The Karnataka government has decided to hold the common evaluation exam for Class 7 starting March this year. The state government issued a notification to all public and private schools on Friday. The notification states that the common evaluation exam would be held in the second week of March and that all state board schools must update details of their students on the Student Achievement Tracking System (SATS) website before February 10.
This move has rendered several schools in the state in a fix as many of them claim that the state government has not given them the time to prepare the school children for the common exam.
“Talk of a public exam for Class 7 students started only a few months ago. By that time half the academic year was already over. The state government did not tell us what the students must prepare for. It makes sense if they are holding this exam for government school but including private schools and asking them to prepare with not even a month for the exams will be difficult for students,” said Shashi Kumar, General Secretary, Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka.
He said that the state government had also not given the schools any clarity on the question paper pattern, which is adding to the difficulty. “The government initially said it was for public and RTE-aided schools. Now they are including all private schools. The state government officials told us that there will be two sections in the question paper and the second section will have essay-type answers. Beyond that we don’t know anything else. Students and parents are obviously worried,” he added.
The Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has written to the Department of Primary and Secondary Education stating that the decision to hold the common exam in such short notice, would put immense pressure on the children.
“We have asked them if it possible to start the common exam from next year,” the KSCPCR official said.
Speaking to TNM, an official with the Department of Primary and Secondary Education said that there is no need for students or parents to be stressed and that they had to prepare as they would have for any other exam.
“The only difference is that it will be one common question paper. We have also instructed schools that the children will not be failed. This is being done only to evaluate how well the children have grasped their lessons and whether some of the children need special attention,” the official added.