New Delhi: School principals and educationists on Thursday said the dip in CBSE Class 12 pass percentage this year reflected the board's growing emphasis on competency-based assessment and changes in evaluation practices, including on-screen marking (OSM).
The CBSE on Wednesday declared the Class 12 exam results, revealing that over 85 per cent candidates have cleared the exams this year. The results show that overall, the pass rate dipped by over 3 percentage points compared to the previous year.
Marking a first, the CBSE carried out a full-scale evaluation of Class 12 exam answer sheets through OSM.
The Kendriya Vidyalayas recorded the highest pass percentage at 98.55 per cent this year.
Sudhakar Prasad Thakur, a former principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan in Delhi, attributed the strong performance to the system's coordinated academic approach and focus on addressing learning gaps among students.
"The KVS has a very systematic and coordinated approach. Teachers and principals take care of each student and identify learning gaps systematically. As a result, students acquire skills and competencies and are in a better position to solve problems," Thakur told PTI.
On the overall decline in Class 12 pass percentage, he said the increasing emphasis on competency-based and concept-oriented questions may have impacted students whose conceptual understanding was weak.
"Questions are no longer theory-loaded where students can simply memorise and reproduce answers in examinations. Now students have to understand the question, conceptualise it and follow a problem-solving approach to solve it," he said.
Mount Abu School Principal Jyoti Arora said the board appears to be gradually moving away from rote learning towards conceptual understanding and application-based assessment.
"If I look at the performance overall, there are many students who have scored 100 out of 100 in different subjects. I think this slight decline may be attributed to a combination of factors, maybe due to more competency-based evaluation practices which CBSE has introduced according to the recommendations of National Education Policy (NEP)," she said.
Arora further said, "I think the pattern indicates a gradual shift from rote learning to application-based assessments. There was a slight change in the assessment pattern which was more competency-based and application-oriented..."
She also said that the results of physics and mathematics have been disappointing.
On the evaluation process, Arora said the OSM mechanism provided evaluators with clear marking guidelines.
"To my understanding, there are two to three factors. One is, of course, OSM checking, which was very well formatted in nature. Second is the CBSE's bend towards competency-based and application-based assessment and evaluation," she said, while also noting that the paper this year was comparatively easier than the last few years.
Commenting on the rise in compartment cases, she said, "The number of compartments has also gone up. On one side, there are many students with perfect scores in different subjects, especially skill subjects like painting and commercial art, but the results of mathematics and physics have been disappointing."
Meanwhile, The Indian School Principal Tania Joshi told PTI that her school overall performed well, with several subjects recording an increase in average marks.
"We've done quite well. Many of our subjects have seen an increase in averages, though some have decreased," she said.
Joshi said the online marking process made evaluation more standardised and scientific.
"The best part is that it was all online and the marking was very scientific and mechanical. You cannot give an extra mark; the system will not let you proceed further. So it was done very scientifically and I think it was very good in a way," she said.
She, however, acknowledged that subjects like physics and mathematics saw a decline in scores.
"Yes, physics has gone down. But other subjects like chemistry and humanities subjects such as history and political science have improved. Maths and physics have gone down," she said.
On students seeking re-evaluation, Joshi said several students had approached the school for guidance on the process.
"Many of them are asking how to go through the re-evaluation process. This happens every year, but yes, the results of maths and physics have seen a dip," she said.
Rejecting suggestions that the evaluation process may have been harsher, she said, "I don't think there is a big issue with checking because it was done very methodically and scientifically."
On girls outperforming boys once again, Joshi said the trend was visible in her school as well.
Earlier, School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar said the change in the assessment scheme was naturally reflected in the results.
"There is some difference in the percentage of marks this time, but that is quite natural because this time the scheme for assessment has changed. So, it reflects in the results," he said.
This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.
