With The Fungus Gone.

Its an interesting decision. In a country obsessed with point one percentiles and ninety eight percentages its a rare occurence,this one. Its a welcome one. I am not biased against the board exams, I performed very well in both of mine,however I have never seen the point behind both the boards. A continuous assessment however is a tougher nut to crack.It demands that you be on your feet,up and going throughout the year.The change will work only if the public’s mentality changes.the obsessive competition and craze to crack the IITs , if they exist the current situation would only burden the child more.
To be frank tenth standard CBSE boards is not a very formidable task at all. Anyday I would pick the board exams as they are easy to crack.its only the pressure associated with it thats burdensome. the exams as such are not very difficult.
Here’s why..
1. Different schools have different yardsticks to measure a student’s capability.The level of toughness of exams varies. The interest of the school also varies.Some schools are very exam centric,some stress on an overall development and if the performance of the students is used as the standard to guage the school’s strength ,the latter ones would be at a disadvantage.
2.If CBSE is to introduce standardised papers throughout the nation its like repeating the board saga at multiple points in a year.
3. The syllabus is anyway not very great so a grading system would not make much of a difference in the improvement of a student’s learning.
4.the Indian school education itself is marks oriented hence this step would not lead to a coherent relationship between knowledge and evaluation.

It has a few definite advantages though
1. It removes the pressure off a 15 yr old’s back.Experts agree that by far the toughest exam for an age group is the tenth boards because of the pressure associated with it.
2.Tenth boards are not mandatory. they can be dispensed with and they have been. thats good always.
3.it can be seen as the first legitimate step towards a much needed reform of the Indian education system.

However, the Government needs to tread with caution. Review boards judging the competence of school papers is necessary.Even if that were to be the case the schools can always bypass the board by training their students suited to the questions they set.This would exacerbate the situation and remove any semblance of actual learning from schools.infact I feel the government has gone about it the wrong way.it seems to be a top-bottom approach,just like it did with the OBC reservations. A revamping of curriculum,appointment of proper faculty, reducing the work load of children,concentrating more on lab work than rote learning,a change in question pattern,diversity and flexibility in the subjects taught,encouragement of the arts and pure sciences are all mandatory steps necessary.If none of these is implemented and board exams are scrapped,it would only spell disaster.
These are interesting times nevertheless and I am so glad I got my boards behind me!