CBSE asks schools to make information public

Oct 30 2016 : The Times of India (NaviMumbai)

CBSE asks schools to make information public

Manash Gohain   New Delhi





Having largely failed to nudge schools towards greater transparency by publicly disclosing their fee -for people to judge if it was commensurate with the facilities provided -the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is acting tough. It has now made it mandatory for all schools across the country to make public information about their functioning under 130 heads.
School managements are protesting against what they see as the CBSE overstepping its authority and trampling on the autonomy of the schools.The order -no longer an advisory -to upload the disclosures on the school websites has not gone down well with them.
In an office memorandum, issued on October 25, CBSE has asked for mandatory disclosures broadly under six categories: general, management, infrastructure, staff, finance and other details. This nance and other details. This covers an unprecedented wide range -from the number of taps to complete break-up of the fee, speed of their WiFi net work, admission results, reserve funds, balance sheets etc. The deadline for completing the process is November 30, 2016.
This is part of the initiative announced earlier in September by the chairman of the Board, Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi. In a circular as early as June, the CBSE had asked for fee and salary details to be uploaded but found that many schools had not even developed a website.
The Board had threatened not to allow their students to appear for the board examinations. In September, the Board had set a deadline of October 31for schools to disclose the in formation on their own and the Board's website.
In the latest circular, the Board has listed the details it is seeking and spelt out that it is mandatory .
“The information shall be filed only online through the link given on the Board's website and is also to be uploaded on the school's website. The information will facilitate the Board using it in various academic and examination activities. It shall also be beneficial for schools to make available information about their academic and infrastructural facilities in public domain for dissemination and wider publicity,“ stated the memoran dum, adding that the last date for completing the process was November 30, 2016.
The most exhaustive of the categories is infrastructure where the schools are being asked to disclose the size of the plot they are located on, area of the playground and even the built-up area. The schools also need to disclose the number of buildings and whether they are being run from multiple sites. All details of the facilities provided to students need to be disclosed.
Safety seems to be an area of concern with the schools being asked to furnish details of safety measures and equipment like fire extinguisher, sprinklers and fire alarms with issuing date, validity and authority , besides safety certificates related to fire, construction, drinking water and health and sanitation in general.
“The primary idea is to make things transparent. Apart from the Board, the parents and public need to know exactly what they are paying for and whether the school is offering all the facilities promised and whether the fee charged matches the facilities offered,“ said Chaturvedi.

Don't make teachers supervise kids in buses, canteens: CBSE

Nov 02 2016 : The Times of India (NaviMumbai)

Don't make teachers supervise kids in buses, canteens: CBSE

Abhishek Choudhari





Teachers in CBSE schools can henceforth focus on teaching without getting bogged down in other duties like supervising students in buses, canteens or common areas like corridors. The central board has told all affiliated schools to ensure that teachers are not such duties any more. The board has amended its guidelines for `manpower on bus' and made it clear teachers cannot be asked to stay on the bus throughout the journey for supervising students.
According to the new guidelines, schools have to ensure that a woman guard or attendant has to be present in the school bus “keeping in view the safety of the school students all throughout the journey“.
A school principal in Nagpur, who did not wish to be named, said, “The nomenclature may change but every school appoints teachers as route incharge. Almost always, her stop is either the last, or second last on the route. This ensures that school students are under the supervision of a teacher at all times in bus. The bus contractor also appoints a woman attendant in most buses.“
Every bus has anywhere between one and four teachers travelling in the bus. Another principal said, “RTO allows only up to four teachers in the bus as passengers, as the transport vehicle is primarily for students and gets a heavy road tax subsidy . So basically these teachers are just travelling back home but we plan the route in such a way that the supervisor teacher alights at the last stop.“
Another task that teachers handle is supervising canteens or common areas like corridors and playgrounds during recess. CBSE has asked schools to stop that saying, “for activities of ministerial nature, transport or canteen for similar related tasks, separate trained staff may be deployed by school“. A principal said supervising children during break time is essential to avoid untoward incidents. “Children can get into fights and things can go out of hand fast. A lot of schools balance the workload by cutting down on the teaching hours for such teachers, so no one can complain,“ said another teacher.
When schools resume postDiwali vacations they will have to implement the new rules. A principal said, “The ground reality is different. So, we will have to work around it. All it takes for the school to be made into a villain is one accident on the bus or one ruckus in the canteen.“

Plan Ahead

Plan Ahead 

 

RANJITHA G





STUDENTS START AS EARLY AS STANDARD EIGHT TO CHOOSE THEIR STUDY OPTIONS FOR THE FUTURE AND PREPARE FOR COMMON ADMISSION EXAMS 

