Evaluation of pvt school kids stuck in modalities

Officials, unaided schools pass the buck on who should take training initiative

Even though the State government has directed all government and aided schools to implement the continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) for classes four to eight since 2012-13, it is still unsure how to go about it with regard to unaided private schools that follow the State syllabus. 

Private schools claim that the government has not given them any clear instructions on the matter.

S R Manahalli, director, Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT), told Deccan Herald: “It is only government and aided schools which will follow the CCE this year. So far as the unaided schools are concerned, the process is still underway and I will be talking to other officials on the issue.”   

Admitting that there were ambiguities, a senior official from DSERT pointed out that while some private schools were following CCE, others were not. “It is not exactly clear what to do. Which is why some unaided schools are following the CCE, while others are not,” said the official.

A few unaided schools even claimed that the CCE did not apply to them. Some were of the opinion that they could not implement the new scheme, for want of training and information. “The CCE does not apply to private schools and we will be following the system of the previous years,” said Srikantappa, principal, Rajarajeshwari English School.  
      Narase Gowda, principal, Vishal English School, Nelamangala, highlighted that only teachers of government and aided schools had so far received training in implementing the scheme.  
    An official who was part of the team that drafted the manuals for CCE said that he saw no reason why private schools could not implement the system. 

He conceded that there had been a failure on the part of the department to “systematically inform” the private schools on the ins and outs of the scheme.  

“Under the RTE Act, all schools (government, aided or unaided) need to follow the CCE. There is no exception for the unaided schools. If they want training they can communicate to the department officials and accordingly, a training session will be organised. They have to take the initiative,” said the official.      

The implementation of CCE in schools has been mentioned in Section 29(2)(h) of the Right to Education Act. Prof A S Seetharamu, education expert and former professor at Institute for Social and Economic Change, told Deccan Herald: “There is no need for the State government’s direction as the instruction has come directly from the Centre under the RTE Act. Any school that has not brought it into practice can, in fact, be taken to court.”
   The CCE assesses students on the basis of they developing problem solving skills and practical application of concepts rather than the ability to lean by rote. 

This is in line with the State’s plan to gradually adopt the Central syllabus as per the guidelines of the National Curriculum Framework, 2005.