All News Paper has one or the other following headline on the cover page: “No Class 10 board exams in CBSE from 2011: Sibal” “Class X board to go from 2011” “Class 10th board would be optional” “There would be no Class 10 board exams for Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliated schools from 2011”, announced union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal. Sibal said, “The Class 10 board exams would be optional. Students who wish to evaluate themselves (on the board exam system) could do so on demand”. The minister told that board exams would be held as usual for this academic year but a grading system would be introduced along with the usual marks-system. There will be following nine grades: • A1 (exceptional) with a grade point of 10 and a marks range of 91-100%. • A2 (excellent) with a grade point of 9 and marks in the range of 81-90% • B1 (very good) with grade point of 8 and a marks range of 71-80% • B2 (good) with a grade point of 7 and marks range of 61-70% • C1 (fair) with grade point of 6 and marks range of 51-60% • C2 (average) with grade point of 5 and marks range of 41-50% • D (below average) with 4 grade points and marks range of 33-40% • E1 (needs improvement) and E2 (unsatisfactory) are the last two grades. Grading system will be based on continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) will be done in two terms (April-September, October-March). In a year, the school will conduct four formative and two summative assessments. Formative assessment will carry 40% marks and summative assessment 60% marks. Formative assessment will evaluate and grade class work, homework, assignment and project work. Summative assessment will base on the term-end examination. What does Educational Reform means to us? Indian education system is famous for cramming contest and theoretical knowledge. On the other hand this … [Read more...]
Education – It’s all about self-realization!
Education is coined from the word “educe” which means “to draw out”. Generally school curriculum involves study of basic subjects and they are in curriculum for some reasons. We learn mother tongue as it’s the primary means of communication. To get a broader scope of contacts, high emphasis is placed on learning English. We learn maths as computational skill is required for effective way of living. To prevent oneself from being influenced by dogmas and myths, basic knowledge of environmental sciences like physical sciences, biological sciences are required. Study of history and geography will help a citizen to know about the roots of civilization and one’s response towards the topology of the world. The above definition of education is based on cognitive domain. Across the globe, there are parents who think education is complete when someone acquires knowledge over the above. Education is all about self-realization and there are infinite ways to acquire it. It is never advised to starve the psycho motor domain and fine arts domain just in search of cognitive domain. Hence there is necessity for a unified curriculum that offers diversity and help individuals to identify themselves better. Education is all about identifying one’s aptitude and nursing it to make the best out of a human. The art of developing an aptitude is all about encouraging and channelizing the energy of a person towards the life where he has inclination. All these efforts can help the world deliver myriads of singers, writers, sportsmen, actors, directors etc. It is very unwise to expect a writer out of a singer by giving him pen. Even if he had excelled being a writer, imagine his capacity if he was given an opportunity to capitalize on his aptitude. Hence believing on an education that places stress on cognitive domain is like trying to push a square block onto a round hole! Let’s take an instance of one such misplacement. Mr.X was an engineer working for some multinational company. He was in conference to present his talk on bug fixing. He kept the meeting spellbound by his diction and impeccable … [Read more...]