CCE in CBSE Schools Implemented in a Hurry

The continuous and comprehensive evaluation system was seen as a big break for the education system in India, but has the change been introduced too quickly?
This question was deliberated by the heads of several schools at a gathering here today.

While lauding the features of CCE, a new system of assessment introduced by CBSE a year ago, education experts called for more focussed deliberations as well as creating robust mechanisms for feedback and training to ensure its success.

“Ever since we introduced the system, there has been a stark improvement in the education sector. The rate of drop out has decreased and the pass percentage has increased,” said Delhi Education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, quickly adding that the system, however, still had a long way to go to attain international standards.

“Yes the new system has done a lot to boost students’ confidence but a lot still needs to be done. We need to explore new methodology through this system. Any policy we take should be in the interest of students,” he said.

The new system of CCE is a new grading system, introduced by CBSE in 2009, in which students are assessed periodically and regularly.  Orienting the students, changing parents’ predisposition, adapting books to the change and training teachers under the new system were some of the challenges that were raised by heads of various educational institutions in the capital.

“Previously, the board exams for the 10th standard used to prepare students for what to expect during their 12th board exams. This was used as a bench mark, now that the exams have been done away with, a lot of students and parents are apprehensive,” said noted career counselor Pervin Malhotra. “Moreover, there are complaints about the system favouring students who are academically just average more than others and killing competitiveness,” she pointed.

Experts also raised concerns about the system being intoduced “too quickly” and stressed the need for all stakeholders to come together to deliberate ways to overcome the challenges that have come with it.

The experts also recommended a robust system to train the teachers, creating a continuous mechanism of feedback drawn from all stakeholders, roping in independent parties including book publishers and curriculum experts for popularising the system and cultural issues pertaining to parental and children adaptations.