Pune: SSC students, parents feel the heat over HOTS

Even as the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Education has introduced changes in the examination pattern, to eliminate rote learning and encourage practical application of maths and science concepts, the move has left parents and standard X students in a fix.

Schools as well as tutorial classes say that more than students, parents have shown confusion over the changes in paper and question pattern. Many schools have even organised workshops, teacher training programmes and question banks on the HOTS (higher order thinking skills) concept.

“HOTS requires students to apply theoretical knowledge to answer questions. Twenty per cent of theory paper (10-12 marks) will depend on practical application of learned concepts, as against traditional rote learning. This is a good thing as it encourages students to learn and understand, and it is scoring too,’’ said Leena Chaudhari, principal of Symbiosis School on Prabhat Road.

However, she agreed that there was much confusion among parents and students over the change in examination pattern. “It is natural tendency and any change creates fear. Until now, we followed one line of studies and the paper pattern was set. Now that it has changed, many parents came to us with questions, especially after the terminal examination, where we followed hte new paper pattern. We are trying to quell their fears by preparing question banks and having special multiple choice question examination based on HOTS to give students practice,’’ she said.

At Sardar Dastur Boys High School too, principal Lily Patel said a comprehensive question bank had been prepared on HOTS. “Parents and students who are not well informed are panicking. We used the HOTS method for 20% questions during terminal exam and prepared a question bank and distributed to students,’’ she said.

In fact, at Symbiosis School, students have been asked to contribute questions based on HOTS for the question bank. “It is to encourage them to think,’’ said Chaudhary.

However, the confusion among parents and students is so high that at a free workshop organised by academy Supermind Prakashan to clear doubts over HOTS, parents turned up in such large numbers and raised a ruckus that the police had to be called in to control the crowd.

“People were asked to pre-register and the seats were already full. However on the day, hundreds turned up at the venue without registration. We couldn’t handle them and the police had to be called for help to limit the numbers,’’ said Manjusha Vaidya from Supermind Prakashan.

According to organisers, those who were turned away were given the numbers of the academy for pre-registration at the next workshop.

“Parents and students have become anxious. This time, they don’t have a set pattern of examination. We want to tell parents not to get anxious but promote learning and understanding of subjects in students and help them understand the concepts,’’ she added.