West Bengal Board to carry out evaluation to assess students' academic progress in the last two years

As schools reopened after a long time considering the COVID-19 pandemic and extended summer vacations, the state-run and aided institutions in the state were asked by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education to carry out an evaluation session to assess the academic progress of students in the past two years. The Board issued a set of guidelines and an official of the Board said that the evaluation will be carried out in phases, as stated in a report by PTI.

A functionary of the West Bengal Primary Teachers' Association, Ananda Handa, explained that "school campuses were out of bounds for students due to the pandemic, with many children have missed out on lessons due to network issues or the economic condition at homes, especially in the rural areas." He added, "Students are turning up in large numbers after the classes reopened on June 27. And the evaluation exercise will help teachers get a better understanding of the headway made by the students."

In a notice issued, the Board Secretary RC Bagchi said, "To evaluate the students' performances there will be a summative evaluation which shall be preceded by formative evaluation." The prescribed syllabus will have to be followed for each subject, he added. As per the notice issued, the dates of evaluation are: July 2 to 12 for the first offline summative evaluation, the second will be in September and the third in December, as stated in a report by PTI.

Consequently, each summative assessment will be preceded by a formative session. While formative sessions consider the methods teachers use to impart lessons, the summative assessments help in evaluating students learning, skill and academic progress at the end of a particular time period. It is also said that along with the mid-term and final exams, these phase-wise assessments will be executed.

As per the Board official, the methodology for summative and formative evaluation of students would be decided by the respective schools, as stated in a report by PTI.