The Central Board of Secondary Education, as part of its measures to popularise the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system in schools, has now reached out to parents.
According to a note put up on CBSE's website, the Board would like to initiate training of “parent advocates” to develop a band of parents trained in the different aspects of implementing the CCE. Parents of students studying in the schools affiliated to CBSE can apply by submitting an application online. The selected parents will be contacted by the CBSE.
After the CCE was introduced for class IX in the last academic year, schools voiced some concerns in carrying out the “formative” and “summative” assessments. The Board is currently in the process of reviewing the feedback it has received from various quarters, according to its chairman Vineet Joshi.
“The feedback has largely been positive,” he said, during his visit to Chennai recently. The CCE was aimed at bringing down the pressure, and not increasing it, he added. However, the pressure level seems to be quite high among students, say parents. “My son invariably has a test everyday – be it one for 10 marks or 20 marks. He says his teacher is in a hurry to cover the syllabus and is not spending enough time teaching concepts,” says a parent of a class IX student going to a CBSE school in Adyar.
Herself a lecturer in a city college, she says that it is possible that even teachers find it really hard, since correcting so many answer sheets and preparing detailed feedback could be a stressful exercise.
During PTA meetings, much of the time is spent giving each parent feedback about their ward, and there is little time to discuss the CCE as a system. In that context, the CBSE's decision to train parents is welcome, she adds.
C. Satish, Senior Principal, R.M.K. Group of Schools, also feels that as stakeholders, equipping parents with knowledge of how the CCE works would be very helpful. “It will take us a couple of years to adapt to any major reform. The Board initially trained principals and teachers. Now, if parents also get a sense of the CCE, it will help all of us have more clarity,” he said.
