Skip to main content

No More Exams, O Boy!


CBSE has decided to do away with Board exams in class 10.  This is what the latest decision is:

I Scheme 1– there shall be no Board Examination at Secondary (Class X) level for students studying in the schools affiliated to the Board who do not wish to move out of the CBSE system after Class X.
Every School, Sahodaya Cluster or City may design its own date sheet for classes IX and X School Based Examination accordingly.

II Scheme 2 – is applicable to those students from affiliated schools who wish to move out of the CBSE system after Class X (Pre-University, Vocational course, Change of Board etc). Such students are required to take the Board’s External Examination at Secondary (Class X) level.
Question papers and Marking Scheme will be prepared by the CBSE and evaluation will be carried out by the Board through External Examiners.

Wow!  Don’t have to study anymore.

I have been teaching in a CBSE school for the last 14 years.  I have watched the change in the attitudes of students from the time CBSE made it easier for the students with decisions like making the Board exams optional in class 10 and introducing silly policies like CCE which were meant to make every student pass irrespective of his/her merit.  The students took everything lightly.  Only a few students wanted to learn anything seriously.  Those who were interested only in getting on with life somehow (which means passing to the next class, for a student) became a headache for the teachers.  And the teachers’ headache was aggravated by the management which chose to put all the blame for everything on the teachers.  The parents also loved to pass the buck to the teachers.  The judiciary banged its gavel on the heads of the teachers again and again with perverted pleasure by passing certain laws which effectually made the teachers the servants of the students. 

CBSE has done too much damage to the profession of teaching.  The profession has been converted into a kind of prostitution.  Consequently respectable people choose to stay away from the profession.  Helplessness is what prompts anyone to take to teaching now.

What can be done?

1.     Teaching is an art and it requires people who have the art in their veins.  Encourage them by all means.
2.     Do away with the present qualifying degrees and diplomas and tests (from the old B.Ed. to the latest CTET) and conduct a one-year course for aspiring teachers which will assess the aptitudes of the aspirants and then go on to work on those aptitudes after requesting the others to look for other jobs that suit them.
3.     Ensure that schools have proper administrative staff.  Presently those who fail in teaching profession seem to become administrators.
4.     Ban industrialists from establishing schools unless they are subjected to severe psychometric tests and found insane.   [Insane, I repeat.]
5.     Keep politicians as far away from schools as possible.  [Even if they are proved to be insane.]
6.     Keep religion out of the school. [Religion is too sane to involve itself with education.]

Exams won't be required if these suggestions are implemented.  

Am I serious?  I am.  I have qualified the psychometric test for insanity.


Labels

Labels:

Comments

  1. ManiparnaMay 17, 2015 at 3:35 PM

    Finally, someone said the truth! Soon after finishing by Masters, I worked as a teacher for a few months and, I can relate to each and every word of you. "Teaching is an art", couldn't agree more... :-) Kudos to you Sir, for this post....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMay 17, 2015 at 4:16 PM

      It's high time the authorities took schooling seriously. A lot of reforms are required.

      Delete
  2. Goutami NewsMay 17, 2015 at 5:04 PM

    Sometimes I think present system of education including reforms being added time to time also has some subtle planning from in and outside forces to weaken the brilliance of children.Because these are future stuff ....!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMay 17, 2015 at 6:17 PM

      It kills creativity and initiative, though the professed objectives are the opposite.

      Delete
  3. AnonymousMay 17, 2015 at 5:27 PM

    Sir, you have come up with a very important issue with our education system. There is both good and bad side of exams in school. But it has its own usefulness. Eliminating exams on 10th standard (in general) is something I cannot support from the heart. Making students pass irrespective of their merits is something I believe encourage this attitude you have already pointed out - there are students who are interested only in "getting on with life somehow" - and this could affect students' morale and spirit. Will it not rather degrade the standard of education for the coming generations? Because these students might opt for teaching jobs later in their life and what will they deliver when their basics are not strong and morals are not high?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMay 17, 2015 at 6:20 PM

      An unexamined life is likely to become worthless eventually. Especially young people need assessment and other motivation.

      Delete
  4. Online JournalistMay 17, 2015 at 5:49 PM

    Well written sir.
    Majority of the people before becoming B.Ed try everything else like medicine, engineering, etc etc.
    Securing a B.Ed admission / degree or Teacher job is the easiest task in India now.
    Becoming a teacher is the last and easy resort for many.
    One should not become a teacher just by 'chance' but by 'choice'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMay 17, 2015 at 6:21 PM

      Worse, private schools pay teachers a pittance reducing the dignity of the profession.