 

In an era, where grown ups attach a lot of im portance to planning and outlining one's fu ture, students are no exception. While some await a sudden realisation to discover their interests, many meticulously chart out their career trajectories.And to get there, they need to start by picking the right degree for studies. Several students decide their course of action much before class 12, which is the time when most of the school-goers gear up to make a decision. Speaking about students who take an early decision, K K Anand, founder CEO of Smart Minds Academy, says, “They need not commit strictly to a course, engineering or medicine, for instance. Students need not be decisive about it.They can take their decision after class 10 exams. But if they have decided, and are passionate about a stream, then it is really good for them.That gives them ample amount of time to prepare for their future.“
Anand adds that he gets students right from standard eight to start training for exams like NEET, AIIMS exam and JEE.
An innate passion for a subject can be one of the reasons for their clear choice. Also, one may develop their interests through growing years by watching and learning various concepts of a specific subject.Jai Sharma, a class nine CBSE student share,“With numer ous career guidance platforms available online and career counsellors always ready to help us, researching about a particular stream and exam has become easier.While a few of my friends manage to study at home, I chose to join a coaching insti tute to help me prepare better.After I complete my school, I take an hour's break before I go to the class, come back home and also get some time to revise and prepare for the next day. I take comfort in the fact that I am already preparing for the future.“ According to Dr S Vaidhyasubramaniam, dean planning and development, SASTRA University, entrance exams need to be more comprehensive.“Efficacy of entrance exams must be in their ability to measure student performance based on the lev els of difficulty of concept.The student's competence should be measured based on the num ber of difficult questions answered correctly. Online exams with certain tools to check reading, writing and listening skills in both English and native lan guages will make the experi ence of entrance exams a comprehensive one,“ he says.
It is common knowledge that good planning and hard work will lead you to your goals. And young students seem to already know this.





Source: Oct 30 2016 : The Times of India (NaviMumbai)

Drop in educational standards after RTE: TSR Subramanian

TSR Subramanian said RTE talks of infrastructure quality but it requires tremendous attention and detailing

By: PTI | New Delhi | Published:October 26, 2016 2:28 pm

Not impressed by the highly regarded Right to Education Act (RTE), Former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian said India has witnessed as much as “25 per cent drop in standards of education” after RTE. “RTE has done enormous good but still there are gaps. One is ‘quality’. RTE talks of infrastructure quality but it requires tremendous attention and detailing.
“But for me even more disturbing thing is that between 2010 and 2014 the year RTE came in, there is a clear 25 per cent drop in standards of education,” Subramanian said. While speaking at a panel discussion, which focused on emerging issues around safe and secure education of children, especially girls, he said giving quality educational environment should be absolutely “non-negotiable”.
“We need a non-negotiable educational environment, I am not sure that this thought permeates within our policymakers in India today. Learning is as natural for a child as eating and breathing. “All the system has to provide is the environment and a teacher, a child will automatically learn. But we have converted it into a very complicated process,” Subramanian said.

“My Safety My Education…MY RIGHT: Making Education Safe and Secure”, organised by Care India, called for a focused campaign and decisive action on the issue if India has to meet the objectives stipulated under Right to Education Act 2009.
Underlining the importance of girl education, Subramanian shared his experience while studying economic development and population control at Harvard in 1975 and said India needs to focus on education with every step which it takes towards development.
“Forty years ago when I was in Harvard, even in those days they taught us that education of a girl child is the key to development and prosperity of the country. But we have not understood it till today. We are looking at the economy and bullet trains but the fundamentals are ‘health’ and ‘education’. These should have preceded with every other step that India took and I see that in Asia so many countries have accepted this,” he said.
During discussion, Subramanian also pointed out the ‘catastrophic’ numbers from Aser’s Education report of 2014 and said it draws ‘disturbing conclusions’ from the educational system in the country.
“Aser report of 2014 has some very disturbing conclusions. 50 per cent children in class 5 are not familiar with class 2 study material. Beyond recognising alphabets they haven’t gone further. After eight years of schooling, basics of arithmetic and calculation are not understood by 50 per cent of children. These are catastrophic numbers,” he said.
While referring to ‘inclusion’ for a healthy educational nvironment, Subramanian said, “Inclusivity is not understood in India. We think that we have schools so everything is good but we do not understand that 70 per cent of children come from backwards classes.
“We have failed to understand that one illness in a family and a child can lose whole year of education. There is no formal recognition of students from deprived communities and economic backgrounds.”
The panel deliberated on various challenges faced by children in different schools — sexual harassment faced by girls on the way to school and home, girls refusing to use washrooms in schools due to lack of privacy and fear of being teased.
“There is presently a huge divide in the way education is perceived by children in urban and rural settings. There are children who are in a better space and yet have a casual approach to learning, as compared to marginalised children, especially girls for whom even the daily commute to school and back is fraught with challenges.
“We have to address this fundamental issue on priority basis as education occupies the central place in a child’s development. Today’s consultation is a step forward in this direction,” said Rajan Bahadur, MD and CEO, CARE India.
Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/education/drop-in-educational-standards-after-rte-tsr-subramanian/

