There is mixed reaction to the re-introduction of compulsory Class X Board exams. Educationists, principals and teachers tell SHAlINI SAKSENA that it is a welcome move which will regenerate the calibre of students
The announcement by Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar regarding reintroduction of Class X Board exams in 2016 has had mixed reactions from parents, students and principals. Though a lot of hype is created around Class X Boards, this year the number of students who took the exams stood at 3,70,615 for girls. For boys it was 5,15,891. In 2016, this number stood at 7,66,038. In comparison, the number of students who took school-based exam was 7,33,255. Also, in 2016, the number of schools which registered for the Boards was 15,309. This year, it is 16,363.
But for many students going to Class X from the academic year 2017, the move could not have come at a worse time. Why is it that principals and academicians are welcoming the move and students hating itIJ The reason is simple.
For the students, it means that they will have to now be more attentive and ensure that they don’t forget what they learnt at the beginning of the year since, with each exam, the course in the tests will be from the very beginning. In other words, by the time they will take their finals, all the chapters from all the text books will have to be studied instead of a limited course as was the practice before Class X Board exams which was scrapped in 2009 and Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) was introduced.
A Class VIII student of a prestigious school in south Delhi is in a tizzy since the announcement has been made. “As it is there are so many courses in each subject; on top of that we have homework. Then there is 20 per cent weightage been given to internal assessment. How does the system expect us now to keep track of all 30 or 35 chapters in Social StudiesIJ And it is not just one subject; there is Science, Maths, Hind, English as well. As it is we hardly get time to play, with the Boards hanging over our heads, parents will take away what little free time that we had,” he tells you.
Agrees a Class IX student. But for him it is not taking time out to study but how to retain all that has been taught. “Over the years, I have got used to studying limited chapters for a test and the finals. I really didn’t bother what I had learnt at the start of the year except in Maths and Science since each chapter is a take-off from the previous one. My problem will be to take into account the sheer quantum of the chapters that one will have to study for the finals. Imagine one will have over 30 chapters in Social Science, 20 Chapters in Science, 25 chapters in Maths, 20 chapters in Sanskrit. On top of that, I have Maths and Science tuitions thrice a week for two hours. I don’t know whether I will get a chance to go and play. I love cricket and football. I may as well give up on my passion,” he laments.
But Usha Albuquerque, India’s best career counselor and founder director of Careers Smart says that there is no need for students to not enjoy school life. “Exams are not the only criteria to success. There are people who didn’t do well academically but are successful today. Students should find their niche and do it well. Enjoy your school life. Shutting down shop is not the answer. Just because the Class X Board exams are back, it should not be a close down for extra-curricular activities. We are really destroying the childhood and learning,” Albuquerque says.
She also tells you that there is no right or wrong move about reintroduction of the Class X Boards. “It was more about how CCE was not giving a correct assessment of the students. It was not handled and incorporated in the right manner. Students were being assessed by teachers on a very generalised basis; on parameters that were important but couldn’t be academically assessed. The students were given essay after essays and then a final evaluation was done. If someone had some excellent project work, it was added to the finals and they were getting an 8, 9 and even a 10 grade point. When they came into Class XI, they came down with a bump and realised that they were no good. The system was not a good way of assessing students. If there was a regular academic assessments with general assessments, it would have evaluated what had done and what the learning outcomes were. Since this was not the case, as an alternative to this, Boards are a better evaluation though they are also not the best way of doing things either,” Albuquerque explains.
There are a number of reasons why CCE was unable to deliver what was expected of it. Some schools did it very well and teachers were trained and knew how to handle it and gave some great results. But mostly schools have 50 students to a class. In such a scenario, it would have been difficult to expect a teacher to know what are the emotional aspects of the students’ individual interactions and various other parameters on which they were to be judged on how they deal with other students on social and other skills. She has a subject class of two in a day. She has to not just complete the course but also has to keep track of the assessments. So it became mechanical. A CCE system works when you have a class where you have 20-25 students. But in India, we don’t have this. Most classes have at least 45 students. To blame the teachers would not be correct since it was found that where there were lesser number of students, the system worked perfectly.
