No one can deny that we live in a country obsessed with marks, grades, and board percentage. This obsession has reached such a shocking state that many kids tend to end their own life under pressure.
The ugly side of this obsession with grades came to light when a school in Hyderabad put up a billboard of toppers in the nursery, LKG, and UKG. This infuriated the internet so much that many came forward to blame the education system for the toxicity.
But now NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) has come up with a new regulation that at least protects kids in pre-schools from the unwanted and harmful pressure.
As per the new regulation, NCERT said that no child in pre-school should be made to give any written or oral exam. NCERT went ahead and termed the whole practice as harmful and undesirable, resulting from misguided parental aspirations.
The Council that develops HRD Ministry’s curriculum noted that the purpose of evaluation at the pre-school stage is not to label a child as “pass” or “fail”.
While sharing the details of the regulation, a senior NCERT official shared with The Economic Times:
“On no account, should children be made to take any form of test or examination either oral or written. The purpose of evaluation at the pre-school stage is not to label a child as ‘pass’ or ‘fail’”
Also Read: Sudha Murthy’s Parenting Advice For Indian Moms: Don’t Focus On Your Child All The Time
He further added:
“Currently we have in the country, pre-school programmes ranging from those that put children to a dull and monotonous routine to those where children are exposed to structured formal learning, often in English, made to do tests and homework, and denied their right to play.
These are undesirable further and harmful practice that results from misguided parental aspiration”
In order to get rid of the harmful practice of labeling young minds as pass and fail, NCERT has listed dos and don’ts on how assessment should be performed and reported in pre-schools.
Also Read: Kids Reality Shows Ugly Reality: We Are Using Their Age & Spoiling Their Innocence Says, Rekha Bhardwaj
As a part of its “guidelines for pre-school education”, NCERT mentioned:
“Each child’s progress needs to be assessed on a continuous basis using different tools and techniques such as anecdotal records, checklists, portfolios and interactions with other children,”
It further mentioned:
“The teacher should make brief written notes based on observations of children – how and where children spend time, their social relationships, use of language, modes of interaction, information about health and nutrition habits.”
“Each child’s folder should be available for parents and children to view and should remain with the preschool until such time as a child’s transition to another preschool programme or in the primary school. All parents should receive a written and verbal progress summary report of their child at least twice a year.”
Also Read: Schoolgirl’s ‘Suicide Note’ Is For Parents Who Think Child Depression Isn’t Real
The guidelines further detail out the parameters for infrastructure, qualifications, and salary for preschool staff, admission process, and records, and registers to be maintained and monitored.
At IFORHER, we welcome this positive change and hope our education system would get rid of all such harmful practices that rip off our kids from their happiness, confidence, and self-respect.
Do let us know if you are happy with these new guidelines. And what other changes that our education system needs to introduce to let go of the unnecessary pressure on our younger generation.