Start schools late as kids need their sleep: Experts

• Puja Pednekar, Hindustan Times, Mumbai
| 
• Updated: Oct 26, 2016 12:07 IST

Excessive sleep deprivation is also shown to cause exhaustion, frustration, anxiety, weight gain and hyper-tension (HT)

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in the process of passing a law where no high school would start before 10am, so that students get sufficient sleep. Taking a cue from this, child development specialists and educators in Mumbai have once again raked up the need to not start schools before 9am.
Most schools in Mumbai begin classes as early as 7.30am. This means students have to wake up by 5.30- 6am every day, which deprives them of the sleep they need to learn and stay healthy.
Experts say kids need at least nine to twelve hours of sleep but barely get six to seven because of early school. As a result, in a typical classroom, most children doze off during class hours and don’t really learn anything, complained educators.
Although many school said that they have kept afternoon shifts for primary students, psychologists said that teenagers also need adequate sleep as they go through puberty.
“Adolescents go through many hormonal changes and so they need more sleep than adults,” said Shalet Fernandes, a clinical psychologist.
Excessive sleep deprivation is also shown to cause exhaustion, frustration, anxiety, weight gain and hyper-tension, added doctors.
“Sleep deprivation is the biggest threat to physical and mental health,” said Dr Samir Dalwai, developmental paediatrician, New Horizons Development Centre, Goregaon. “It can decrease the cognitive and academic performance of students as learning gets converted to memory only during sleep.”
Educators suggested that the education department can adopt policies that will help schools in starting late. “Through school buses and admission policies, we can ensure that students attend schools close to their homes,” said Francis Joseph, education consultant from the School Leaders Network.
He added that the process will work only if the department develops a cluster of good schools in each neighbourhood.
“This way, the student population gets evenly distributed and schools won’t need to run in shifts,” he said.
In 2010, a clause was inserted in the draft rules of the Right to Education Act that primary schools shouldn’t start before 8am, but it was later removed as it was considered impractical for schools.
“In the past, schools followed the 9am to 4pm shift, which was ideal as it allowed students to get enough sleep before coming to class,” said Basanti Roy, former divisional secretary of the Maharashtra state board and convener of Shikshan Katta, an independent discussion group. “The government must think about framing legislation on these lines.”
School principals argued that they begin classes early to avoid rush hour traffic.
“Our students come to school from different parts of the city. We start school early because there is less traffic before 8am and the weather is comparatively pleasant,” said Meera Isaacs, principal, Cathedral and John Connon School, Fort.
Others cited space constraints. “I agree that children should get sufficient rest but right now we have too many students on our rolls and are forced to run double shifts,” said Father Gregory Noronha, manager, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour School, Chembur, which begins at 7am.

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/start-schools-late-as-kids-need-their-sleep-experts/story-GVEqu2SZIoBHLEJpZbeWVL.html

No child to be failed till Class 5, HRD to soon take decision on CBSE Class 10 Board exam: CABE

Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar has said Class 10 Board exam issue needs to be resolved internally by CBSE

By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: October 26, 2016 11:09 am

Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar. PTI photo The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) October 25 has proposed that no child will be failed till Class 5. Also, the states will have freedom to decide whether they want to held back students beyond Class 5.
CABE has also proposed the learning outcomes for every class will be defined and included in Right to Education rules. Also, the RTE Act should be amended to extend deadline to teacher training till 2020. The last deadline proposed is expired in 2015.
Speaking to reporters after the 64th CABE meeting today, Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said that many state boards are already conducting Class 10 exams.

