The recommendations for equivalence across India’s 69 school boards

The recommendations for equivalence across India’s 69 school boards

Subject: Schemes

Sec: Education

Context:

In line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, PARAKH, a standard-setting body under the NCERT, has submitted to the Ministry of Education an ‘equivalence’ report.

More on News:

• The NEP provides for the formation of a body like PARAKH, and states that PARAKH “will also become an instrument for the sharing of best practices among school boards, and for ensuring equivalence of academic standards among learners across all school boards.”

Equivalence across boards mean:

• There are 69 school boards in the country, including the State boards – some are secondary boards only, some are for higher secondary, and some are common for both – and CBSE, ICSE, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and other open school boards, technical and vocational boards, Sanskrit boards, and madrasa boards.
• The ‘equivalence’ report sets standards for the boards across five categories – administration, curriculum, assessment, inclusiveness, and infrastructure.
• The intention behind pursuing equivalence is not to establish “uniformity” across boards, but ensure that “every learner who enrolls in a school affiliated in any board should get certain standardised, benchmarked facilities for performance.”

Recommendations has PARAKH made:

• In terms of assessment – a student’s performance in Class 9, 10, and 11 will count towards the final assessment for Class 12.
• The Class 12 report card is envisaged as a ‘cumulative’ one, and a weight of 15% for Class 9, 20% for Class 10, 25% for Class 11, and 40% for Class 12 will go into the final Class 12 results.
• These assessments be in terms of credits in each grade, with the student earning a certain number of credits for each subject, for pursuing online courses, and for activities that are part of the holistic progress card.
• PARAKH has suggested that boards develop a cadre of ‘professional paper setters’ –teachers who will be trained to prepare question papers, to ensure standardisation in the assessments in classes 9, 10, 11 and 12.
• For standardisation of question papers, for classes 9 and 11, boards develop a question bank for all subjects offered.
• In terms of administration, PARAKH has suggested that the guidelines for school affiliation specified by the boards be finalised according to its recommendations.
• Boards develop a mechanism to prevent cheating in examinations, implement protocol for handling exam papers, and conduct digital assessments where applicable.
• In terms of curriculum, the boards are to incorporate digital literacy in affiliated schools, including training in coding and cybersecurity, and adhere to the National Curriculum Framework for School Education.
• In terms of infrastructure of the schools affiliated with them, the boards are to ensure availability of basic infrastructure – toilets for girls and boys, internet, library, strong room for question papers, labs, ramps, or elevators.

PARAKH:

• PARAKH has been launched as part of the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) – 2020 that envisaged a standard-setting body to advise school boards regarding new assessment patterns and latest research, and promote collaborations between them.
• It will act as a constituent unit of the NCERT.
• It will also be tasked withholding periodic learning outcome tests like the National Achievement Survey (NAS) and State Achievement Surveys.
• It will work on three major assessment areas: large-scale assessments, school-based assessment, and examination reforms.
• Objective:
  • Uniform Norms & Guidelines: Setting norms, standards and guidelines for student assessment and evaluation for all recognized school boards of India.
  • Enhance Assessment Pattern: It will encourage and help school boards to shift their assessment patterns towards meeting the skill requirements of the 21st century.
  • Reduce Disparity in Evaluation: It will bring uniformity across the state and central boards which currently follow different standards of evaluation, leading to wide disparities in scores.
  • Benchmark Assessment: The benchmark assessment framework will seek to put an end to the emphasis on rote learning, as envisaged by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.