The Hindu : Kerala News : Plea to reconsider decision on grading system

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Saturday, Sep 04, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Plea to reconsider decision on grading system

By Our Special Correspondent

KOZHIKODE SEPT. 3. The former Education Minister, P.J. Joseph and spokesmen of the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) today appealed to the Government to reconsider its decision to abandon the grading system of evaluation for SSLC examination. The appeals were made at separate press conferences.

The Government had, in an order issued on August 31, restored the valuation system followed in schools and withdrawn the grading system that was introduced recently.

Call for protest

The KSSP spokesmen called for strong public protests against the decision.

The Government had defended its decision saying that the students and parents had fears over the grading system.

At the press conference, the KSSP spokesmen, K. Papputty and K.K. Sivadasan, said the fear that the Government spoke about was confined to the teachers of unaided schools. These teachers had not been imparted training to follow the new system, they said.

New order

The new order, besides restoring the existing system, envisages an examination carrying 650 marks in aggregate in 13 subjects, including a new one - Information Technology.

The Government had two years ago, indicated in an order that it intended to introduce the grading system. In February this year, another order introducing the system was issued. The Parishad spokesmen alleged that the Government had failed in the intervening two years to convince the public about the need to change over to the grading system.

Teachers' demand

Mr. Papputty said that neither teachers nor students had disagreed with the basic principles of the grading system. The lone demand made by teachers was that the marks scored should be given along with the grade, he said.

He said that going back to the old system would be difficult for those who had already been given training in the grading system. These students had been given training till the end of the first term in standard I to X.

Mr. Papputty was of the view that new textbooks and handbooks were not compatible with the old examination system in which stress was on testing memory.

Work on projects, experiments and seminar papers conducted by the students in the first term of the academic year had been rendered exercises in futility by the decision to revert to the old system, Mr. Papputty said.

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