Speaking to Education Times, Ved Prakash Yadav, Vice-Chairman, Board of School Education Haryana (BSEH) says, “The Central Government amended the Right to Education Act (RTE) 2009 on January 11, 2019, stating that There will be regular examinations. Held every year at the end of classes V and VIII. As per the amendment in the Central Act, Haryana Government has also amended the Haryana Children’s Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2011 to introduce board examination for classes V and VIII in all recognized private and government schools in the state. The government has taken this decision to improve the educational standards in the state. The Haryana Board was conducting the board exams for class 5th and 8th even before the existence of RTE 2009.
The officials felt that in the absence of board exams for classes V and VIII, there was no academic check in the primary and middle level classes, leading to a drop in academic standards. Even CBSE introduced Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) in 2009, stating that both school and board exams would be conducted. “In the examinations conducted by the school, the question paper came from the board but internal assessment was done by the school teachers. Surprisingly, not a single student failed in most of the schools. Taking a cue from this, we decided to re-introduce board examinations for a fair assessment of student performance in all categories of schools,” says Yadav, adding that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 will include census evaluation (largely evaluation) is emphasized. End of Class III, V and VIII.
As per the RTE Act, it is the prerogative of the state government to provide education up to primary school. So, as per the Haryana School Education Rules 2003, all schools that are recognized by the state government are required to follow the syllabus recommended by the state government for classes VIII and below, says Yadav.
Haryana Board Schools union leader Ajmer Singh says, “The decision to hold board exams for class V and VIII is not the right move. This will put additional burden of performance on the students amid the pandemic. Due to COVID, students cannot study.” Because the entire process of teaching learning is online and board exams will be an added stress for them. There are many instances where the syllabus is not completed.”
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