Newspaper headlines in the recent weeks have
focused around issues related to schools and curriculum. One report suggests
that CBSE is thinking of withdrawing the CCE scheme for grades 9 and 10. There
has been widespread resentment at the decision of replacing German with
Sanskrit as the third language at Kendriya Vidyalayas. Parents of young
children still recall with horror the nursery school admission mess last year;
even as another set of parents anxiously await the outcome of the legal battle
between private schools and Delhi Government for this year.
Without going into the merit of these
decisions, Inspire would like to protest at the ad hoc and arbitrary ways in
which decisions are taken by the education boards and the government agencies.
It is time that we stand up against these poorly thought through decisions made
to further the political agenda or pet theories of the so called experts who
have had limited interaction with children in a classroom.
Each decision that impacts what or how children
will learn in school should be carefully taken after due deliberation and
discussion on how it will be implemented and its outcomes. A classic case is the
CCE scheme. No one can quarrel with the fact that children should not be
assessed on the basis of one time performance. But did the so that called
experts think of how CCE would roll out in schools? Was any thought paid to
training teachers BEFORE introducing CCE? Did the experts consider how parents
would perceive it? As a result of poor
implementation CCE has been reduced to ‘project making’. Teachers grade
students on these projects well aware that these projects are the work of
parents or tuition teachers.
At the end of the day each decisions that impact
our children, their education and their future has to be based on current
research, best practices as well as the ground realities in our country. Let us stop treating our
children as Guinea PIGS.
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