Mumbai: A proposal by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to include marks of classes 9 to 11 in class 12 board results has put many principals and parents in a state of uncertainty.
While some are of the opinion that the proposal must have some value to it and can make students attentive throughout the four years, others believe that this system may create undue pressure on students.
Expressing that this system puts the onus of being ambitious on the students across four years, Nitin Dalvi, the president of the Maharashtra Student Parent-Teacher Association of Mumbai unit, said, “Competitiveness will demotivate children if such a system is put into place”.
Zeenat Syed, the principal of Podar International School, believes that the proposal may have a varied impact. “While the system can create pressure on students throughout the four years, it can also be relieving because it may take away the accumulated pressure that students feel while appearing in board exams and divide it,” she explained. “We will not know the definite result until we practice it on the ground.”
“Students often take their studies seriously only in grade 12. By introducing this system, students will be motivated to approach their studies with the same seriousness from grade 9 onwards,” the principal of Gopi Birla Memorial School, Madhu Wadke, said.
While some principals believe that cumulative assessment may result in increased marks, others opine that this may result in lesser marks as compared to before.
“Maturity in students comes in later years. Kids mould themselves after they receive feedback and that mostly happens after class 10,” said Angela Almeida, principal of Tilak Global School.
She believes that students eventually become more focused on their future and understand the importance of education in the later part of their school education. “Evaluating students right from class 9th may result in students getting a bad cumulative score, impacting their future,” Almeida said.
Contrary to this belief, Wadke said, “Currently, most students score high marks up to grade 10, regardless of their academic sharpness. Including marks from grade 9 onwards will provide a more accurate reflection of a student’s overall performance and boost their scores in grade 12”.
Submitted by PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), a sub-division of NCERT, this proposal has been taken from a report titled “Establishing Equivalence across Education Boards”.
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The report submitted to NCERT in July this year advises on a holistic evaluation of students’ academic trajectory by allocating a weightage of 15% to class 9, 20% to class 10, and 25% to class 11.
