How prepared are we to implement such a policy
The New Education Policy 2020 states, the current nature of secondary school exams, including board and entrance exams and the resulting coaching culture of today are doing much harm, especially at the secondary school level. Replacing valuable time for true learning with excessive exam coaching and preparation. These exams also force students to learn a very narrow band of material in a single stream, rather than allowing flexibility and choice.
While the board exam for 10th and 12th will be continued, the existing system of Board and entrance exam shall be reformed to eliminate the need for undertaking coaching classes To reverse these harmful effects of the current assessment system:
- Board exams will be redesigned to encourage holistic development; students will be able to choose many of the subjects in which they take Board exams, depending on their individualized interests.
- Board exams will also be made ‘easier’, in the sense that they will test primarily core capacities/competencies rather than months of coaching and memorization; any student who has been going to and making a basic effort in a school class will be able to pass and do well in the corresponding subject Board Exam without much additional effort.
- To further eliminate the ‘high stakes’ aspect of Board Exams, all students will be allowed to take Board Exams on up to two occasions during any given school year, one main examination and one for improvement, if desired.
- In addition to introducing greater flexibility, student choice, and best-of-two attempts, assessments that primarily test core capacities must be the immediate key reforms to all Board exams Boards may over time also develop further viable models of Board Exams that reduce pressure and the coaching culture.
- Some possibilities include: a system of annual/semester/modular Board Exams could be developed – that each test far less material, and are taken immediately after the corresponding course is taken in school – so that the pressure from exams is better distributed, less intense, and less high-stakes across the Secondary Stage; all subjects and corresponding assessments, beginning with mathematics, could be offered at two levels, with students doing some of their subjects at the standard level and some at a higher level; and Board exams in certain subjects could be redesigned to have two parts – one part of an objective type with multiple-choice questions and the other of a descriptive type.
The question is, how prepared are the schools to implement these policies?
- Do we have the Infrastructure, Technical, Non- technical, Practical Know-how to implement these policies?
- Are the Teachers and Trainers prepared?
It’s easy to roll out a policy, how prepared are the policymakers at weeding out any speed breakers that hinder the implementation of this New Education Policy
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