With a view to assess its recently introduced Open-Text Based Assessment (OTBA) for Stds IX and XI, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has called for suggestions from school principals, teachers, students and parents on various aspects of OTBA.
Introduced in 2013, students of Stds IX and XI, for the first time, appeared for OTBA this academic year. The section, worth 15-20%, comprises material accompanied by questions based on it. The questions are of higher order thinking skills, requiring students to analyse the situations given in the article or report or case study and draw inferences/conclusions therefrom.
For example, in geography, if the material is on the melting of the Himalayas, students can be asked for steps to curb global warming, among other such questions requiring analytical thinking.
"Based on the inputs received from schools in the form of comments and suggestions, the board will further initiate steps in modifying its scheme and extending it to other subjects and classes from 2014-15," read a circular on the board's website. Feedback must reach the board by March 25.
Schools in the city seem to have given the practice a thumbs-up. "The new system is allowing children to think on their own as they are now going to be marked on their analytical ability. Most of the time, as teachers know what kind of questions to expect in exams, we teach students accordingly. Now, these things will change," said Nirja Vijayan, a teacher at Nalanda Public School, Mulund.
The CBSE has also asked the respondents if OTBA should be extended to Stds X and XII. "The board should definitely extend OTBA to Stds X and XII. In fact, it should be introduced in junior stds as well so that children get familiar with the process. It is in the students' benefit as OTBA encourages understanding and discourages rote learning," said Deepshika Srivastava, Rajhans Vidyalaya, Andheri.
Pointing out the difficulties in the system's implementation, Vijayan said, "The most difficult part is convincing parents. Because the kind of questions can't be predicted, parents are more concerned about how their wards will deal with them in an exam. Children are comparatively more open to the concept."
What is OTBA?
- For introducing multiple modes of assessment to cater to the varied abilities of individual strengths of learners, CBSE added an element of OTBA for Stds IX and XI from the March 2014 exams
- Schools are provided with textual material months ahead of the exam, in the form of an article, a case study, a diagram, a concept/mind map, a picture or a cartoon, a problem/situation based on the concepts taught to the students
- For Std IX, it is applicable to all main subjects and is part of summative assessment 2 held in March. For Std XI, OTBA is part of the annual examination and is applicable to economics, biology and geography only
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