TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: With an increasing number of students complaining that there is an overload of examinations in quick succession at the Secondary School Certificate Examination and the Higher Secondary School Certificate Examination level, some schools have begun opting out of preliminary exams in order to give their students more time to prepare for the final exams.
Between January and March Class X and XII students have to answer second term exams slated for the third week of January, prelims are scheduled in the second week of February and final exams generally commence in the last week of March. The year the Class X Board exams will begin on March 28 while Class XII exams will begin on March 2.
Of these, marks of the second term exams are counted for final assessment, but the marks of prelims don’t. With the knowledge that the students may not take the prelims seriously, given that it has no weightage, four schools in the state have decided not to conduct these examinations.
However the Goa Board defended the holding of second term exams saying that the term exams are part of the internal assessment scheme, something that was brought in only after deliberations with various stakeholders. “The second term exams are part of the internal assessment scheme. This includes the mid-term and first term exams as well as the project assignment that the student has a whole year to complete. If teachers or students or schools have suggestions on adopting a different method, the Board welcomes these suggestions,” Bhagirathi Shetye, secretary of the board said.
The Goa Headmasters’ Association, which sets papers and conducts prelim exams, said that it is in students’ interest to answer the prelims, as it is a kind of practice for them.
“It gives the student the vital experience of answering an exam and I think all students should answer them,” Jose Mario Quadros the immediate past president of the Goa Headmasters’ Association and member of the executive committee said.
However, teachers admit that given that there are only two weeks between the second term exam and the prelims it is unlikely that students will have to time to prepare for the prelims which examines the child’s knowledge of the entire year’s portion.
While for now it is only four out of 270 high schools that have officially decided not to opt for prelims, that number might increase next year, given that this year many other schools deliberated the option but decided to play safe by holding the exams.
