New Assessment system proposed...

TWENTY TALK IN SCHOOLS

Will The New Internal Assessment System Ease Pressure On SSC, HSC Students Or Will It Be Mired In Malpractices?

Anahita Mukherji I TNN

Mumbai: With the state board of education introducing a 20-mark internal assessment section for mathematics and languages in the SSC and HSC exams from this year, opinion is divided on the benefits of the system.
The assessment will be done by the school and college teachers according to a time-table fixed by the school authorities and will include an oral examination for languages.
“Oral exams are meant to test whether a child can speak a language and has not simply crammed the answers for a written paper,’’ said SSC board chairperson Vijaysheela Sardesai.
Students and principals alike say it’s also a move that will mean less fear among students since a known teacher will be assessing them. “The move will ease some of the examination pressure,’’ said Kiran Mangaonkar, principal of Mithibai College.
However, there’s a lot of scepticism among principals on whether schools will adhere to the rules or simply pass their students with flying colours. Many feel that the oral exams will make it easier for students to pass the SSC and HSC exams. “Some schools might just treat these as bonus marks for students,’’ said Fr Francis Swamy, principal of Holy Family School, Andheri.
“Many school principals are openly bragging about how they don’t intend to conduct internal examinations at all. Instead, they say they’ll send in a student’s prelim marks to the board,’’ added another principal.
Parents of several students also expressed concern saying internal assessment might not be fair to bright students as they might just get the same marks as those who were weak in studies. “What’s more, what if a teacher is biased for or against a student?’’ asked a parent.
The grading system might have a chance of being misused, but it’s still a good idea, said other principals. “After all, there are already internal marks for science practicals. What’s wrong if the board introduces internals for mathematics and languages too?’’ said Jai Hind College principal Kirti Narain.
Practical marks are known to have been tampered with in the past. A former member of the SSC board said that a few years ago, he had visited several civic schools which did not have a functional science laboratory and during the practical examination for Std X, teachers had left a sheet of paper on each student’s desk with answers to the questions asked in the practical exam. Students simply copied the contents of the sheet onto the answer paper.
“As far as malpractices are concerned, cheating occurs in the theory exam as well,’’ said SSC board chairperson Vijaysheela Sardesai. “I’m hopeful that schools will follow the SSC board rules while conducting the exams.’’
The board plans to put a system of checks and balances in place too. Once the results are out, the board plans to conduct an enquiry in schools where all students have scored cent percent in the internal exams, or where a child’s performance in the internal exams varies drastically from the theory paper.
OTHER NEW RULES
Students will have to pass in both the theory and practical section for environmental science in the SSC and HSC paper, or else they will fail the board exam
Personality development has been introduced as a graded paper for Std X
In addition to practicals, there will also be a theory component to physical education for Stds X and XII