Telangana to refashion teaching standards
Wants teachers to be trained in application based learning
Hyderabad: The Telangana state government is worried about the performance of state syllabus school students in Mathematics and General Sciences and wants the teaching standards to improve.
To this effect, the government wants teachers to teach as per the requirements of the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation scheme and as per the changes in the exam pattern effected in this year’s exams.
The government wants teachers to be trained in application-based learning to improve grades and pass percentages of students in the 2016 10th standard SSC board exams.
The government has asked schools, both private and government, to take corrective measures so students are taught as per the “application based” mode rather than simple textbook teaching.
It is also upset with lower officials and the School Education department because though the changes in the exam pattern were brought in for the 2015 Board exams, a simultaneous shift in teaching methodology in schools has not been adopted.
“Apparently, there has neither been teaching nor learning on ‘applied knowledge’. The policy shift should have resulted in a shift in pedagogy which has not so far been the case and may require teachers’ training in this direction for the 2015-16 (academic year),” Telangana education principal secretary Ranjeev Acharya informed School Education department officials in a letter recently.
In this year’s 10th Board exams, a massive drop in pass percentages was observed. Pass percentage in Mathematics dropped by 8 per cent from last year while in Science it was 5 per cent. Even those who passed, did so with mediocre marks.
So much so that parents had requested the government to add grace marks for all failed students but the government had decided against the move.
DC had reported that deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari had said that the drop in marks was due to the implementation of the new exam pattern and CCE, but he expected things to improve with time. The government will now also start teachers’ trainings to incorporate the new elements in their teaching methodologies.
“The same pattern will continue for the 2016 Board exams. But students have to keep this in mind while studying. Whatever training is given to teachers, exam performance will finally depend on the students’ ability to apply concepts. But they have to be well informed,”a senior State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) official said.
While there have been calls since last year for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to review the CCE scheme, the state government will certainly continue the scheme in the coming years.
“We should, in fact, strengthen the CCE scheme and it will benefit children,” another official in the School Education department said.