Fallacy of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) System in India

In the year 2010, Human Resource Development Ministry under Government of India introduced Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) Education System in CBSE affiliated school all over the country for classes 6th to 10th. This CCE becomes one of the important features of Right to Education Act (RTE). CCE is a holistic assessment system aiming to develop skills of students in all areas in order to make children stress-free. The system is designed to assess students from various perspectives, intending eventually to eliminate rote-learning and cramming. According to the Central Board of Secondary Education which introduced the CCE system, this includes all relevant aspects of personality development of a student. It further elaborated, education is meant to bring the best out of a learner. Since this is a continuous process, therefore a continuous evaluation system is adopted to check the effectiveness of learning process. This evaluation system includes both the scholastic and co-scholastic aspect of a learner’s growth. The idea was to reduce the undue stress of competitiveness among students, parents and the educational institutions. According to this system, the marks traditionally allotted to students will be replaced by grades. Each number division is allotted a grade like 90-95 – A1 and all. Nothing is perfect, everything has its pros and cons and the same is with this system. This concept of CCE imported from the West is certainly laudable. But CCE is not new to India. This has been in vogue from time immemorial – say Ramayana, Mahabharata periods – which included all aspects of personality development of a student. Though this system has a lot of benefits however I believe that this system refuses students to transfer to other schools after 10th grade because if we take the case of a school which has a very good reputation and is very good overall, why will they take in a student who is from an unknown place and has been educated in a completely different environment as each student is being educated in a different manner now according to the new system? 10th CBSE board examinations assured that the marks/grades students got were uniformly understandable across the country. The new grading system overlooks the real potential of a student. For example – a student has got 60 marks while another student has got 69 marks, they both will be falling in the same category of grade which is a very big conflict of hard work and luck. It has created an equal level between those who work hard for academics and those who don't. This system also includes the clause of ‘No Fail’ policy under which no student falling in the range of classes will be failed by any educational organization affiliated to CBSE. Now, the thing to notice is that if a student is not prepared enough then also he’ll have to go to next class and study, which will deteriorate his overall performance because his basics of the previous class will still not be clear. The students have a casual approach towards exam as the options of re-evaluation are readily available for them. The sense of competition has vanished. The impact of CCE system is clearly seen in our colleges. Hardly students read and write the proper answers. The critical and analytical thinking has almost vanished. One of the significant aims of education should be to produce learners who are well informed, that is to say, learners should understand ideas that are important, useful, beautiful and powerful. Another is to create learners who have the appetite, the appetite to think analytically and critically, to use what they know to enhance their own lives and also to contribute to their society, culture, and civilization. The sense of creativity and responsibility is vanishing from our system. Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) Education System in India is good in concept but lacks practicability. A student must undergo a series of forced upon procedure most of which lacks clear instructions and then are judged in accordance to the yardstick prepared by the system. This method lacks uniformity. It might act as an aid to slow learners but the curious hardworking efficient learners are the sufferers. The role of the teacher is crucial but it has just ended up becoming a formality. Without a commitment from teachers, without proper teacher training and evaluation, with no stipulation of a code of conduct for students and teachers, this scheme may be a damp squib. (The writer is Assistant Professor at Department of Sociology, Sikkim Government College, Gyalshing, West Sikkim and can be contacted at bhattaraibinod3@gmail.com)