Students taking internals seriously after CBSE made them part of assessment, says teachers

With the CBSE coming up with a revised evaluation pattern for board students this year and a possible third wave of Covid-19 disrupting another academic cycle, students of classes 10 and 12 slated to appear for their board exams next year are focusing more on their internal tests, anticipating that they may be assessed on the basis of these tests next year.

Asees Kandhari, a class 12 student at Step By Step School in Noida, said she was glad as they have time to score better in their internals even if their board exams, scheduled to take place next year, are cancelled.

“With doctors predicting a third wave and Covid variants coming into play, there is a possibility that we too may be evaluated on the basis of our internals. Our teachers have been asking us to submit our assignments and homework on time and laying more emphasis on school tests and assignments. Students set to appear for the board exams next year have started to take even their routine homework more seriously,” she said.

Amid rising Covid-19 cases, the Union government announced the cancellation of class 10 and 12 Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) exams. CBSE’s revised marking scheme gives weightage to internal unit tests, mid-term, and pre-board exams. Many schools had expressed concerns as students tend to score lower in their pre-board than the final board exams due to strict marking done by the institutions.

Nidhi (only first name), the mother of a class 10 student at Springdales, Pusa Road, said, “There is no vaccine for children yet and we don’t know how the pandemic situation will unfold in the coming months. This is why, we are preparing our child to focus on every part of their academics as the previous batch was caught unawares, as they are being marked on the basis of their internals.”

With the first round of unit tests set to begin this week in several private schools, students said they are more serious about these tests than before as there is more at stake. Vansh Arora, a Class 10 student at The Indian School, said many of his friends who were earlier “casual” about internal tests, are now working hard for it.

“Our schoolteachers have been advising us to take the internal tests seriously because Class 10 students this year were evaluated completely on the basis of their performance in internal exams. It might be the same situation next year, so we have been asked to focus on every such exam,” he said.

Principal Tania Joshi said the school is preparing students for any eventuality and focusing on the mental health of the children as well. “These students have not attended classes in over a year and are fatigued by the uncertainty of the situation. We need to prepare them for any outcome. Not just board students but even Class 11 students are now taking their internals seriously because we don’t know what will happen in the future. The existing internal marking by schools will remain the same for the time being as it is too soon to take a call on that,” she said.

Several schools, such as The Indian School, Modern Public School in Shalimar Bagh, Mount Abu Public School in Rohini, Amity International School in Pushp Vihar, Tagore International School, said the revised evaluation pattern had caused a change in the attitude of students who were earlier not very serious about their internal tests and assignments.

Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu Public School in Rohini, said, “Following the cancellation of board exams this year, we had feared that there may be a lax in the attitude of students. But that hasn’t happened. Everyone has become more serious about it. Parents have questions about how their children will be evaluated and whether there will be any syllabus rationalization. We are still waiting for CBSE guidelines on the matter.”

To mitigate academic losses, the CBSE had reduced the syllabi of classes 9 to 12 by 30% for the academic session 2020-21 retaining core concepts. The board is yet to come out with a decision on the same for this academic year.

CBSE spokesperson said no decision has been taken on the rationalisation of syllabus for the current academic session.