Beginning next academic year, class IX students will be tested through a trimester pattern of examinations.
And the new evaluation system will be extended up to class X in the 2014-15 academic year, according to an announcement by school education minister N.R. Sivapathy at the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) meeting held in New Delhi on Thursday.
Senior officials of the school education department who attended the meeting said the minister, in addition to briefing the human resource development minister, M.M. Pallam Raju, about Tamil Nadu’s progress in implementing the Right to Education Act, also said the continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE), currently followed for classes I to VIII, would be extended to classes IX and X as well.
This would mean that from the coming academic year, the trimester examination pattern would be followed for class IX — in which students would be evaluated thrice a year based on classroom activities and tests.
On whether extending the same system to class X the following year implied that class X board examinations may become optional — as is the case in the CBSE stream currently — a senior official said: “It is too early to comment on that.”
However, sources said the State government is considering a major evaluation reform for class X and an announcement in this regard may be expected soon. Nearly 10 lakh students in Tamil Nadu appeared for the class X examinations last year.
Teething problems
While school education department officials said they were confident of implementing CCE system up to class X, schools seemed wary of extending it to higher classes. “Some schools continue to face teething problems in CCE, maybe the government should wait for a year before taking it up to classes IX and X,” said D.C. Elangovan, secretary, federation of associations of private schools in Tamil Nadu.
The CCE method, a section of school heads said, warranted a lot of paper work by teachers and also meant additional work for students and parents. However, other school heads maintained it was a progressive evaluation technique that benefited students.
“CCE gives students an opportunity to study fewer chapters in detail and encourages them to take exams without fear. Extending it up to class X is a welcome move,” said the head of a higher secondary school run by the Chennai Corporation. Periodic training and refresher programmes for teachers would be helpful, school heads said.
