Delhi’s private schools in favour of online exams for upto class VIII

New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI):
Various private schools in the national capital plan to promote students upto class 8 or assess them on the basis of projects and assignments through the year in view of continuing closure of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Delhi government had issued guidelines to its schools for assessment of students up to class 8, ruling out offline examinations and instead, asking them to grade the students on the basis of projects and assignments.
The government, however, has left the decision to private schools to prepare their own schedule and decide on the assessment modalities themselves.
“Giving students up to class 8 this benefit of their regularity in attendance that they had during the lockdown period where the teaching mode was online is definitely very beneficial and encouraging for students,” said Priyanka Barara, Principal, MRG School, Rohini.
“It will also remove any kind of fear towards assessment because assessment is truly required for each and every student. We also believe that assessment cannot just be done only by testing,” she said. “Assessment is more meaningful when it is done on a daily basis, when the teacher tries to understand what the child is learnt through their lesson plans. So, promoting students up to class 8th to their new session would not be a challenge because we are regularly taking the assessment through online mode of classes and the evaluation can be done regularly through their daily learning levels,” she added.
According to Alka Kapur, Principal, Modern School, Shalimar Bagh, “We are living in trying times wherein it is of paramount importance to protect lives above everything else. The modus operandi of the Indian education system has undergone a transformation. Hence, the decision of Delhi government regarding the promotion of students till class 8 is a justified and a welcome move.”
“We have been assessing and grading students on the basis of their assignments, online quizzes, project work along with online examination. Seeing the current scenario, the weightage of project work, assignments etc. will be more in comparison to the online examination. Students will have to judicially use their digital resources to gather meaningful information, develop an understanding and form an opinion on the same, and present it coherently,” she said.