Chennai: School principals in the city have welcomed the Central Board of Secondary Examination’s (CBSE) new system of assessment saying it will bring uniformity to assessment.
The CBSE in its circular to affiliated schools has announced that it is replacing the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) with the uniform system of assessment and examination for classes 6 to 9 from 2017-18.
Radhika Unni, principal, SBOA School and Junior college, Chennai said, “It is a welcome change. Now every school will know how to assess students. CBSE has given a very clear picture of what they want”.
“Because they have given the report card structure, now every school will have a uniform report card. The child will also be well trained to face class 10 exams. Even in the cumulative assessment, the board is slowly adding the topics studied in the previous term, from 10 per cent to 30 per cent for classes 6 to 8,” she said.
Under the CCE method, exams will be based on the syllabus studied in that particular term. Students need not prepare the topics studied in the previous term. The new system has significantly reduced the weightage given to internal assessment from 40 per cent to 20 per cent.
“Though the concept of CCE is good, it was not implemented properly in all the schools resulting in the lack of uniformity in assessment,” said K.Mohana, principal, Modern Senior Secondary School, Chennai.
“Due to the added emphasis on pen and paper-test, students and parents try to give importance to academics. Under CCE method, we started giving more importance to co-scholastics and gave up some scholastic skills. The cumulative method will ensure that students are strong in basic concepts. So, it’s a welcome change,” she said.
R. Srinivasa Raghavan, principal, Bala Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Chennai said, “It is a move for the better and children will get a grip of concepts if they prepare for the cumulative test.”
"The CCE was a laborious process and it diluted the education system. It also changed the attitude of the children. It will take one year for students to tune to the new system of assessment,” he added.
