Falling standards

Falling standards

Class X board results show poor teaching is the real problem.

In a wake-up call for educators, the pass percentage for CBSE Class X exams has slipped after the reintroduction of compulsory board examinations. From 91% last year for the combined board and school-based exams, it has slipped to 86.7% this year. True, pass percentages at Class X level have been falling since 2015. But this was put down to falling learning standards under the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system.

However, teachers were unable to properly implement CCE due to reasons ranging from lack of training to pre-existing systemic rigidities. And combined with the no-detention policy, CCE was blamed for academic mediocrity. Based on this feedback from states and representative bodies of parents and teachers, government decided to reintroduce Class X board exams from this year. Nonetheless, as the falling pass percentages show this was a misdiagnosis of the problem. The common reason why CCE didn’t work and reintroduction of board exams hasn’t helped is that overall teaching standards remain poor.

In fact, the current education system puts the onus of academic success on students rather than teachers. This has led to a Darwinian model where bright students – who anyway don’t need much help – shine while strugglers get pushed to the back benches and everyone undergoes great stress. Plus, there is hardly any incentive for teachers to go the extra mile for weaker students. This particularly shows up in government schools – the Class X pass percentage in Delhi government schools dropped to 69.3% from 92.4% last year. Thus, there needs to be far greater accountability of teachers. Instead of reverting to an exam-detention system which will encourage dropouts among economically poor students, investing in better teaching, as well as identifying and differentially rewarding better teachers, should be the mantra to improve learning outcomes.