All-year round assessment to end rote learning

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced the setting up of the Delhi Board of School Education (DBSE). It was approved in a meeting held by the Delhi Cabinet on Saturday.

Kejriwal said the DBSE will conduct assessments throughout the year to develop holistic learning outcomes instead of the once-a-year assessment that focuses on rote learning.

“The DBSE will empower students to stand on their own feet and prepare students to take responsibility for their country beyond all religion, caste, and class differences. Around 20-25 schools will become a part of the Delhi Education Board in the 2021-22 academic session, after which the other schools will be looped in eventually in the next 4-5 years. The Delhi Education Board will not only conduct continuous assessments but will become a torchbearer for change in education, he added.

The Chief Minister further said, “Our students will progress towards global education. The Delhi Education Board will function in close alignment with national and international boards. The Board will develop world-class education practices that will enable the shift in teaching-learning practices across Delhi. Through the DEB, an age-old practice of rote learning will be replaced with application-based learning and assessment. The Board will ensure that each student’s talent is harnessed, and they apply what they learn.”

“In the present education system, we assess a student at the end of a year for 3 hours but in the new education board, we will assess students throughout the year to develop holistic learning outcomes. Today, the entire system of education focuses on rote learning — this has to change and an emphasis has to be placed on ‘understanding’ and ‘personality development’. The students would not be assessed once, at the end of the year. On the contrary, the assessment process would go on throughout the year,” he added.

Kejriwal said, “This international level board is being created for which aid would be sought from various international organisations as well. International practices and teaching methods have been analysed, based on which we would adopt similar practices and methodology in the Delhi schools under DBSE. High-end techniques would be used to impart education, and for the assessment process as well. The interest, need and specialisation of each student would be taken into account by the education system to provide insights on what courses they should opt for concerning their career.

Education has been the priority for this Government with 25 per cent of the budget being spent on education, he said.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s announcement to set up Delhi State Education Board is a major setback for Delhi’s education standard.

“Standard of education in Delhi with 100 per cent schools affiliated to CBSE is much higher than any other State of the country. This is the reason why parents from several States send their wards to study in Delhi. The CBSE is an internationally acclaimed education board with schools from across the country and several countries abroad affiliated to it,” he said.

Kapoor further said that despite all its claims and publicity the Delhi Government has failed to improve the standard of education in its schools because of which the overall result of Delhi Government schools taking CBSE exams remains poor. To cover up its bad standards education, the Kejriwal Government has come with this idea to set up its own education board and affiliating its own schools to it, he said.