Help students finish projects in class, says Javadekar

HRD minister asks schoolteachers to stop practice of assigning tasks as homework

Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday asked schoolteachers to stop the practice of assigning project work to students to be done at home.

“Teachers should spend time with students in their classes and help them complete their project works in school itself,” he said, delivering the Ramdhari Singh Dinkar memorial lecture on ‘Sabko Shiksha, Achchi Shiksha’ (education to all, quality education).

The event was organised under the aegis of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. “Project works assigned to students in schools today are actually meant for their parents, not for the students,” the minister noted, questioning the practice of assigning such tasks to elementary school students for home.

Assigning of heavy project work to students of elementary classes for home is common in most schools, particularly those run by private entities.

“The assigned task should ideally be completed by the students on their own, but parents or other elders at home join in to complete the task, as the project works are assessed for grading the students.

The central board of secondary education recently notified the revised rules for assessment of the performance of the students of Classes VI to IX, mandating the schools to assess the students performance in the scholastic and co-scholastic areas separately from 2017-18.

“We have decided to hold five workshops on innovation (in pedagogy) for schoolteachers in this month. This will offer a common platform for all the stakeholders to discuss about innovation in teaching and share best practices with each other,” Javadekar said.

The workshops will be organised in five different cities including Bengaluru, Guwahati and Chandigarh.
DH News Service