Delhi Deputy Chief minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, said that as per the new guidelines issued by the Directorate of Education (DoE), students will not just be evaluated on the basis of curricular knowledge, but rather on their ability to apply their understanding in a variety of real-life situations.
Government officials said these guidelines will not be mandatory for private schools since not all of them offer the mindset curricula.
To be sure, the assessment will have no bearing — in the form of weightage marks or otherwise — on the promotion of the student to the higher class.
Sisodia stressed that in order to prepare students for the challenges of a world driven by information technology and to maximise their innate potential, schools must prioritise competency based learning.
Besides scholastic and co-scholastic activities, assessment of mindset curricula will also be introduced in line with the National Education Policy of 2020 (NEP 2020).
According to the new guidelines, students of classes 3-8 will be assessed on Happiness and Deshbhakti curricula, while students of class 9 and class 11 will be assessed on Deshbhakti and Entrepreneurship Mindset curricula. Students of class 11 will have an additional criterion for assessment based on their participation in the Business Blasters programme.
The content of these curricula will not be the basis of assessment — rather it will be the ability of students to apply their understanding and express the same in different situations. A portfolio component has also been introduced.
Sudha Acharya, chairperson of the National Progressive School Conference (NPSC), which has over 120 Delhi schools as members, said it was for the first time that the government has introduced guidelines for assessing students of classes 3 to 8.
Also, as per the fresh guidelines, a student shall not be eligible to appear for the class 10 boards unless she has passed the third language in class 8.
In addition, question papers will be set in a manner where students will have to answer questions based on the application of concepts of this curriculum in real-life/unfamiliar situations.
As per the new assessment guidelines of the Directorate of Education, in the academic session 2022-23, the mid-term examination will be conducted in September/October and Common Annual School Examination (CASE) will be conducted in February/March. The question papers for the mid-term examination will be set out of the syllabus supposed to be covered up to the midterm exam.
The result of each examination will be analysed and difficult topics/chapters in different subjects will be identified for arranging the remedial and enrichment programmes.
A summary of the analysis of class-wise and subject-wise results shall be prepared and kept on record to serve as an input to academic enrichment and remedial purposes.
Examinations will be conducted in such a manner that chances of copying, favouritism, injustice and victimisation shall be reduced to the minimum.
