‘CCE is more of a teacher-centric system’

We have computer aided teaching. We also have computer aided library as well as language and mathematics labs. We are now planning to start video conferencing between our schools and other schools. With the help of the video conferencing facility we will be able to take more schools in remote areas and urban slums into our fold as well so that their students can also get quality education.

We have a city slums project,wherein we train kids in spoken English,hygiene,etiquette and other things so as to bring them into the mainstream and then include them into the classroom through the Right To Education Act.

The Right To Education recently completed three years of its implementation. What do you think are its strong points and shortfalls?

The RTE talks about a 25 per cent reservation for children from Economically Weaker Sections and Disadvantaged Groups. Before the RTE,we weren’t looking at numbers,but we always had a system for such kids.

Some things under the RTE,such as access to quality education,are very good. Some of them (the students) need special care and only then they can be brought to the classroom level. Some of the EWS students excel and do much better than the other students in class but especially,when they are younger they take more time to interact with the class and engage with the other students.

We received land at a concessional rate,therefore,we do not get any extra support from the government for students who take admission under RTE,except the free uniforms and stationery,which is provided directly to the parents.

This year’s Class XII was the first batch of students to take the Board exams since the implementation of the continuous and comprehensive evaluation. Did they face any challenges or apprehensions?

I find that more than being student centric,the CCE is totally teacher centric. The school managements should train their teachers. That is what is lacking. When that is done,CCE will be understood in the real sense.

We have a testing and evaluation system,Smart Assessment System,that is unique to the school and starts from Class I. It has been implemented just to eliminate exam phobia. More than the students,it is their parents who are tense and worried. They create more panic for the students. Therefore I believe it is the parents who need the counselling. It has taken more than two years to fully understand the CCE.

What about certain aspects of the CCE,such as measuring attentiveness or respect. How does a teacher quantify that?

This is why I think CCE is more teacher centric. It challenges the observation skills in a teacher and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) trains teachers in this quantification. It treats children like human beings but in the process increases work load for teachers. Slogging for exams is discouraged. Teachers and students enjoy the process of evaluation. It does away with the monotony of exams,which is better than the pen and paper system of testing. In the process it encourages a healthy teacher-student relationship.

The school was recently awarded the best e-school. Tell us about that.

My concentration was to bring in judicious technology and we have pioneered in this area. Our classrooms,library and labs are all digital and we also teach our students animation. To enhance reading skills,we are using lexile framework. This is a scale that determines the child’s level of reading. Our’s is the only school implementing this.

We look at student’s attitude as well as aptitude and give it the right kind of weightage. The teacher students ratio at the school is 20:1. We also conduct tests to check the quality of our teachers. There are three tests that teachers have to take,two based on the teacher’s subject and one based on general awareness. For those who may not be up to the mark,there are remedial measures. Just like the CCE,this is continuous assessment for the teachers.