CCE: A mattter of concern for stakeholders

The central board of secondary education introduced the concept of continuous and comprehensive evaluation two years back in classes IX and X and from the last year in classes VI to VIII as well.During the parent teacher meetings and also while talking to the parents many of them have a feeling that the children do not pay much attention towards their studies as they used to do before.This is a natural response to something which has been introduced recently and everybody will take some time before understanding the importance of the new system of evaluation.But there are certain issues that need to be tackled at the earliest otherwise the children who are passing through this transitional phase will have difficulty in future.The university system in the country is following the same old pattern of admission and evaluation. Everyone is aware of the hundred percent cut off syndrome of one of the most sought after colleges of the country.Now  who should be blamed for this, the college or the system or some other agency.It becomes the case of demand and supply and there are so many wanting to get admission in one college,so, what does the college do? I am not saying that this is a good scenario, rather it brings me back to the question should the change in school system not be as per the requirement in the universities and the colleges otherwise the children will face problems at the time of admission in the university/colleges.I am highlighting the concern and the issues which have been raised by the parents either to the teachers in parent teacher meetings or to the head of the institutions and these concern and issues need to be addressed.

As all will agree that the concept of the CCE has many advantages over the traditional method of evaluation because here overall development of the children is assessed.But before assessment the learning process is to be taken care of.Many people ask if everyone involved in the assessment have the idea of the concept of CCE, including the parents?When we discuss about formative assessment then why should this be confined to one assessment only? Because formative assessment is the tool to improve the level of learning of the children. Let us be honest and say whether objective is being achieved, the way FAs are being conducted.The truth may sound bitter to many but as per the feedback it is not achieved in most of the cases.Take the example, when the children are to make a project on some topic and when they are asked what have you learnt from this,most of the time the answer is a blank face.They are more focused in making it is as beautiful as possible so that teacher gives them a better grade.The grade is still more important than the learning whereas the objective of FAs is to facilitate the learning of the children.The parents also complain about the excess use of  Internet because the children keep sitting on the computer for long hours in the name of making the project.In a number of cases it has been reported that it becomes the Wikipedia cut,copy,paste activity.In one of the PTMs many parents of classes VI to VIII earnestly desired the formal tests also be taken and the marks to be added while promoting the children. All that reflects about the acceptance and the attitude towards our new system.

When we talk about the teachers, they do have some genuine problems in its implementation.As most of them have studies in the old system, that is why find it difficult to understand and adjust as per the new system.The schools which can afford and have access to the training programmes are in better position and in those schools the system will start yielding  positive results very soon.But there are many which are not in a position to provide all that help and orientation to their teachers and all will  agree that the teachers have to play a key role in making this change to be effective and beneficial to the students.The other issue raised by the teachers is the number of the students in the class.You will find the schools having forty five to seventy student in a section and with this strength expecting one teacher to conduct the teaching and the evaluation in a proper manner is too much to expect. We should be realistic in our our approach and should not turn a blind eye towards problems that prove to be a hindrance in the path of proper learning of the child.So, if  CCE is to be successfully implemented then more training programmes and awareness programmes must be introduced not only for the teachers but parents and students also.Many schools are doing it on their own but this should be the policy of the board and it should not be left at the will of the schools. The other important issue to be addressed is of the strength and it should be ensured that it is not beyond thirty or maximum thirty five children in a section.

Change is inevitable and is also imperative for the progress of a society or the nation.CCE system of education is an excellent step taken in the right direction but now effective implementation of the same is very important.