don’t have the board exams. C.B.S.E. believes it is enhancing the learning experience of students by getting rid of the class ten board examinations. But has the stress gone?
Class ten for me was a highly annoying year. Note that I use the word “annoying” and not “stressful” or “tension filled”. Sure the syllabus had shot up from class nine to ten, but I still found time to meet friends, watch movies and read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Much to the annoyance of every adult around me). “Study! Study! Study” was all everyone ever said. Teachers would go on and on for hours on how this important examination would decide my future. There was an air of deep concern if you scored a 92 on a mid-term examination. Teachers would tell your parents “He’s good, but he can be better etc.etc.etc.” The real stress was induced by the continuous lectures on the “Importance of this exam” by neighbours, teachers and relatives, instead of the exam itself. Let’s fast forward three years into the future i.e. 2011. Class X students are no longer required to give the Board examinations. This step was taken to reduce the stress rampant among class X students. Isn’t it funny when you hear other adults (who probably drove a grade ten student up the wall by the quintessential “this year is DO or DIE”) talk about reducing stress for grade ten students by adopting something called the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation.
The basic working principle of this grand scheme is simple – reduce the “stress” by forcing students to move away from the rational of gaining great marks. Add in a fancy term – “Holistic Personality Development” and you have tons of students shouting in excitement and a score of parents worried about not being able to send their children to the top grade Higher secondary schools of the nation which ultimately apparently means a “lesser” chance at getting into the IITs(Don’t ask me, I’m equally confused). The academic syllabus remains the same; there are centralised examinations and a load of activities, projects and other fun stuff. The main flaw is – activities, projects and other fun stuff would only be fun if they weren’t organised every other week.
I know the C.B.S.E. is trying to get its students to think analytically about the subject rather than “rote learn” it. But is writing the history of Renee Descartes – actually teaching current ninth graders anything about the concept Descartes discovered? Sure pasting some grains and identifying them helps students connect visually with the various crops they learn in Geography, but is it worth the effort of the excessive decoration? In the first year of its implementation there was quite a halaboo of papers from different schools being leaked to students from other schools who were then asked the same questions in their examination paper a few days later. Is this the revolution C.B.S.E aimed it to be? All I see are ten graders hoping to give that one board exam and then getting over with it.
In the golden era (i.e. the time before C.C.E.), sure our result depended on six (or seven) crucial exams. But that was it. Study, give the exams and await your result. Now your final grade ten result lies with what you do over a period of two whole years. Students are now expected to be on their toes for two years and get the desired 9.8/9.9 if not 10.0 GPA. And then the mighty smart C.B.S.E proudly proclaims that its policy is reducing stress.
Instead of a Cumulative GPA spanning two years, why not continue with the old pattern? Instead of forcing students to make one project after another and then spend hours making it as attractive as possible, why not ask students to comment on the importance and impacts of events. Ask students to comment on why and how this mathematical/scientific idea was revolutionary. Instead of making students work on decorating plagiarised articles, provide them with activities that centre on the day to day experiences of students, how these set of ideologies inspire them or what they find intriguing about this certain topic. Instead of making students write on paper to submit their projects (A rather unwise decision, there is always WIKIPEDIA, ever ready and available to be copied), make them do their projects electronically. Apart from the tremendous approval and nods C.B.S.E will receive for saving paper, using a software such as TURNITIN will help reducing plagiarism. Students will be forced to research for their projects and thereby compile data, to produce original works. Isn’t that what C.B.S.E. is actually aiming for - To improve skills of reasoning and rationalising.
I believe life was much simpler, easier and relaxed when students had to study for that “crucial” Board examination. After all who wouldn’t love studying and giving an exam, rather than make a lot of projects, be judged for a whole two years and then give exams. Ah the good old days, when students spoke of 97’s and 99’s rather than 9.7’s and you get the rest.
Please leave your comments and questions below for the author to respond