      Delete
  5. Ranjana JhaMay 17, 2015 at 11:35 PM

    Very nicely put. I agree, there is merit in appearing for exams and passing competitive exams, it may not say everything about the person but it does give us an idea about the abilities of the person...doing away with exams...certainly not a good idea. I think it may be helpful to update/upgrade the syllabus and add subjects like soft skills, and other relevant subjects that will help students...and that is any subject but this practice of doing away with exams will definitely not help in the long run.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMay 18, 2015 at 6:43 AM

      It is beyond normal comprehension why CBSE has taken this decision when the consequences of similar favours in the past have been disastrous.

      Delete
  6. Roohi BhatnagarMay 18, 2015 at 12:16 PM

    As a nation we are running on luck!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Saikat ChakravartyMay 18, 2015 at 12:17 PM

    Very nice points raised in this post. If the issue is stress among students, address that. Instead, policy is doing away with board exams. So now, you have no exams (and supposedly no stress) till the 12th (at least this is true in Delhi), when your life is decided by a single board exam. What kind of logic is this? Also, the way the education system is headed, we are creating a generation of young people who will have no idea what it is like to be evaluated every single day, on every single assignment, in a competitive high stress environment, once they take up a job. As far removed from reality as possible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMay 18, 2015 at 10:18 PM

      This is one of the many harms we've done to the young generation. We've made it too easy for them in too many places. We can expect a future society that will make irrational demands from others, a society of egotists.

      Delete
  8. Lancelot QuadrasMay 18, 2015 at 4:55 PM

    This is not how we would want the future to be shaped as...
    You've raised a proper point. I'm afraid our education system has been degrading due to such stupid rules.
    Also on a funny note, i did like the last line a lot..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMay 18, 2015 at 10:21 PM

      Too many people claiming expertise have brought about this comical situation. If they are sane, I cannot but think of myself as insane.

      Delete
  9. Titas BiswasMay 18, 2015 at 9:10 PM

    I have studied under CBSE Board until my Class X. In fact I have not even received my board exam results until now (but have started schooling under WBCHSE from this year for a few reasons). I never had problems with examinations or the concept of Board Exams.Only they were very scary,owing to my ambitiousness and subsequent exam phobia.I disagree with the idea (err......decision) to stop Board Exams.Already CBSE gives two upgradations in Grades in the Scholastic part if you have excellent performance in two co-curricular activities.This silly westernisation will only hamper the mentality of the students.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMay 18, 2015 at 10:24 PM

      There are many other ways of handling stress and related issues. If a mountaineer feels threatened by the altitude, we won't reduce the height of the mountain, will we?

      Delete
    2. Titas BiswasMay 20, 2015 at 9:03 PM

      No,that exactly is my point of view.
      I do not support this decision. The stress related issue is particularly even more intense in case of me,that is a personal case.
      I shifted to WBCHSE this year because I was not getting the combination I was searching for (Eco-Stat) in CBSE schools here.
      I have seen the attitude of careless students studying under CBSE and it can be very irritating more than anything else.I do not know why they are contributing so much in creating a worthless human resource base.

      Delete
  10. LsMay 19, 2015 at 3:22 PM

    Very good post. My son is in CBSE and what you said about attitudes is very true. A lack of interest, a portion which is too lengthy, clubbing subjects like History and geography, Civics and Economics into one paper, has taken the interest out of the subject itself. All focus is on Science and Maths. And the child is just looking at passing out of the exam with no knowledge. Sad state indeed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMay 19, 2015 at 3:50 PM

      Social science as such tends to challenge students more than other subjects. The subject can be made interesting by relating the topics with day to day life. Exam may not be the ideal solution in that case.

      Delete
    2. Titas BiswasMay 20, 2015 at 9:10 PM

      This is so true.Though I love Maths as a subject,Social Science is no doubt my second favourite and obviously comes before Science to me.Students who are not eligible to study Science go for Science,students who are not at all eligible for Social Sciences go for it.I do not know why Social Science is considered 'duller than Science'.Not to mention that it is not inferior than any other subject people opt to study.And of course,most of them know nothing about Social Sciences,nor current affairs,neither incidents that happened in the past or something that shaped civilisation in the way it exists today.All that evolution seems to signify is how chimpanzees and human beings originated from a common ancestor.This is truly a very frustrating condition.

      Delete
    3. Titas BiswasMay 20, 2015 at 9:11 PM

      This is so true.Though I love Maths as a subject,Social Science is no doubt my second favourite and obviously comes before Science to me.Students who are not eligible to study Science go for Science,students who are not at all eligible for Social Sciences go for it.I do not know why Social Science is considered 'duller than Science'.Not to mention that it is not inferior than any other subject people opt to study.And of course,most of them know nothing about Social Sciences,nor current affairs,neither incidents that happened in the past or something that shaped civilisation in the way it exists today.All that evolution seems to signify is how chimpanzees and human beings originated from a common ancestor.This is truly a very frustrating condition.

