Class 10 internal assessments: Maharashtra edu dept holds feasibility study

More than two weeks after the Maharashtra government declared the cancellation of SSC (Class 10) exams, the education department on Saturday, asked schools to fill out a survey form indicating whether or not marking students on internal assessments will be feasible

More than two weeks after the Maharashtra government declared the cancellation of SSC (Class 10) exams, the education department on Saturday, asked schools to fill out a survey form indicating whether or not marking students on internal assessments will be feasible. The department has also sent out another survey form asking for feedback on the conduct of entrance exams for first-year junior colleges (FYJC), a plan that it has been mulling over the last few days after receiving suggestions to that effect.

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Officials from the state education department did not respond to calls and messages.

Nearly 17 lakh students appear for the SSC exam from across nine divisions in the state every year. This year, due to rising Covid-19 infections in the state and the resultant lockdown, the government decided to cancel the exams and announced the same on April 20. State education minister Varsha Gaikwad had announced that students will be marked based on internal assessments.

After a series of deliberations and discussions with various stakeholders including educationists, schools, teachers and parents, the education department has now asked schools to give their suggestions and objections on the proposed marking criteria for students. “This survey is conducted to know if there should be an internal assessment on a school level and the schools are prepared for that or not. Internal assessment will be based on online classes, WhatsApp-based teaching and assessment, online tests, term examinations, practice tests. Schools which didn’t undergo these processes will assess their students’ performance based on performance if the student is in 9th class,” stated the survey brief. The department has been mulling several options like considering cumulative scores of students over the years, conducting entrance exams and adding seats for junior college admissions this year.

Another survey has sought responses from students on the conduct of common entrance test (CET) for FYJC admissions. “All the aspirants will be eligible for this CET which would have multiple-choice questions. There will be only one paper of 100 marks consisting of questions of all the subjects and the duration of the paper will be 2 hours. This offline test is planned in July 2021 or after the decrease of the spread of Covid-19 in every school following SOPs of Covid-19 break the chain regulations” stated the form while inviting responses.

All schools in the state including government, non-government, aided, unaided, self-financed can participate in the survey and can indicate whether or not they can mark students based on internal assessments.

Schools, however, said forms have added to unnecessary confusion. “First, the government decided that students will be marked on internal assessments. Now when they ask schools, everyone is going to say yes, because there is no other logical answer after exams are cancelled. Besides, this form is widely circulated on social media and anyone can fill it. Why can’t it be done formally through an online portal?” said a principal.

Vikas Garad, deputy director, Maharashtra State Council of Educational Research and Training said that the survey was only conducted to take feedback and the final decision will not be dependent only on the survey results. “We just want to know if schools are in a position to give us details of internal assessments and whether they have such data. If we look at the responses so far, majority of them have said yes. Similarly, majority students have said they will be okay with entrance exams,” he added.