Mita Mukherjee
The Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has asked its affiliated schools to include more application-based questions in their internal examinations and introduce “self-assessment, peer assessment and student assessment, in addition to teacher assessment.”
In the existing system, students are assessed only by teachers in the internal tests.
In the proposed system, schools have been advised to use multiple methods such as quizzes, role plays, group work, portfolios and project work for assessment of students.
The CISCE has advised schools to “embrace the use and advantage of technology,” and for this ” basic infrastructure” must be incorporated into the school system” the council said.
The CISCE on Tuesday issued an advisory to all heads of its affiliated schools highlighting some of the salient features of the Centre’s New Education Policy, 2020 which the council said it plans to implement.
The suggestions mentioned in the advisory are in tune with the “actionable items” listed in the NEP, according to the CISCE.
In the advisory, the CISCE has said that it has already introduced a change in the question papers at the ICSE and ISC levels along with application-based questions that test students’ understanding of concepts rather than rote learning.
The CISCE now aims to further align its examinations and assessment with the recommendations of the NEP 2020.
The CISCE is also working on the modalities to conduct two board examinations, ( one main examination and one for improvement) from 2023 onwards.
Heads of all schools have been advised to ensure that teaching-learning activities are designed such that there is greater scope for interaction, children are encouraged to ask questions and classroom teaching sessions are made more fun through creative, collaborative and exploratory activities for students.
The CISCE has asked the schools to implement the suggestions prescribed in the advisory at the earliest.
“The CISCE has been in discussion with several experts & government officials regarding the NEP 2020 for some time now. The outcome of such discussions and brainstorming is a compilation of actionable items in the NEP 2020, which schools will need to implement at the earliest, if not already implemented,” Gerry Arathoon, CISCE chief executive and secretary said in the 37-page advisory issued to the schools.
The CISCE said that the existing schools which do not have classes below I and Classes X to XII, will have to plan and develop the infrastructure to open pre-nursery clases for 3 to 5 years students and Classes XI and XII for students between 16 to 18 years.
Some of the other suggestions mentioned in the advisory include the introduction of vocational training in a phased manner, introducing 10 bag-less days for Classes VI to VIII and offering teaching of Sanskrit at various levels.