Cancellation of examinations a logical decision, say school teachers

Welcoming the cancellation of quarterly and half-yearly examinations, school teachers say the decision was inevitable in view of the late start of academic activities in the 2021-22 session.

Not enough content could be covered over the last few months since substantial time had to be devoted for conducting refresher programmes after a lengthy hiatus due to the pandemic, school heads contended.

The school education department is indeed justified in taking measured steps for revival of normal classroom teaching, but the scope does not exist for conducting exams with the sparse subject content covered so far, a senior teacher said.

There are indeed concerns that students could turn complacent in the absence of term exams. Nevertheless, teachers by and large are optimistic about doing justice to the portions in the months to come, after the culmination of the festival season.

In particular, teachers of primary and upper primary schools say they are able to breathe free, now that the commencement of physical classes for students from Class 1-8 is set to start from November 1.

The teachers who have been engaging students so far through phone calls and WhatsApp groups have been struggling to cope up with the directives of the school education department on written assignments and maintenance of records of assignments.

They found the task of monitoring the academic performance of students through phones and WhatsApp groups not just difficult, but also impractical.

“It was all about writing work so far; there was no emphasis on the grasp of concepts. The going will be much better much better after the start of physical classes as the daily feedback is bound to be better," a upper primary teacher said.