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From TNN
13-09-2009
Off with the boards, on with grades? That’s unfamiliar territory
for a nation that worships the marksheet. Are the young cheering?
........the proposed switchover is not getting young people
cheering? Yes, for Sibal’s move appears to have created worrying
grey areas, not least the inability to fail. No child will be said
to have failed, leaving young people confused and uncertain. “At the
end of my Class X, if I don’t appear for the boards, how will I know
how good I am at studies?” asks Denil.
‘There should be board exams in Class 8 too’
More is less for India’s unhappy parents, most of whom lament the
government’s move to make the ‘stressful’ Class X boards optional.
So what are parents’ concerns? The views of some naysayers:
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST | India, say parents, is a country
with a huge population and only the fittest can survive. No one
knows this better than T K Bansal, founder of Bansal Tutorials in
Delhi and father of 14-year-old Rohan, who studies at Mother’s
International School. “A student should be able to face a three-hour
exam without going to pieces. All competitive exams, be it IIT,
medicine or IIMs, are more than three hours long. I would have liked
board exams in Class VIII too,” says Bansal.
FIND OUT WHERE YOU STAND | Geetha Balakrishnan, mother of a
Class IX student at Mumbai’s DAV School, says she wants her daughter
to take the boards even though they are optional. “That will give
her an idea of where she stands.”
STREAMLINED FUTURE | How will students be allotted different
streams in Class XI if grades replace marks, ask worried parents.
Mumbai-based Pradnya Shenvi, parent of a Class IX student at R N
Podar School says assessment (and streaming) will now be less
accurate because students won’t know where exactly they stand in
class.
TAKE-IT-EASY POLICY | Optional board exams make for
complacent children, says Captain Ivor Law, father of Nicolas, 13,
of Shri Ram School. And will schools and teachers put quite as much
effort into Classes IX and X if there are no boards? Pradeep, a math
teacher who gives private tuition, agrees that few children study
for the sheer joy of acquiring knowledge. “The boards ensured they
did. It was the first step in a competitive world,” he says. Law
says laidback children will never learn how to work hard. Class X
board exams also mentally prepared students for the more significant
ones in Class XII boards, say parents.
UNEVEN STANDARDS | As marks are still the deciding factor in
college admissions, there has to be a uniform standard of assessment
across the country, says Meenakshi Malhotra, associate professor of
English at Hansraj College and mother of Madhav, 13, of Delhi’s
Sanskriti School. A system based on individual school assessments
will create an uneven playing field and deepen the class divide
further. How, for instance, will a tribal student from the interiors
then compete with a student from a big-city school, asks Savyasaachi,
parent of a 14-year-old and lecturer of sociology at Delhi’s Jamia
Millia University. “Will such an education system be all-inclusive
or create an exclusive elite?” he asks
UNFAIR RISK | Is it wise to let individual teachers assess
students when so many are unfair and authoritarian? Haven’t we heard
of government schools where children are beaten up, asks Malhotra.
“How many teachers ensure a greater learning experience based on
warmth and affection? What is the code of conduct for teachers under
the new system,” asks Savyasaachi. Bansal adds that teachers will
now be blamed for a lot more than just being unfair. “While earlier
the CBSE was blamed for suicides, now teachers and the school will
be the targets.” I ro n i c a l ly, those with sons say girl
students have an unfair advantage, can sweet-talk teachers and walk
away with good grades! “It’s a natural tendency among teachers to
believe girls than boys if both are pitted against each other,” says
Bansal. “Boys are definitely the weaker sex here.”
NEW BURDENS | Will the new system mean that children will be
burdened with assignments, projects and group discussions 24X7 now?
“I want my child to enjoy his childhood, play football and watch
films, instead of being a bookworm,” says Savyasaachi. “Will the new
education system draw on the genius of India?”
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