“Since the matter relates to Class 10 exams for CBSE which is under the HRD ministry, we will soon take a decision in this regard separately,” Javadekar said when asked if any decision related to Class 10 board exams was taken today.
There were reports that a decision regarding the compulsory CBSE Class 10 Board examinations, which were scrapped in 2010 in order to reduce pressure on students, are likely to be reintroduced. Javadekar, however, suggested that the Board exams, if they are introduced may be brought in only from the next session. In the education sector, changes are generally made with regard to the upcoming session, he said.
Sources suggested that while there is a view in the ministry in favour of making the CBSE Class 10 examination compulsory, a final decision may be taken in consultation with the CBSE. A press release issued by the HRD ministry after the CABE meeting also mentioned that a presentation on Compulsory Board examination in Class 10 was also made.
Javadekar said that among other key decisions that were taken at the CABE meeting today, was that there has to be accountability of all stakeholders for improving learning outcomes. “We will in the coming days work in this regard and create a system to fix accountability,” Javadekar said.
Another decision taken at the CABE meeting he said was to complete the task of training of untrained teachers within the next five years.
In the meeting it was also decided to constitute a sub committee under Deputy CM and Education minister of Telangana Kadiyam Srihari to look into issues of girl’s education.
Speaking about the decision, Javadekar said that ‘Beti achao, Beti Padhao’ was also the focus of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Responding to questions on the decision to review ‘No Detention Policy’, Javadekar suggested that any change that is made may be applicable only to students of the upcoming batches and not the existing academic year.
In the meeting NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant also gave a presentation in which he is learnt to have disclosed that soon states could be ranked as per the learning outcomes of their school children, sources said.
During the CABE meeting a presentation on improving of learning outcomes, rationalisation of posting of teachers in rural areas, National Achievement Survey, Compulsory Board exam for class X, joyful learning and anganwadis to be co-located with primary schools was made to highlight some of the issues and concerns.
Another decision that was taken at the CABE meeting today was that this gathering should be held more frequently.
In his address, Javadekar referred to the country’s glorious past when its educational institutions were leading ones in the world. He also mentioned that India was leading the world in terms of GDP and economic trade.
Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Pratap Rudy spoke on the need for aligning National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) rationally so that skills acquired can enable pursuit of higher education.
Sports minister Goel said that sports and education must move in a synchronised manner.
Source : http://indianexpress.com/article/education/no-child-to-be-failed-till-class-5-cabe/

CBSE, ICSE and NCERT mooting to introduce Percentile score to give students competitive advantage

Yes, soon we may see CAT, XAT and MAT like scoring in our Class XII exam. The top education councils of the country like CBSE, CISCE and NCERT have been asked by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to explore options of introducing percentile basis of marking for class XII results

By: FE Online | New Delhi | Updated: October 24, 2016 12:24 PM

The suggestion to explore feasibility of percentile was a well thought out since it is nearly impossible to manipulate at the institutional level and and is largely immune to any distortion caused by awarding higher marks. (Representative Image)

Yes, soon we may see CAT, XAT and MAT like scoring in our Class XII exam. The top education councils of the country like CBSE, CISCE and NCERT have been asked by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to explore options of introducing percentile basis of marking for class XII results.
A high level meeting was conducted by the ministry on August 3 on the practice of ‘marks moderation’ and ‘grace marks’ followed by the boards. The meeting was attended by R K Chaturvedi, chairman of the Central Board of School Education, Hrishikesh Senapaty, director of the National Council of Educational Research and Training, Gerry Arathoon, head of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, and the then school education secretary S C Khuntia, who was recently appointed chief secretary of Karnataka.
From the available sources it is learnt that Khuntia suggested that CBSE, ICSE and NCERT to form a committee to develop a sound procedure for marks moderation that can be recomended to all boards in order to ensure uniformity, objectivity and clarity. To achieve this objective, experts from institutes like the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), IITs and alike could be appointed. The point of including the percentile score in the marksheet along with the regular percentage score was also considered in the meeting.
What is Percentile:
Semantically percentile is a number where a certain percentage of scores fall below the percentile. So, a score of 67 out of 90 in a test has no real meaning unless you know what percentile you fall into. Once you know that your score is in the 90th percentile, that means you scored better than 90 percent of the candidates who took the test.
The suggestion to explore feasibility of percentile was a well thought out since it is nearly impossible to manipulate at the institutional level and and is largely immune to any distortion caused by awarding higher marks.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Arathoon confirmed his presence at the meeting on August 3. “This was just a preliminary discussion. There could be more meetings on this (issue). We are not ready to tell you anything more on this at this moment,” he said.
Moderation of marks is a common practice adopted to “bring uniformity in the evaluation process”. In other words, marks scored by students are tweaked to align the marking standards of different examiners, to maintain parity of pass percentage of candidates across years, and to compensate students for difficulties experienced in solving the question papers within the specified time.
Observation:
Students scoring 95 percent and above in their Class XII examination has seen an upsurge in the past couple of years so much so that it rose to 23 times in the past 6 years from 384 in 2008 to 8,971 in 2014 which has forced many reputed universities and colleges of the country to raise the bar for admission.
Very recently, CBSE had come under fire after it was revealed that the Board awarded as many as 16 marks extra to candidates in this year’s Class XII Mathematics exam.

