No public examination for class 7, says Karnataka govt

The state government on Tuesday officially declared that it has dropped the idea of holding public examination for Class 7. Instead, the Primary and Secondary Education Department will introduce the Common Evaluation Examination (CEE) for assessing the learning outcome of students.

The state government had said that it was considering holding public examination for Class 7 from the current academic year. The parents and teachers were in the dark since orders were not issued in this regard. In fact, the decision met with stiff criticism from parents. The Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights had also issued a notice to the department in this connection.

Speaking to media persons, Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar said that no student would be failed on the basis of marks secured in CEE. “It is intended to evaluate the learning ability of students. The CEE will be conducted in the place of second summative assessment - part of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system,” he said.

The CEE will be conducted at the school level but the question papers for the exam will be prepared by the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB). The teachers of government and private schools would evaluate the answer sheets at the district level itself.

Dr K G Jagadeesha, Commissioner for Department of Public Instruction, explained that for now the students would be tested on the syllabus covered until half year. “The exam will be conducted in March for students of the government, aided and unaided schools across the state. But next year onwards, the exams will be held for the entire syllabus.”

Defending the new evaluation system, the minister said: “There is no serious evaluation until class 10. The CEE will help provide remedial assistance to the students when they are promoted to the higher class.” The minister disclosed that CEE was conducted in Belagavi division on a pilot basis and the same system would be extended across the state. The guidelines in this regard would be issued in a couple of days.

After the completion of the exam, a report card will be generated for each student and based on evaluation outcome, the students will be provided remedial coaching in the subjects in which they are found to be weak.