ICSE
will conduct Board Exam for Class V and VIII for the year 2018-2019: Impact on students
Recently, Indian
Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) council CEO Gerry Arathoon announced in
Kolkata that the council will conduct the board exam for students of Class V
and VIII.
Mr. Arathoon emphasized on the fact
that no preparation for the exam is required separately, this is to basically assess
students’ understanding of the subjects (Maths, English, Science and Social
Studies) and the evaluation would be based on the academic aptitude of the
students. Thus there is no provision for academically weaker students to
showcase their proficiency in extracurricular activities. Moreover, according
to Mr. Arathoon, “The assessment tests in Class 5 will be conducted to check
what the students have learned since preschool, and the same tests in Class
8 will be conducted to check what they have learned from Class 6 onwards” (The
Indian Express). This essentially implies the fact that students from their
preschool days only have to go through the structured education system. This is
in contrast to the report of the
committee on Pre-primary and pre-school education in Delhi, Delhi High Court wherein
it says “A majority of ‘big schools’ (schools which have classes upto XII) run
not only nursery and Kindergarten or preparatory classes before class I, some
of these schools also have pre-nursery. Thus a child of 2-2½ years of age enters
into a system which also has adolescents of 17-18 years of age”. Thus the
system is “mere downward extension of the formal and structured education” which
is hardly child-centric.
In favor of the
introduction of Board Exam, Mr. Arathoon thinks “data available through the
assessment will give better support to students, give insight to parents about
the performance of their children, keep a tab on the progress of the student
and also help students identify career dimensions that align with their interests
and academic strengths”. However it may pose serious problem to non-performers
as from early age of 10-12 years the weaker students would be categorically marked.
On top of it board will conduct parallel assessment of teachers (The Telegraph)
and “if the
average score of the students in a class, say, English is poor, the teacher
concerned will also be awarded low marks” (an official pointed out). This would
certainly create pressure on teachers as well and the same would be transferred
to the students. Students would be under constant pressure to excel as their
performance in board would be considered as teachers’ performance.
Many school
heads and parents are of opinion that these exams are unlikely to help younger
kids as it is not clear whether these exams are conducted to test their
knowledge or to prepare them how to write an exam. According to a report of The
Telegraph, the exams will be held alongside the schools’ annual exams. So if
annual exams are conducted that itself is preparatory for kids and then the obvious
question is how an extra exam would benefit students other than creating extra
pressure.
However, there do second school of thoughts
exist. Not all educationists are against the idea. “It does not make any
difference, they are anyway writing the exams. Whether the exam papers come
directly through the board or they write the school-based exams, it shouldn’t
matter”.
The topic is open for debate. Please suggest and
share your thoughts on this and enlighten us.
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