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/jobs/cbse-icse-and-ncert-mooting-to-introduce-percentile-score-to-give-students-competitive-advantage/427896/

Govt may bring back CBSE Class X board exam, amend no-fail policy today

Prakash Javadekar, top bureaucrats to meet state education ministers, and independent experts who are part of the CABE, to hammer out a consensus

Prashant K. Nanda

The CBSE class X board was made optional during 2009-10 when the United Progressive Alliance was in power. Photo: Prasad Gori/HT

New Delhi: The Union government is likely to take a call on Tuesday on bringing back Class X board exams for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) students and scrapping the no-fail policy in elementary schools across India.
Human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar and top bureaucrats are meeting state education ministers and independent experts, who are part of the Central Advisory Board on Education (CABE), in New Delhi to hammer out a consensus. CABE is the highest advisory body on education policy matters in the country.
While 21 states and Union territories are demanding the abolition of the no-fail policy, six states, mostly ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies, are supporting the continuation of the no-detention policy under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. Under the provision, no children in the 6-16 age group can be failed in schools till Class VIII.
While those demanding abolition of the provision are arguing that the policy has affected learning outcomes in schools int he absence of any accountability, those who support it are of the view that the discontinuation of the provision will lead to more drop-out in schools and foster exam phobia among young students.
The HRD ministry is likely to walk a middle path and amend the RTE Act to allow individual states and Union territories to keep or reject the no-fail policy at the state level.
On bringing back the CBSE class X board exams, the ministry may place CBSE’s feedback in the meeting. It may take a call to allow CBSE schools to restart the board exam but with a caveat—the final mark or grade will carry 80% weight from the board exam and 20% from classroom assessments under the continuous comprehensive evaluation system in place for the last six years, said an HRD ministry official, who declined to be named. Mint has seen a ministry note with CBSE feedback on possible reintroduction of the class X board exams.
The CBSE class X board was made optional during 2009-10 when the United Progressive Alliance was in power.
CBSE contributes around 10% of the total students in class X across India. Less that 14,000 secondary schools in the country follow the CBSE board. CBSE runs under the purview of the Central government and is one of the 30-odd school boards in operation in the country.

Source: http://www.livemint.com/Education/SR6AToBI1jzo4Vaffn2YWO/Govt-may-bring-back-CBSE-Class-X-board-exam-amend-nofail-p.html

CBSE 10th board exams to be mandatory again!

The CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) is on the path to revive the std 10th board examinations from 2018.

By: FE Online | Updated: October 21, 2016 11:38 AM

 Rajesh Chaturvedi, CBSE Chairman, who happened to be in Patna on Wednesday informed that the Std. 10th board examinations are to be revived from the academic year of 2018. (PTI)

The CBSE std 10th board exams is reported to be made compulsory for all students again.  The Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) is likely to prepare questions for the Class 10th board examinations for all the affiliated schools, going back to the previous system, that was relevant 6 years ago.

The HRD Minister is to discuss the std 10th board examination with the CABE(Central Advisory Board of Education) on Tuesday. The CABE is the highest governing body  for the centre and the state governments in matters of education. Mahendra Nath Pandey, junior minister in the HRD ministry, told HT that the ministry had representatives from a number of states as the exam still remains optional in CBSE schools. He informed that the majority agree with the idea but the final decision was to be taken at the meeting with the CABE.
Earlier in 2011, the CBSE had made it optional for students to participate in the board exams. CBSE runs around 18,000 schools and has approximately 13,000 private schools, all across the country affiliated with it. Quite a few students in the last 5-6 years have opted for the appearing the exam by the school due to the common perception that schools can make the overall results better.
The decision to make the board exams optional was met with severe criticism back in 2011 as the 10th boards are considered to be the stepping stones for higher education. The CBSe is also expected to debate at length about the no-detention policy, according to which no students till they reach class 8th , can be failed or detained for another year in the same class. Pandey said that the states also remain concerned if this affects the quality of education in the country. All the matters regarding the resurrection of the CBSE class 10th board and the no-detention policy is to be discussed with the advisory board and the concerned ministers on October 25

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/