The Karnataka government will introduce annual assessments in the form of exams set by the state’s exam board for grades 5 and 8 starting from the current academic year. However, no students will be detained basis the reports of this exam.
In a circular, the department of public instruction has said that the question papers for the final exams for classes 5 and 8 in state board schools would be designed by the Karnataka School Examinations and Assessment Board. Exams would take place at a school level while evaluation will happen at a Taluk level, the circular states.
The government proposes to introduce these exams, citing that the current system of CCE assessment fails to draw measurable outcomes of a student’s learning levels.
The results thus derived from the board exams would be analysed at a school, cluster, Taluk and district level to then formulate a need-based action plan depending on the results.
For the current academic year, however, students would be assessed partly through the CCE evaluation process while they would also be appearing for a final exam towards the end of the academic year. Syllabus completed from November to March would be considered for the final board exam the students will appear for.
Both class 5 and 8 students will appear for a 50 marks paper for which they will be allowed to hours time to answer.
This will be a 50-marks question paper of which, students will take a written exam for 40 marks and oral exam for 10. Of the 40 marks, 20 will be subjective and 20 will be multiple choice questions. On an overall score of 100, students will have to secure a 35 mark score to be identified as upto the desired learning level.
The board would design question papers in a manner to allow space for students to respond on the question paper itself and submit it to the invigilator.
However, the state specifies that a no-detention policy would be followed. Should students fail to pass the board exam, supplementary exam will be held. Supplementary classes will be scheduled between June-July for those students who do not pass exams.
For the class 5 students, 25 students per centre and 50 for class 8 would be accommodated in schools. In case there are insufficient students in a given school, they would be accommodated in schools within a 2-km radius of their school. All government and aided school teachers will be roped in for evaluation duty while private unaided school staff will be involved only on a need basis. For instance, in evaluation of English papers, according to the circular.
Vishal R, commissioner, department of public instruction said, “This is not technically called a board exam as we continue our no detention policy. This is an assessment to understand a child’s pedagogical learning gains and losses so as to prescribe corrective measures only. Two supplementary exams will be conducted to nudge the child to take pedagogy and learning seriously.”
