Majority of teachers of CBSE schools from around the state feel that it is difficult for students to prepare for examinations
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KOZHIKODE: When the Central Board of Secondary Education decided to scrap the Problem Solving Assessment (PSA) test for class IX and XI students, the CBSE schools in the state welcomed the decision though the PSA had helped in building the creative and reasoning skills of the students. The PSA was introduced as a logical reasoning examination in 2013, instead of the Formative Assessment- 4, which tested the critical thinking ability of the students.
According to various CBSE school managements, faculty and parents here, scraping the examination will help the students concentrate more on the Formative Assessment-4. As per the circular sent to the schools from the board controller of exams, the CBSE has ‘done away with the PSA’ for class IX & XI from 2015-16 academic sessions, and advised to conduct FA4 for the students of IX who could not attend the assessment and upload the best of their scores on CBSE website.
CBSE Kerala regional officer Mahesh Darmadikari said, “PSA was introduced as a pen-paper- based test to evaluate the verbal communication, critical thinking, analytical reasoning, creative thinking and decision-making skills amongst the children.” After considering the opinions from different quarters, the board has decided to scrap the topic, which will be better for the students even if the advantages are high on one side, he said.
Many school managements and teachers had criticised the difficult level of the examination and also the nature of the assessment. “We were waiting for clarity from the board due to the delay that was caused to conduct the examination. The schools were confused how PSA will work among the students and how schools should rank class X students in the absence of PSA for them. Later the board itself sent circulars to all the institutions under it,” Mr Mahesh pointed out.
According to Malapp-uram Sahodaya School Complex president Abdul Nazar, instead of PSA the school can conduct FA4. Abolishing PSA will help the students score high marks but the board will include PSA type questions in SA 1 and SA 2 gradually. The PSA is an estimation of core subjects only. Since subjects like social studies have no PSA, taking the total mark of PSA and FA4 is not ethical.
Kozhikode Sahodaya School Complex secretary P. Haridas said, “we often get complaints from the school faculty about the trouble in preparing students for PSA due to its out-of-curriculum orientation. Though it helped in promoting the generic and higher order thinking skills of students as prescribed by CBSE in CCE, it was a burden on the students. For the past three years, the CBSE has been conducting the PSA with the board preparing the question paper along the lines of a competitive examination. This move can help change the marks of the students, he added.
The majority of teachers of CBSE schools from around the state feel that it is difficult for students to prepare for examinations like PSA in class IX.
PSA was aimed at developing real life skills
Aiming to infuse generic and higher thinking skills among school students, the CBSE introduced Problem Solving Assessment (PSA) for the students of class XI, XII and IX during the academic year 2013- 14. It was designed to review and promote skills like creative thinking, decision-making, critical thinking and communication abilities that lead to success in real life situations.
The PSA test assesses some areas, including qu-antitative reasoning, qualitative reasoning and language conventions skills in either English or Hindi. The intention initially was to take the students out of the bookish knowledge and make them capable of handling real life challenges.
The PSA also offered the students a chance to im-prove their PSA scores in class X as they were allowed to appear for the test along with the students of class X during 2014-15. The CBSE had told the school managements that the best scores of PSA would be reflected in the final year certifica-te of the students. The students were given the provision for improvement. The PSA is counted towards FA-4, meaning it will add 10 per cent to the overall assessment of class IX. The assessment is also carried forward to FA 4 in class X.
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