Tool to help CBSE schools rate themselves

All schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will soon be able to judge their standing vis-a-vis other affiliated schools and also gauge the performance of their students.

This with the help of a self-review tool, a computer application called Saransh.

Although a number of schools in the City and State are yet to get the full details of the tool, they are quite positive that it will help them and their students improve on their weak points.

Saransh will provide schools a comprehensive drill-down analysis.

Schools and their students will be rated based on the performance of the students from classes 9 to 12 in the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation and Problem Solving Assessments.

Comparisons with students of class 10 since 2007 and class 12 since 2009, till the present day, can be made with this application. 

All the performance results will be presented in terms of numbers as well as charts and graphs.

Saransh will help schools compare their performance at various levels - national, regional, state and within their school category (government or private schools, Kendriya Vidyalaya).

Schools will be given an affiliation identity and password to access the tool. 

Shilbala Singh, principal, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Ballari, opined that the tool would clear the myth that only city schools are best, by judging them on performance.

It would foster healthy competition among schools of the Board. Mani Meghalai, principal, Sri Ayyappa Education Centre (CBSE), Meganahalli, Chikkabanavara in Bengaluru, expressed faith in the initiative to improve performance.

“Just like other initiatives of the CBSE, such as CCE, this also seems a good one,” she said.

Others like Chitra Rao, principal, National Public School, HSR Layout, Bengaluru, were more cautious.

“Not every school will be happy to put up their details if they have not performed well. It looks like an innovative initiative. We would like to explore more before signing it,” she said.
  Vineet Joshi, chairman, CBSE, in a statement, also highlighted the possibility of extending the tool to parents. 

“As of now, the tool is only for schools and children. The plan is to extend it to parents too. They can use the tool to understand their child’s development and learning process,” he said.