Technology, not evaluators, will ensure that for the first time, the results of the State Achievement Survey (SAS) taken by 36 lakh students will be processed within a month. This year, students attempted the test on OMR sheets, which are now being evaluated with the help of a software.
The test, conducted by the Department of Primary and Secondary Education for all students of government and aided schools, was held on November 3 and 4. After the exams, the papers were sent to the office of the Deputy Director of Public Instruction, where they were fed into a scanner attached to a computer. As many as 60 papers were scanned in a minute, and they were subsequently evaluated.
P.C. Jaffer, Commissioner for Public Instruction, said the department had prepared 891 versions of the question papers based on the permutations and combinations and on the media and languages opted by the students. As many as 72 lakh OMR answer sheets given 36 lakh students are being processed.
All the papers, which had pre-printed roll numbers and student names, were QR coded. Students had to attempt two papers — language and core subject.
Mr. Jaffer said the purpose of this exercise was to identify the students who needed remedial help. “We also plan to do student-wise and question-wise analyses of the results. The results will be given at the school, cluster, block and district level,” he added.
Prasanna V.R, CEO of Sikshana Foundation, which helped the department devise the technology, said it was done to cater to the needs of government school students. “Students just had to tick the answer. Normally in OMR sheets, students have to colour the bubble — a time-consuming exercise. Besides, during the test, students could change the answers by scratching out the answer they had ticked.”
Mr. Prasanna also said each classroom had four versions of the question paper in order to prevent students from copying.