      Delete
  11. Teresa RobertMay 25, 2015 at 11:46 AM

    Sir Tomichan Matheikal, You did great job by sharing this well written post regarding education and I am really very impressed with your thoughts
    Thanks
    Professional Paper Writers for Hire

    ReplyDelete
  12. UnknownMay 30, 2015 at 1:09 PM

    Dear Sir, you shared informative post and I think that CBSE has taken right decision
    Thanks for sharing
    Best Cheap Assignment Writing Online

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ayodhya: Kingdom of Sorrows

T he Sarayu carried more tears than water. Ayodhya was a sad kingdom. Dasaratha was a good king. He upheld dharma – justice and morality – as best as he could. The citizens were apparently happy. Then, one day, it all changed. One person is enough to change the destiny of a whole kingdom. Who was that one person? Some say it was Kaikeyi, one of the three official wives of Dasaratha. Some others say it was Manthara, Kaikeyi’s chief maid. Manthara was a hunchback. She was the caretaker of Kaikeyi right from the latter’s childhood; foster mother, so to say, because Kaikeyi had no mother. The absence of maternal influence can distort a girl child’s personality. With a foster mother like Manthara, the distortion can be really bad. Manthara was cunning, selfish, and morally ambiguous. A severe physical deformity can make one worse than all that. Manthara was as devious and manipulative as a woman could be in a men’s world. Add to that all the jealousy and ambition that insecure peo...
39 comments
Read more

The Little Girl

The Little Girl is a short story by Katherine Mansfield given in the class 9 English course of NCERT. Maggie gave an assignment to her students based on the story and one of her students, Athena Baby Sabu, presented a brilliant job. She converted the story into a delightful comic strip. Mansfield tells the story of Kezia who is the eponymous little girl. Kezia is scared of her father who wields a lot of control on the entire family. She is punished severely for an unwitting mistake which makes her even more scared of her father. Her grandmother is fond of her and is her emotional succour. The grandmother is away from home one day with Kezia's mother who is hospitalised. Kezia gets her usual nightmare and is terrified. There is no one at home to console her except her father from whom she does not expect any consolation. But the father rises to the occasion and lets the little girl sleep beside him that night. She rests her head on her father's chest and can feel his heart...
16 comments
Read more

Bharata: The Ascetic King

Bharata is disillusioned yet again. His brother, Rama the ideal man, Maryada Purushottam , is making yet another grotesque demand. Sita Devi has to prove her purity now, years after the Agni Pariksha she arranged for herself long ago in Lanka itself. Now, when she has been living for years far away from Rama with her two sons Luva and Kusha in the paternal care of no less a saint than Valmiki himself! What has happened to Rama? Bharata sits on the bank of the Sarayu with tears welling up in his eyes. Give me an answer, Sarayu, he said. Sarayu accepted Bharata’s tears too. She was used to absorbing tears. How many times has Rama come and sat upon this very same bank and wept too? Life is sorrow, Sarayu muttered to Bharata. Even if you are royal descendants of divinity itself. Rama had brought the children Luva and Kusha to Ayodhya on the day of the Ashvamedha Yagna which he was conducting in order to reaffirm his sovereignty and legitimacy over his kingdom. He didn’t know they w...
30 comments
Read more

Liberated

Fiction - parable Vijay was familiar enough with soil and the stones it turns up to realise that he had struck something rare.   It was a tiny stone, a pitch black speck not larger than the tip of his little finger. It turned up from the intestine of the earth while Vijay was digging a pit for the biogas plant. Anand, the scientist from the village, got the stone analysed in his lab and assured, “It is a rare object.   A compound of carbonic acid and magnesium.” Anand and his fellow scientists believed that it must be a fragment of a meteoroid that hit the earth millions of years ago.   “Very rare indeed,” concluded the scientist. Now, it’s plain commonsense that something that’s very rare indeed must be very valuable too. All the more so if it came from the heavens. So Vijay got the village goldsmith to set it on a gold ring.   Vijay wore the ring proudly on his ring finger. Nobody, in the village, however bothered to pay any homage to Vijay’s...
47 comments
Read more

Dharma and Destiny

  Illustration by Copilot Designer Unwavering adherence to dharma causes much suffering in the Ramayana . Dharma can mean duty, righteousness, and moral order. There are many characters in the Ramayana who stick to their dharma as best as they can and cause much pain to themselves as well as others. Dasharatha sees it as his duty as a ruler (raja-dharma) to uphold truth and justice and hence has to fulfil the promise he made to Kaikeyi and send Rama into exile in spite of the anguish it causes him and many others. Rama accepts the order following his dharma as an obedient son. Sita follows her dharma as a wife and enters the forest along with her husband. The brotherly dharma of Lakshmana makes him leave his own wife and escort Rama and Sita. It’s all not that simple, however. Which dharma makes Rama suspect Sita’s purity, later in Lanka? Which dharma makes him succumb to a societal expectation instead of upholding his personal integrity, still later in Ayodhya? “You were car...
25 comments
Read more