– How Non-Implementation of Education Policies is impacting the Education System
By Vansh Saluja
The Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation Policy was introduced as a landmark piece of legislation to do away with the traditional styles of teaching and introducing a new system of evaluation in the CBSE-affiliated schools. This included doing away of the ‘Marks’ system and replacing it with a grading system which were to be evaluated through a series of extra-curricular activities along with academics. This ambitious piece of legislation sought to reduce stress levels of students by easing off the academic pressure and scrapping of the Board Exams in Class Xth. The objective was also to evaluate the students’ holistic development during their presence in school by evaluating their overall performance in other activities which brought out their talents like team-work, public speaking, innovation, behavior, work ethics etc. The policy was aimed to help students who were not good at academics to show/develop their talents in other fields like Music, Dance, Debating, Sports, Arts etc.
However, as unfortunate as it may sound, this ambitious policy has failed to benefit its real beneficiaries and we owe its non-delivery to its half-hearted implementation and absence of adequate checks and balances within the CCE apparatus. A close analysis of this year’s result (Academic Session 2013-14) reveals that students who got the highest marks (10 CGPA) are the most in number (76,900). The Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) is the average of grade points obtained in all subjects (excluding the 6th subject). A 10 CGPA approximately represents 95% in marks terms. According to an analysis, the second most populous (of the possible 31 categories) is CGPA 6.6.
The exorbitantly high number of CGPAs is symptomatic to the lenient marking schemes and every school’s effort to get the most number of students with a 10 CGPA. The more the students with ‘highest marks’, the more the schools can advertise and market themselves. It’s nobody’s guess then as to why the newspapers are filled with school advertisements carrying pictures of their students scoring a 10 CGPA following the results. The schools in such cases do not act as “Non-profit organizations” as mandated by law but as Companies marketing their products, which sadly in this case are students. The taglines which carry along with these advertisements like “XYZ School- Excellence in Education since ‘N’ number of years” proves their intention to market themselves under the garb of ‘Excellent Results’.
No sane person can buy the argument that there’s no manipulation in the results by schools and the marks/Grade Points obtained by students are actually reflective of their true intellect or caliber because had this been the case, there would’ve been a proportionate rise in the number of students securing >=95% in the 12th Board Examinations but while the number of 10 CGPA holders stands at 76,900; the number of students securing >=95% in 12th Boards stands at 8,971 this year. The manipulation of results by schools is hampering those students the most for which the CCE policy was really intended. The absence of adequate checks and balances within the system and giving a ‘free-hand’ to schools in allotting marks is one of the reasons leading to this problem. This does not end here. Under the CCE scheme, students are forced to do activities as part of their ‘Formative Assessments’ which both students and teachers term as “time wasting”. “The activities which amount for a significant portion of marks have no relevance whatsoever. Most of the time it is just plain art and craftwork, we have to print wikipedia pages and images which are just a waste of time, money, paper and other resources” says Prateek Swain, a Delhi-based Student. Another student says, “The ground reality is that students complete them (activities under Formative Assessment) just for the sake of it, and as it is there is no learning associated with such tasks. Activities which help students to be more “creative” like writing skills, debate, group discussions, research etc having enormous scope for ‘self expression’ are generally overlooked. And from personal experience, I can say that CCE has been reduced to merely a burden.”
As a concerned citizen and someone who’s been quite vocal of Educational reforms in the past, I wrote a letter to the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Smt. Smriti Irani on 6th June explaining her how ‘good’ policies like the CCE are being ruined because of non-implementation. Following up my letter, I met her at her Lodhi Garden residence on 12th June to submit her the letter in person along with a 6-page Communique Document containing suggestions sent to me by Students and Teachers. The Union HRD Minister indicated that they’re under process of bringing a New Education Policy. She gave a time-frame of 2-3 Months for the New Education Policy to be finalized. Meanwhile, she has invited all the stakeholders concerned to take part in the to-be organized Debates and Seminars for suggesting things to be included in the New Education Policy.The minister said that consultations will be held with all the States and their views taken into account for finalizing the Policy. She added that the Suggestions on the New Education Policy will also be taken online on the MHRD Website on a separate form and the ministry’s E-Mail id.
It’s not a new phenomenon for the New Governments to introduce a fresh Education Policy. We had the National Curriculum Framework come up in 2005 after the UPA came in power 10 years back. Although, I welcome the announcement of a New Education Policy by the HRD ministry and appreciate that all the stakeholders would be consulted but my only concern lies with the ‘implementation’ part. CCE seemed to be a very comprehensive policy but it was ruined because of non-implementation. A lot of problems would be solved if the CCE policy is implemented correctly but nonetheless a completely new Education Policy is also welcomed. The New government must ensure that “Comprehensive” Policies are followed up with effective implementation.