Following the new ordinances of Delhi University (DU) in the new Four-Year Undergraduate Courses the university’s Academic Council has approved a new rule of Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) for the practicals in Science Courses.
Now the evaluation of Science practicals will depend 50 per cent on the performance shown through out the semester and 50 per cent on the end-semester examination. Till now the final assessment was based on the practical and theory exam conducted in the end of the session. But now the assessment will happen throughout the year with the espousal of CCE scheme.
“The final result of the practical paper will depend half on the marks obtained in the CCE under which the student will be evaluated throughout the session and half will depend on the final practical examination in the end. The CCE will comprise of the number of practicals attended by the students and his overall performance in the class. The teachers will have to keep a record of the student in their presence and performance during the practical classes throughout,” said SC Bhatla, the head of Botany.
A Science subject paper is of 150 marks in which practicals constitute 50 marks. The theory paper is of 75 marks and 25 marks have been kept for internal assessment based on attendance, projects and other activities. For the 50 marks of practicals, 25 would be given under the CCE and 25 would be carried in the final practical examination in the end-semester.
The CCE system which was first adopted by the CBSE will reduce the term examination weightage from 100 to 50 per cent. This will apply to the practicals of both Discipline-I Courses and Discipline-II Courses. A committee comprising of the HoDs of Science subjects had put this proposal before the Academic Council.
“There were also thought to make the assessment of the practicals completely CCE and scrap the exams based but it was later decided to keep it on 50-50 form. Professors had concerns that students come under pressure due to the practical examination and get very less time to focus on the theory papers thus it will bring a relaxation to them and also urge to attend practicals to those students who tool practical classes casually,” said one of the AC members.
Honours students can explore another subject for masters
Under the new format of the Delhi University, student can explore one more subject for masters apart from Discipline-I Course, the major subject in which he/she would be enrolled for the Honours Degree. The Discipline-II Course which is compulsory to opt for after the Honours subject would reserve another choice for the eligibility of a master’s degree. It could also be a package of two more subjects to study during the four-year degree.
There are 20 papers of Discipline-I Course and six papers of Discipline-II Course. After clearing the 20 papers of DC-I, the student will obtain an Honours degree and take admission for the masters in the same subject. But now if a student clears six papers of the DC-II in a particular subject he/she will be eligible to do masters in it as well.
“Earlier students were restricted to do masters in the same subject which they did their honours in but now in order to increase the flexibility the DC-II paper could be kept as second option. They will be eligible to do masters in this subject only after they clear all the six papers compulsorily in the chosen subject. For example, a student with Physics as DC-I can opt for Chemistry as DC-II and will eventually be eligible to do masters in either of the subjects,” said Virender Bhardwaj, an AC member.
A student who wishes to explore two different subjects instead of doing all six papers in one subject also has the option to divide it. “In DC-II, a student has to do three papers in botany and three in Zoology. However, the option for getting eligible to do masters in these subjects will not be there. These options have been given to give flexibility of choice to students in higher education. It was discussed in the Academic Council meeting as well,” he added.