One is told what would have been good is that some elements of CCE be retained. Though the Board has given 20 per cent weightage to internal assessment, one will have to wait till 2018 to see how this will pan out. The move comes because there are some students who may not be academically bright in all the subjects or a certain subject, but have great skills in general assessment and therefore it serves them in good stead.
Albuquerque tells you that while the calibre of students going into Class XI fell especially for those who were taking Science and Maths, there is no need for students to go into a spin. They have an entire year to prepare for Class X Boards. It is not that they have to study Class IX course as well.
Also, the reason why we don’t have a single Board, and have ICSE and CBSE could stem from the fact that neither of the Boards are great. Standard of education today is all about rote learning, educationists tell you. Marks are based on it. learning is not rote; it is not about the child cramming up. How can you have a system where one can get 99 per cent in English and yet not be able to write a decent letterIJ Exams don’t assess a child’s learning ability. The system should be able to assess a child’s critical thinking. Exam don’t examine your learning outcome, your knowledge in anyway. At least having a CBSE sets a standard — ‘uniform system’, they say.
“Students, who have the ability to cram up everything and spew it out, do very well. Those who can’t, don’t do so well. If there was an alternative, there could be other ways of teaching and assessing a student. So ICSE is a far superior Board since it still has vestiges of old Cambridge but even that is becoming fairly mechanical. I don’t endorse any of these. Sad part is that learning that students are getting today is far below standard. But there are some schools which do have extra-activities that help students to develop other skills that eventually help them. There are students who get 99 per cent but don’t remember a thing that they have learnt in XIth or XIIth,” Albuquerque says.
The reason why students who go abroad do so will is because, if you give a good student a base, they will perform well anywhere. Exceptionally bright students when give an opportunity, will be able to deliver. Most of the learning has been done due to their talent. Whether they have understood and can apply their learning is where there is a system of add-ons helps when studying abroad are given a platform which then uses the skills that they have to enhance them. But for others, most have been deprived of creative thinking. They have not had an opportunity to do so. Most students don’t even ask a question in class. Even when they do, the teacher doesn’t have the time to answer them.
“In this country, any kind of thinking is frowned upon in school. Also, you can’t have word limits in subjects like Social Sciences or any language subject. You also can’t have set answers. Most of the students go to coaching classes where they get set questions and answers which they cram-up. Where is the learningIJ The students don’t bother to understand what they have learnt. They neither have the time nor are they interested. That is a major problem. So how does one evaluate such studentsIJ Even some teachers who are evaluating the answers sheets don’t know their subject. So the system is flawed,” Albuquerque tells you.
It is not the Boards where the flaw lies. Everywhere in the world you have exams. “Everywhere else in India, there are Class X and XII Boards. But the media plays it up that a student has committed suicide; this worries the students. When you study, you have to take the exam. Why create such a hullabalooIJ It is a normal course in a student’s life; you study, you take the exam. Students take JEE, NEET and other exams. Why not BoardsIJ It is just an evaluation. Students should understand the subject; get their concepts clear and study well. But then there is the pressure from parents. Every mother wants her goose to be a swan. Even if a student struggles with 70 per cent, the mother will pressurise the child and says: ‘She will get a 90 if she studies’. But not everyone can be a topper. When she doesn’t get marks, it creates problems. Parents should understand that there is more to a students’ life,” Albuquerque says.
Dr Anju Mehrotra, the principal of Kalka Public School, New Delhi seconds with Albuquerque and says that the move to have Class X Board exams is in the right direction. “We really welcome the move. The standard of the children had really fallen. With CCE, nobody was taking the system seriously — neither the teachers nor the students. The students who were going into Class XI were facing tough times. Some were finding it difficult to comprehend what was being taught and reproduce it,” Dr Mehrotra says.
One is also told that the no-detention has, to a certain extent, diluted the calibre of the students. “The children are aware of their rights. They know that they could not be stopped till Class VIII. Those who were concerned about their career, they were more serious. But for others, it was cakewalk,” Dr Mehrotra says.
