The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) wants school principals and teachers to encourage students to innovate and get their innovation patented. During his visit to Lucknow on Saturday, CBSE secretary Anurag Tripathi spoke to Rajeev Mullick on this and a number of other reforms that the board has introduced for imparting ‘stress- free education’. Excerpts.
What steps is CBSE taking to do way with the culture of rote learning in schools?
We are stressing on transforming classroom teaching into experiential learning. I appeal to school principals and teachers to encourage students to innovate and get the patenting of their innovation done. This would help develop a positive eco-system within the school premises that will naturally promote the scientific temper and give an impetus to students to remain engaged in critical thinking, take to conceptual learning and try different things from whatever they learn in classroom.
What should be the role of principals and teachers?
Principals must work as pedagogical leaders, which means they have to set learning objectives for students to ensure a learning outcome- based teaching process. The focus should shift to experiential learning. The schools must look at ways to impart stress-free education with a focal theme on creativity and innovation. Activity- based learning, teamwork and honing communication skills of students is paramount.
How can schools shape the life of students?
Schools must not only make students literate but also educate them. Schools must work on increasing the competency and skill development of its students. Concern for the society and helping them become good citizens and good human beings will do away with the disintegration of families.
Your advice to modern-day teachers and principals?
Children have to be skilled rather than just taught to meet the challenges of the modern world. If students have to change the country’s face, principals and teachers should transform the classrooms into spaces for experiential learning, instead of learning by rote. The need is to focus on enhancing children’s skill sets and critical thinking abilities to make them future-ready.
What are your major concerns?
My only concern is that not too many students, who are good at academics, want to become teachers. They are attracted to other professions. The principals should take it as a challenge that at least 10% good students can be motivated to become teachers when they grow up.
CBSE faces a lot of criticism for awarding 100% marks to students in literature and social studies. Your comments.
There is a mental block among people that students cannot score 100% in literature. My appeal to the country’s best teachers is to write a model answer to a literature question that can help earn full marks. What is the harm in giving full marks to a student in English literature if he or she has written the answer to perfection?
To match your liberal marking pattern, several boards, particularly the state boards, introduced the moderation system wherein even the marks of students getting 85% were enhanced to 95%?
CBSE disapproves of introduction of moderation of marks by some state boards. We have written to all the boards to give up this wrong practice. It does not help. Hopefully, they will stop doing this from the upcoming board exams.
Tell us some of the reforms introduced by CBSE to make education stress-free.
Quite a few examination reforms have been introduced. For instance, there is viva voce (internal assessment) carrying 20% marks even in mathematics. Some 25% of the questions were made objective type. Another 33% of the questions can be answered either in the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ format. Every year there is a training module for evaluators. Teachers’ training is a constant process at CBSE. The board is organising a conference of 1500 educationists next month at Vygan Bhawan, New Delhi to find ways to make learning joyful.
Don’t you think that CBSE has diluted its affiliation policy?
No. Instead, we have made the affiliation process completely online and transparent. Every year, we get approximately 2000 fresh requests for affiliation, 2000 requisitions for upgradation of affiliation and 6000 for affiliation extension. During the process, we find that at least 10% of these (applications) have certain deficiencies. We write to them, asking them to address the grey areas and apply afresh next year.
