Board Exams for Class V and Class VIII

Why in news? 

The Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) nnounced that students of Class V and Class VIII studying in its affiliated schools will have to take board exams from 2018.

What is CISCE?

It is a Board of School education in India that conducts the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education and the Indian School Certificate examinations for Class X and Class XII respectively.

What is the current move?     

• Officials have pointed out that these examinations would be “application-based and would not require preparation”.
• They said that the results of the Class V and Class VIII board exams will not have any bearing on the students promotion to the next class.
• The council’s main objective is to assess the standard of teaching and thus keep schools on track.
• They also believe that the tests would enable children to take the board examinations in their stride in future.
• They also announced that the board has decided to introduce three compulsory subjects -- Sanskrit, yoga and performing arts.
• Yoga and performing arts will be compulsory between classes Class I and VIII, while Sanskrit will be taught from Classes V to VIII.

What should be done?

• Examination results can never indicate the quality of school teaching accurately.
• The focus should be on teacher training and teacher development.
• External assessment of schools for benchmarking and self-evaluation is required.
• But it should not be in the form of periodic board exams.
• These tests should be optional, non-threatening and constructed by experts in the field.
• No board examination can be stress-free and we have no right to overburden our children.

Source: The Hindu