The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Mixed response to Sibal’s idea

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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Mixed response to Sibal’s idea

Meera Srinivasan

A Principal sees Class X Board examination as an opportunity for self-evaluation

FILE PHOTO

MATTER OF CONCERN: Does the Class X public examination prepare students for more such examinations in higher classes or just build pressure on them? —

CHENNAI: Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal’s suggestion on Thursday to make Board examinations in Class X optional has evoked mixed response from teachers, students and parents in the city.

While many, particularly students , have welcomed the decision, a few teachers and parents think it is very important to hold a public examination for Class X students so that they are “prepared” for the Class XII examination.

A few even suggest that the existing examination system be tweaked a bit to reduce the pressure on students.

Stressful on students

Honorary director to the State’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan wing M.P. Vijayakumar feels that the present examination system puts a lot of stress and strain on the students.

“More often, a student’s ignorance is tested and not his intelligence. This kind of examination system promotes rote learning,” he said.

Though he emphasised the need for a transformation of the system, he said he did not wish to comment on the complete doing away with examinations.

M. Thirumani Vanitha, Headmistress of General Cariappa Higher Secondary School, said that the examination system needed significant modification. “Take our State for example. We have progressive systems such as Activity Based Learning and the Active Learning Methodology. We need a testing and evaluation mechanism which matches that,” she said.

A tricky issue

Terming it “a tricky issue,” Padmini Sriram, Principal, Hindu Senior Secondary School, said that a Board examination in Class X gave students the opportunity to evaluate themselves and also gave them a feel of a public examination.

“However, if you see the issue in the context of the pressure and anxiety of students and parents, one feels that making it optional will reduce the fear among students,” she added.

Even students seem to be divided on their opinion in the issue. Shalini Jeevaraj, a Class XII student of Asan Memorial Senior Secondary School, feels that besides preparing students for the Class XII Board examination, a public examination in Class X would help the students choose their streams for Plus-Two.

“Moreover, I think we tend to take a public examination more seriously and end up putting in more effort. It is useful,” she added.

However, Rohan Natarajan, a second year student of West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, said it was a great idea to make the examination optional. “In fact, I would go one step further and say that at Class X level, the regular grades awarded by the schools would do. In theory, a Class X examination may be believed to prepare students for higher classes, but in reality, it is just an added complication.”

He also felt that some schools made it an even more traumatic experience for students, as they decided students’ admission to Class XI based on their Class X Board examination scores.

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