Karnataka to introduce Common Evaluation Exam for Class 7 from this year

According to the new policy, the CEE question papers for Class 7 would be framed at the state level and the evaluation of answer sheets would be done at district-level.
Karnataka to introduce Common Evaluation Exam for Class 7 from this year
Karnataka to introduce Common Evaluation Exam for Class 7 from this year
Written by:

The Karnataka Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Suresh Kumar S on Tuesday said that a Common Evaluation Exam would be conducted for Class 7 students under the state board, starting this year.

Minister Suresh Kumar said that the Common Evaluation Exam (CEE) would be held for the upcoming final exams for Class 7. According to the new policy, the CEE question papers for Class 7 would be framed at the state level and the evaluation of answer sheets would be done at district-level.

“The Right to Education Act calls for continuous evaluation of every student. The Common Evaluation Exam will tell us what each child is capable of. Based on this evaluation, the children will be taught lessons based on the level of learning they are at. Henceforth, this will be enforced so that the focus can be for better learning on individual basis,” Minister Suresh Kumar said.

Minister Suresh Kumar said that no child would be failed in the exams and the result of the exam would not be withheld by the state government. “For underprivileged children, this would be the best way to determine how to coach them for the SSLC board exams. By next year, we want to make sure that a better way of learning reaches every child,” he added.

Officials with the Primary and Secondary Education Department say that several complaints had come in from parents and educational institutes regarding the public exam for Class 7 students as the state government had not issued any government order or guidelines for the question paper patterns.

The official said that the government has to chalk out logistical issues related to formulating a common question paper and also ensuring that students are not stressed about the exam. The department had initially decided to hold board exams for Class 7 students and this decision was announced in October 2019.

The move received major flak from parents and policy makers. The Karnataka State Child Protection Committee wrote to the department stating that it would put immense pressure on children and that the move would be against RTE. Hence, the department decided to roll back the proposal and hold the CEE.

“There is a need to evaluate what each child has grasped in terms of the lessons that are taught. Sometimes, teachers just end up giving more marks to students in the final exams to show that they are scoring good marks even though some children struggle to understand certain concepts. To put an end to such practices, we are thinking of introducing the evaluation exam so that students and teachers take education seriously. We will also be able to determine the quality of education this way,” the official said.

Education is a part of the concurrent list and earlier this year, the state government amended Section 30(1) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009, which states that children should not be required to face any board exam till the completion of elementary education. This paved the way for the government to initially think about introducing board exams for both class 5 and 8, earlier in 2019. However, this decision too was rolled back. 

Related Stories

No stories found.
The News Minute
www.thenewsminute.com