While the Central boards have cancelled Class X board exams and will grade students based on their assessments, this model is not viable for State board students, say education experts who are batting for a school-level exam instead.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar has convened a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the status of the SSLC exam, slated to be conducted between June 21 and July 5.
A senior official said it would be premature to take a decision on whether the exam would be held as per schedule. “If the second wave of COVID-19 infections subsides by the end of May, our exam schedule will remain unchanged. We cannot take a decision immediately,” the official said.
According to education experts, grading students based on their performance in the 2020-21 academic year was not feasible as only two formative assessments were carried out. Many high school teachers pointed out that around 30% of the students have not completed even a single assessment.
‘No uniformity’
Niranjanaradhya V.P., a senior fellow at the Centre for Child and Law, National Law School of India University, said there was no uniformity in the teaching and learning methods.
“We do not know how much of the portion was covered, so teachers are the best judges of their students. They can conduct an exam at the school level,” he said.
He also added that conducting a board-level exam for Class X students of State syllabus would be discriminatory for these students as Central boards have cancelled their exam.
‘Set up committee’
H.K. Manjunath, president of the High School Assistant Masters’ Association, said there was a need for the department to set up a committee comprising health and education experts before deciding on whether to go ahead with the SSLC exam.
Parents, on the other hand, are concerned about the safety of their children. Sushma S., mother of a Class X student, said, “It is clear that the teaching has not been up to the mark this academic year. Even if an exam is conducted, it will be an unfair tool to assess students. They should instead be graded on their performance over the past nine years,” she said.
