Hyderabad: Teachers following the CBSE curriculum feel that the board is lenient in granting marks to students at many crucial years of schooling.
During the early years of schooling, in a bid to promote the holistic development of children, the continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) system by CBSE would grant marks for dance, sports and dramatics which would be added to the student’s final grade.
“In the new system with just one term exam, we award grades for students who excel in sports and other extra curricular activities. They are graded on a five point scale,” said Ms Seetha Kiran, regional director of DAV Public School. School athletes claim that as they bring laurels to the school, they deserve the extra marks they used to get.
“We often have training in the early hours of the morning and also after classes. We cannot follow the same study schedule as the other students so the CCE system was a benefit for us,” said student Amal George.
For classes from first standard, schools have about thirty marks which they award to a student on the basis of regular unit tests, maintenance of notebooks, recitals, writing assignments and other projects. “All work and no play will lead to children who know nothing out of their text books. Through this system, we can ensure that children can learn discipline and communicate well,” said Ms Anitha Suresh, a teacher.
During the higher secondary examinations, students find that practical examinations are a cakewalk as the format for the question papers are often repeated by schools.
“For my twelfth standard accountancy practicals, I knew about the question pattern and could prepare accordingly. Out of twenty, I doubt anyone in my class got less than eighteen and it is the same for most schools,” said degree college student Fathima Binth.
“Schools are often liberal during grading for boards. A child might score full marks in the board exam and shouldn’t lose out because of practicals,” Ms Kiran said.
In the CCE system, marks were added to the final percentage of students who produced disability certificates certified by a government doctor. “In the present system, students who have dyscalculia, dysgraphia and dyslexia can opt for computer science rather than mathematics as a subject. The evaluation of their exams are done separately also ensuring more leniency,” said Ms Deepthi Divakar, a school teacher.
