Bangalore: The State government, has mooted a proposal to the Union HRD ministry to conduct public examinations for classes 5 and 8.
At a meeting with Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday, officials of the State Education Department, along with Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar, mooted introduction of public examination for classes 5 and 8 across the country.
Other states too have proposed the same. Ms. Irani reportedly said the proposal would be placed before the Central Advisory Board of Education for consideration.
Mohammad Mohsin, Commissioner for Public Instruction, said the move would help in evaluating teaching levels. “We have urged the Centre to examine this policy so that students can be tested in two classes. The move will help address imbalances in the child’s learning level and bring in uniformity in teaching levels,” he said. Earlier policy precribed a public examination for class 7, however that was scrapped many years ago and it remains now only for class 10.
Educationists say that ntroducing public examination in primary classes could up the children’s stress levels. In fact, Section 30 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act states that “no child shall be required to pass any board examination till the completion of elementary education”. Experts also say this is also against the basic policy of continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE), which promotes activity-based study and discourages rote learning.
Former Primary and Secondary Education Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri, in a press release, said the move would have long-term implications. The government should consult all stakeholders before taking a call on the issue. He also said experts were against examination being the only method of evaluation of a child. Mr. Kageri said earlier measures were taken to reduce importance of examinations in the evaluation of a child after reports of dropout rate and suicide rate among children were linked to exam stress.
