Conduct annual exams for Classes V and VIII from the ongoing academic year in all schools, says the Karnataka's Department of Public Instruction via the orders that it issued. Education Minister BC Nagesh said that the children are scared to write the SSLC (Secondary School Leaving Certificate) exam and are lacking in confidence. So the aim is to build their confidence, he added.
The order notified that it was getting difficult to judge the overall performance of a child with the ongoing system of Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) for Classes I to IX. Without that, it is not possible to understand the overall performance of the students of all the schools and it is crucial to understand a student’s progress and capabilities to be able to efficiently analyse them, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
In this regard, the minister said the exams for the students of Classes V and VIII have been announced to improve the children’s learning capacity. Also, it has been observed that children are scared while writing the SSLC exams, they lack confidence and are not competent.
What is the aim?
Additionally, so far, the SSLC students were not writing exams. But now, under this new system, children will write exams just like those of CBSE or ICSE exams, the minister added. Having said that, who will assess these question papers? That is yet to be finalised, said the minister by adding whether it will be at the school/taluk/state level is yet to be finalised. The aim however is to build confidence among students, he stressed.
Further, giving more details, a senior official from the department said, “So far students were writing only mid-term and annual exams which were assessed by the school. But now it will be evaluated by invigilators from other centres. For example, a teacher from Yeshwanthpur will be evaluating the answer scripts of a student from Malleswaram. The idea is from Kalika Chetharike and the NEP assessment method. The exams for students of Classes V and VIII will be like the SSLC board exams but not that severe. No student will fail,”
Meanwhile, the government also has ordered the Karnataka Board of School Examination and Evaluation (KSEEB) to bear all the examination and maintenance expenses for the schools in the upcoming year.
