With a drastic decline in the pass percentage of Delhi government schools students in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class X examinations, teachers said that they were expecting the “drop” this time around. The pass percentage in government schools slipped by 23.12 percentage points against last year’s 92.44 per cent.
According to teachers, 90 per cent of the government school students were opting for the internal exams in class X under the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system, till last year. “CBSE’s decision to re-introduce the boards was like a jolt for these students who were taking internal exams till last years. They were not prepared enough to write a paper having questions from the complete syllabus. This result was expected,” said a principal at a government school for boys in south Delhi.
According to AK Jha, principal of Government Co-ed Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, Rohini, Centre’s “no detention” policy played a major role in the poor results of government schools in the exams. “The policy led to a dismal performance of students till class eighth. It has badly affected the learning level of students. Then in class IX, students are given multiple chances to clear papers they have failed in. That is why they could not perform up to the mark in class X,” he said.
Meanwhile, some principals say that the “classic conditioning” of teachers at government schools led to the bad planning for board exams. “Despite Delhi government’s efforts to train teachers, they are yet to learn strategic planning. Teachers should have focussed on the most-scoring portion of syllabi in their respective subjects instead of blindly teaching everything,” said another principal.
Earlier in February, just one month ahead of the board exams, only 31 per cent students had passed the Class X pre-board exams in government schools. “That was an alarm and we all were mentally prepared for a disaster this year. We work in an acute staff shortage throughout the year. One teacher teaches in more than one school to finish the syllabus,” said a Mathematics teacher.
Meanwhile, officials at the Director of Education said that they are yet to compile the results. “We are still in the process. A detailed analysis of the results will be done after that,” a senior official said.
This was the first batch of students to appear for the Class X board examinations after the CBSE decided to discontinue the CCE system and reintroduce the board exams, after a gap of eight years. Under the CCE system, the board exam was optional for students. The last time the board exams were compulsory was in 2009 when the government schools in Delhi recorded a pass percentage of 89.44 per cent.
