MP students to evaluate own papers

In a novel experiment beginning,about eight lakh students of Class X and XII of government schools will appear for their half-yearly examination and evaluate their own answer sheets after few hours

In a novel experiment beginning Wednesday,about eight lakh students of Class X and XII of government schools will appear for their half-yearly examination and evaluate their own answer sheets after few hours.

After solving the three-hour long question paper they will break for a well-deserved lunch of 30 minutes. The next three hours will be devoted to writing down the model answers and the evaluation scheme that will tell them how to give numbers.

Madhya Pradesh does not boast of a good academic tradition but it has given the state an excuse to undertake experiments like these to improve the quality of education and students.

The latest one stems from the students inability to score highly,which becomes a handicap when they compete with students from other states. For example,very few board toppers from MP score more than 90 per cent,the cut-off benchmark set by many institutions.

The self-evaluation experiment will make students aware where they score less after weighing their own answers with the model ones and knowing how the marks are given, said P R Tiwari,the state Academic Coordinator of Directorate of Public Instructions.

The teachers will carry home the answer sheets evaluated by students,re-evaluate them,and share the marks with students. Of course,the marks given by the teachers will be final. While students will have to use red ink to give marks,teachers will use green ink.

The exercise will be repeated thrice before the board examination by which time,the authorities hope,students would have faced their demons about examination and conquered them.

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The experiment has attracted mild criticism from the teachers body on the ground that students will have to spend a long time in school on the day of examination and will leave them with no time to prepare for the next paper. The experiment was not without its share of teething troubles. The first question paper emailed to principals across the state leaked in Jabalpur two days ago and was available in the market for a mere Rs 40.