EDUCATION

Government proposes new regulator to promote ‘uniformity’ in all board exams

The government is planning to create a "benchmark framework" for evaluating students of secondary and upper secondary.

Updated : Aug 31, 2022, 01:55 PM IST | Edited by : Maitry Kothari

Government proposes new regulator to promote ‘uniformity’ in all board exams

The Union government intends to create a "benchmark framework" for evaluating students of secondary and upper secondary in order to promote "uniformity" among state and central boards, which now use various methods of evaluation and cause significant score differences.

In order to arrive at an agreement on how to carry out the plan, which includes the creation of a new assessment regulator, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has met with representatives of state boards and State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) over the past few months.

Government new regulation for exams:

PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), which will act as a constituent unit of the NCERT, will also be tasked with holding periodic learning outcome tests like the National Achievement Survey (NAS) and State Achievement Surveys.
The framework will seek to put an end to the emphasis on rote learning, as envisaged by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
States are also on board regarding a proposal to offer two types of papers on mathematics — a standard exam, and another to test higher level competency.
NEP proposes to have two sets of question papers for most subjects - one with MCQs and other descriptive.

Earlier this month, the Centre invited bids to establish PARAKH, which it said, will be “setting norms, standards and guidelines for student assessment and evaluation for all recognised school boards of India, encouraging and helping school boards to shift their assessment patterns towards meeting the skill requirements of the 21st century”.

According to a ministry representative, PARAKH would assist in addressing the issue of some state board students being at a disadvantage when applying to colleges when compared to their classmates in CBSE schools. At all levels of academic study, it will create and put into practise "technical standards for the design, conduct, analysis, and reporting" of exams.

The Expression of Interest (EOI) put forth by the Centre further specifies that PARAKH will carry out the sample-based NAS, direct the State Achievement Surveys, and keep track of how well the nation is doing in terms of learning outcomes. If all goes according to plan, PARAKH will run the NAS in 2024.

“Its (PARAKH) team will consist of leading assessment experts with a deep understanding of the education system in India and internationally. PARAKH will eventually become the national single-window source for all assessment related information and expertise, with a mandate to support learning assessment in all forms, both nationally and where applicable, internationally,” states the EOI.

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