Hyderabad: Most private and international schools in the city have begun formative assessments and periodic tests in the online mode for Classes 1 to 12. Some of them will add these marks in the final exam.
The ongoing exams are for either 20 or 40 marks, depending on the school. Many private schools would begin the annual exams in February, probably in the offline mode.
Some schools are giving 'test kits' to students. The children will have to fill up the answer sheets in the presence of teachers online. The parents are supposed to submit the answer sheets to the school.
In schools which do not provide a test kit, their students are given the question paper online. Students have to write the exams under the supervision of teachers online, scan their answer sheets and send them through an app used by the school.
Whether provided with test kits or not, each student is supposed to send their answers within an hour after the examination is over through the app. The conduct of exams is not foolproof.
In one instance, as Deccan Chronicle observed, a student of Class 2 who was provided the question paper 15 days ago ended up copying the answers from the text book shown by her mother. Students belonging to higher classes agreed that they had referred to textbooks and class work while writing exams.
A student of Class 8 said, "When we had offline exams, most students scored 5, 10 or a maximum of 15 out of 25 marks. Teachers are aware. These online exams have become like an open book exam with students not understanding concepts.
"It's a Catch-22 situation,” said a principal from an international school, “There is no authenticity left and we cannot blame anyone. Parents are not bothered and students have given up as well."
Most teachers believe that over 50 to 60 per cent of the students are below average. If they appear for an offline exam, only a handful will be promoted on merit.
