‘CCE helped students learn dignity of labour’

She spoke to Quest about the changing face of education in the country as witnessed by her in the 31 years she has spent at the school and how the Right To Education Act,2009,may help change things in the education sector for the better.

It has been three years since the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system was introduced in schools,do you think the stakeholders have understood the concept?

Understanding CCE was initially a little difficult but with the help of workshops conducted by CBSE at different times and the hard work of all those involved,we were able to understand and implement it. The paperwork has obviously increased but teachers are ready to take up that load for the sake of students.

Teachers and parents feel that the creative ability of students have increased owing to CCE as it encourages them to think out of the box. They are taught about dignity of labour through activities within the school and enjoy and learn from the small jobs like painting a fence. They also appreciate people around them who do these jobs for them.

CBSE is also planning to add a section called the problem-solving ability to the CCE. How do you think will it go with the students?

Under the CCE something or the other is being added or subtracted all the time. Some children tend to take it lightly but there is so much to learn from even a small addition like this. It’s a good start to address the bigger problems in life. We already have a section on value-derivation based on a paragraph in textbooks. Here we ask students to read and comprehend the meaning and tell us what values the text may convey. We even grade them for their social and emotional skills. The change from the traditional pen-and-paper examination system to CCE was gradual and smooth for everyone I believe.

An argument made by those against the idea of CCE is that it promotes an upward clutter by not failing students and as most of it is subjective,the perceptions of the teacher may influence the overall scores of a child. Would you agree?

In the first year of CCE,no student could be failed but eventually I think the policymakers saw the flaw in this step. Now,only students with an “E” grade are failed and given a single chance for grade improvement within a month of the announcement of final results. If the student clears that,he is promoted. Otherwise he has to repeat a year.

We do not help the children in terms of improving their grades by giving them more marks,we only grade them based on his/her capabilities other than just writing exams. In the last three years no parent has ever come up to us and said that they would want their children to take the exams in the traditional fashion. They know that their children are gaining.

CCE is extremely useful for children who are generally weak in studies. If he/she can’t get a great score in maths,there are other things they can do to improve their overall grade. Although,colleges in the country provide admissions based on percentage and not grades,a student’s first brush with an examination system is only in Class XII.

What is your take on board results being taken into consideration for single-entrance exam proposed for admissions to the IITs and medical colleges?

See it’s a policy decision that the government has to take. Schools will not be able to help much if colleges keep such high cut-offs. Even 90 to 95 per cent holders struggle to find a seat in a college of their choice.

School scores being considered for IITs and other engineering colleges is a welcome decision because children now pay more attention to their studies and would not miss school altogether. Earlier,even if they came to school,it was only for attendance sake,many students skipped school for their coaching classes. But with the introduction of this new rule,they will now take classes more seriously.