Though there have been efforts to revamp primary education by streamlining the system, the State government, it appears, is set to take a retrograde step by mooting public examinations for classes 5 and 8.
At a meeting with Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday, officials of the State Education Department, along with Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar, mooted introduction of public examination for classes 5 and 8 across the country. This has come in the wake of demands from certain other States in favour of the change. Ms. Irani reportedly said the proposal would be placed before the Central Advisory Board of Education for consideration.
Mohammad Mohsin, Commissioner for Public Instruction, said the move would help in evaluating teaching levels. “We have urged the Centre to examine this policy so that students can be tested in two classes. The move will help address imbalances in the child’s learning level and bring in uniformity in teaching levels,” he said.
Several years ago, the State government had scrapped the public examination for class 7. Now, the only public examination is at class 10.
Educationists and academics have slammed the government’s move. They maintain that introducing public examination in primary classes could increase the children’s stress levels. In fact, Section 30 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act states that “no child shall be required to pass any board examination till the completion of elementary education”. Experts also say this is also against the basic policy of continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE), which promotes activity-based study and discourages rote learning.
Former Primary and Secondary Education Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri, in a press release, said the move would have long-term implications. The government should consult all stakeholders before taking a call on the issue. He also said experts were against examination being the only method of evaluation of a child. Mr. Kageri said earlier measures were taken to reduce importance of examinations in the evaluation of a child after reports of dropout rate and suicide rate among children were linked to exam stress.
However, Mr. Mohsin said the test would not have the practice of detention and was only to evaluate the child’s understanding of the subjects.
