Oral examinations may not be a part of Madhyamik 2015

Somdatta Basu,TNN | Feb 19, 2014, KOLKATA: Mugging won't help students pass the Madhyamik any more. The emphasis will rather be on understanding subjects better.

The Syllabus Reforms Committee formed at chief minister Mamata Banerjee's behest is planning to apply brakes on students' tendency to rote learn. Come 2015, candidates may no longer have the luxury of securing an effortless 10 on 10 in internal oral examinations as these are likely to be done away with altogether.

According to sources in the committee, which has started revamping the syllabus for classes IX and X, oral exam is being seen as a deterrent in the path of achieving success. "We have members in the panel who are teachers. They feel that students frequently score full marks in the oral examinations as they are internally assessed. Schools take the opportunity to give them full marks. There is no efficacy in this method. We want to replace the oral tests with project work," a member of the committee said.

He added, "We have introduced projects in classes XI and XII, which carry 20 marks. The projects, even for language subjects, are aimed at making students ready for jobs. They are given projects on conducting interviews, script writing, illustrations and proofreading. Through these, they get a taste of the professional field. We are planning to propose similar changes for classes IX and X." Proper assessment is the reason behind the new proposal. "Oral tests give scope to students to mug information. Students memorize lessons and we do not want that. We would rather encourage concept-based teaching," he said.

The committee also feels that questions asked during oral exams lack clear vision. "Most often there is no logic behind framing the questions for oral tests. Projects, on the other hand, will allow a student to do research and study in-depth," another committee member said.

A senior official of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education said, "Often students get marks without even studying the subject. After the new syllabus is implemented for the academic session 2015-16, we may do away with oral exams and replace it with skill assessment tests."

"Proposals framed within April 2014 will be sent to the government for approval. These may be implemented after discussion with the Madhyamik Board", a syllabus revamp committee member said.