Under new format, the emphasis is on written exams, lightening teachers' load but increasing that of students
Under the earlier system, students were evaluated only on small portions of the syllabus
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The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) new examination format for Std VI to IX has been met with criticism by stakeholders. They fear the new system will bring back rote-learning. While this will reduce teachers' work to a great extent, educators feel students will become complacent as there will be no creativity demanded like it was under the current continuous comprehensive evaluation (CCE).
While the objective of the change is to bring uniformity across CBSE-affiliated schools, the high importance given to the written examination will not provide holistic development of a child, which was possible under CCE. Parents, on the other hand, feel that the change means new issues and further chaos.
Deepshikha Shrivastava, principal of Rajhans Vidyalaya, said, “The changes are being brought in gradually so that there is no trouble in implementation for schools as well as students.”
She added, “These changes are being introduced because under CCE, children were evaluated on a small portion of the curriculum in each test. But, it was becoming difficult for them to study the entire portion for Std X and above.”
Avnita Bir, director-principal of R N Podar School, said, "The changes are in the right direction. They have kept certain parts of CCE, such as marks for notebooks and subject enrichment. The transition is gradual and will bring a lot of clarity in evaluation patterns."
"We are going back to the old practice of rote-learning. Schools will now have make children do a lot of writing practice," said Kavita Karve Vaidya, principal, Somaiya School.
Arundhati Chavan, president of the Parents' Teachers' Association, said, “Teachers will be the happiest as they will have very little to do.”