JOIN USUndercurrent of discontent amid SSLC euphoria
The State government may be celebrating the success of the highest-ever overall pass percentage of SSLC students this time.
For, the Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system introduced for SSLC this year has come under criticism from parents and other stakeholders.
The CCE gives scope for subjective assessment by the teachers. Students said that a large part of their internal assessment for scholastic and co-scholastic activities depended entirely on the whims of their teachers.
Namratha, a class 10 student from Bengaluru, told Deccan Herald that working on the projects was a painstaking effort for them.
“We had to dig through newspapers and the Internet for pictures and information for our projects. They had to be handwritten as well. This was very time consuming. When we told the teachers that it was too hectic, they told us to take our parents’ help.” Sometimes, the scores depended on how close they were to their teachers, she said.
Namratha is not the only student who felt so. Diya (name changed), another student from the City, passed SSLC with 76 per cent overall. However, she was given B Grade in Physical Education, which she found to be unfair as she was a good runner and was good at sports in general.
Thankfully for her, grades of co-scholastic activities do not affect the overall percentage. The only reason that all of her classmates got B Grade was because there was no PT teacher in their school in the middle of the academic year.
As far as the academics were concerned, they did not suffer as the principal was very sensitive, the student explained. ‘
“Our Kannada teacher was very partial. Our principal noticed this and asked the teacher to rectify the problem. However, students in many other schools have been subjected to partiality.”
‘Poor implementation’
Ashok Kumar of the Bangalore Schools Parents’ Association said, “In my opinion, the system is very good, but it has not been implemented properly. The schools have not disseminated information to the students and parents, because of which they are not ready to face the eventualities”.
When asked if the new system had a role in the high pass percentage, he felt that could be analysed after a year or two.
D Shashi Kumar who represents Karnataka State Private Schools Management Federation found that the CCE had not improved anything.
“The CCE system has not improved anything. Teachers have been stressed because there is too much documentation to be done. They do not have enough time to devote to the students. The content of the system is good, but not the methodology. Children are being used as guinea pigs,” said.