Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation a boon to students

Updated on: Wednesday, September 14, 2011

“I enjoyed making this circuit. My father cut the wires and connected them. Now I know how the bulb lights up this room,” says S. Sadhil, a Class V student of Maharshi Vidya Mandir, demonstrating the model circuit he made for his robotics class.

The Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system introduced by the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) involves ‘learning by doing', for students to understand concepts better. Worksheets, activity books and group project works are an integral part of the class. But the activities given to lower classes are different from the assignment and projects handed out to higher classes.

“For primary sections the activities are closer to concepts taught in class. For instance we ask students to cut, colour and paste images of planets on a chart paper after they are taught about the solar system. But for higher classes the project work is relatively harder and involves application of concepts,” says Padmini Sriram, Principal, Hindu Senior Secondary School.

Planning activities for lower classes is more interesting, say teachers.

“Teachers have a brainstorming session every week to come up with simple ideas that would appeal to students. Since there is no standard activity pattern prescribed by the CBSE, we try to make it as innovative as possible,” says R. Maheswari, head of the primary section, Maharshi Vidya Mandir.

Schools say that some students struggle a little even with simple activities such as colouring and marking places in a map. In such cases the parent is called and briefed on how they can help the student.

While parents play a key role in the learning process of their child, sometimes it adds on to their routine. “Students are evaluated on a daily basis and this helps them learn their daily lessons.

On the other hand, it is taxing particularly for working parents like me. I have to spend a lot of time with my son everyday to complete the assignment and prepare him for tests conducted almost everyday,” says Sumathi Sivakumar, parent of a Class III student.

The daily activities and project work also add to their work.

“Projects such as making models of compass or traffic signal is beyond a Class III student's ability. Often, parents end up making these models, and children do not learn anything in the process. Most often it merely becomes a competition among parents to make a better model,” she says. Some parents also end up just copying from the internet and the children learn little in the process from them about the models, she adds.
Co-scholastic areas

Besides the scholastic areas and activities that are assessed in the CCE system, grading co-scholastic areas such as life skills (social skills, thinking skills), attitudes towards teachers, schoolmates and their value systems are core to the CCE system. It is much easier to assess these qualities among younger students, says Ms. Maheswari.

“A student of a lower class once stood up and asked his teacher to be less loud. Similarly younger children are more vocal and tell us if they are not comfortable working in groups. As a result, it is easier to evaluate them as they do not conceal their emotions and opinions,” she says.

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation a boon to students

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