The difference between school-based exam and Board exam is that the Boards create a kind of hype whereas school exams are taken in a stride. “The entire environment around Boards is different. We wanted our students to take the Boards but some parents didn’t so, we had to give an option. But even then, 60 per cent were taking the Board. Now that the Boards are compulsory, the teaching strategy will also change. It will be good for the students and the teachers. Under the CCE, though the question papers were coming from the Board, we had the option to modify the paper if the teacher found that it will not be suitable for the students. All we had to do was make the changes and inform the CBSE. The teachers at the back of their mind knew that, if need be, they could make the modifications if the paper was tough,” Dr Mehrotra says adding that though it will be tough going for the students, the teachers will be training the students and preparing them for next year so that there is no panic.
A teacher of a prominent school in the Capital also tells you that there is no need for the students to go into a tizzy. A mother of a Class X student, she insisted that her daughter take the Boards even though the school had an option. This is because she wanted her to have a sense of responsibility and it would let her daughter know where she stood.
She tells you that one has to understand what the two systems are before one can say which one is better. Each has comes in a package. Boards set a criteria which tested where a student stood across the country but it created a lot of pressure and stress for them. The CCE was introduced to do away with the problems that the Board exams had. The CCE was supposed to give autonomy to the schools to conduct the exams in the manner they deemed fit. It was supposed to give students freedom to think creatively and do away with rote learning and make it more student-centric. But the problem with CCE was that it was not implemented in its truest form.
“You can’t have CCE where you have 60 students. There are schools where you have 15 students. Here the system worked beautifully. But it is difficult to reassess a project again and again when you have 45 students. More so when you have a course to complete as well. The CCE is a brilliant system, it gives the students freedom but the number of students needs to be less. The Boards are back and there is 20 per cent weightage for internal assessment. Here again, many schools will take advantage of it and give full marks to their students,” she tells you, who teaches Social Studies.
The Board exams come with their own pitfalls. There a pattern and the manner in which one has to write the answers is different. Teachers tell you to write the answers in the simplest manner. In fact, English teachers tell their students not to use fancy words lest it confuses the examiner. This works perfectly for average students. But the message you are sending to a bright student is that he must reduce his standard.
One is also told that examiners are given a guide by the Board when they are checking the answer sheets. If the student has written the words it doesn’t matter what the language is. He will still be given full marks. That is the reason why some students get 98 and 99 per cent even in a language subject!
“The whole stress and pressure around the Boards is not correct. It is true that a child should not be traumatised, but parents too need to back-off a bit. In fact, parents need more counselling than the students. The kind of apprehension that you see in parents in unbelievable. If a student loses even a mark, they come to you and want to know why they are getting less marks. In Class V, he had just learnt to formulate the answers. In Class VIII, he understands that he has to write more than two-three lines. They have to understand that at each stage he is learning, give them space,” she says.
According to Anuradha Sharma, principal of Ryan International School, Vasant Kunj, the doing away of the Class Boards was somehow diluting the students’ intelligence when they came into Class XI. “Yes, there will be pressure on the students but a lot will depend how well the schools prepare their students. In our school, an orientation was held for the parents once the results were declared. It will help everyone involved. With the Boards, it will make the child more alert and learning needs to be done in totality which was being done away earlier,” Sharma tells you.
In fact, many schools have already held an interaction with parents and students especially those going into Classes IX and X to tell them what to expect and how the pattern of exam will be. It has given some clarity to the students but the anxiety that they are facing will probably continue till they actually give the exam.
Albuquerque lists some solutions. “Maybe, if schools could be trusted to hold their exams continuously and base it on a system till Class IX so that students can get used to having an exam. They don’t have to be tough, instead have a fair evaluation. There has to be a uniform system. May be, have something like a SAT which will help students to find where they stand other than their Boards. People are worried about the Boards because of what it will do afterwards. It is not DU’s fault for keeping such high cut-offs. It is CBSE. So have more colleges, have a standard assessment system where the college can keep their own criteria on which the student can be judged. This will give the students a relief that they have another change other than the result of Class XII Boards,” Albuquerque says.