The higher secondary council’s decision to hold a test (rehearsal) examination of 50 marks in each subject in theory papers is forcing schools to make last-minute changes as many of them had already planned their own assessment methods.
They had set questions carrying 70 marks (in non-lab- based subjects) and 80 marks (in lab-based subjects) following the HS pattern.
On November 1, while announcing the board exams in April, the council had left it to the schools to decide whether they wanted to hold tests.
Many schools followed the standard practice of testing the students on a scale that is followed at the board exams. In the lab-based subjects, practical carry 20 marks while in the non-lab-based subjects projects carry 30 marks.
Schools are now reworking their plans to evaluate students on a weightage of 50.
Jadavpur Vidyapith started the test from Wednesday and the students on day one, wrote Bengali paper carrying 80 marks. Headmaster Parimal Bhatacharya said they took a decision on holding the examination in early November and questions were set following the usual pattern.
“Students will write the exams according to the weightage that the question carries. We have to make readjustments to the extent that whatever the student scores, will be weighted on 50 to keep parity with the council’s decision. The school will share the results with the council,” said headmaster Bhattacharya.
The council’s notice on Tuesday says result and subject-wise marks of the test may be kept in the schools and in due course, the council may ask for the same.
Sanskrit Collegiate School will have the questions marked in such a way that the students are evaluated on a weightage of 50.
The school has already printed questions for the test to commence from December 10 carrying 70 and 80 marks respectively. “We don’t want to reprint them. Portions will be identified so the students are evaluated on 50 marks,” said headmaster Debabrata Mukherjee.
Asked why the schools were asked to test on 50 marks only, a council official said since the offline classes have started only from November 16 they did not want to burden students.
“Many students were unable to attend the classes over digital platforms because of factors like digital divide. So several schools since the resumption of physical classes have been busy with plugging the learning gaps. At this moment we don’t want to burden them with the pressure of writing the full mark exams.”
The council in a notice issued on Wednesday said in optional elective subjects like music, visual arts, health and physical education, students would write the theory papers on full marks because they carry marks, ranging between 30 and 45.