Schools caught in no man's land over assessment test

JAIPUR: English medium private schools affiliated to the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) are in a fix over compulsory Class VIII 'uniform assessment test' scheduled in February .
Most schools have neither received assessment textbooks nor syllabus and model papers for the test. The CBSE schools are exempted from the test unless the uniform test becomes the part of the New Education Policy 2016 which is being drafted.
The Class VIII test was introduced by the state last year to assess students.But nobody would be declared passed or failed in this exam due to the no-detention policy under the Right to Education Act till Class VIII. Last year, the English medium schools were exempted from the test as the state was not prepared. This year the exam is compulsory for both English and Hindi medium private schools affiliated to RBSE.
“Hardly three months are left for the test to be conducted by the board. But we don't have the books. What will we teach the students,“ asked Kisen Mittal, secretary of the Private School Association of Rajasthan. This test is important for the state government as it has included it in the draft of the new education policy despite opposition from several states. “This exam will serve many objectives like identifying weak students, improving transition rate, reducing drop-out rate, improving Class X results and fixing accountability of teachers. All this can be made possible if we have a uniform exam by a competent authority,“ said a government official.