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NEW DIMENSIONS IN EVALUATION: TEACHERS’

PERSPECTIVE ON CCE AND ITS

IMPLEMENTATION

Anshul Saluja

National University of Educational Planning and Administration, (India)

ABSTRACT

As some form of assessment is necessary to determine the effectiveness of the teaching learning process going

on in the classroom, several commissions and committees have highlighted the need to reform the examination

system in India. Since the rote learning and external examinations have always been targeted by the policy

makers, educationists and other stake holders, the need for internal Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation

(CCE) was felt. The present paper attempts to look into the scheme of CCE from the perspective of teachers, the

problems they face while its execution and the suggestions they would like to put forth in order to make it more

effective. A random sample of 38 primary government schools with its 38 head teachers and 20 teachers was

selected from Faridabad district of state Haryana. Two self made questionnaire were used to collect the

relevant data. The results revealed that CCE has been implemented in all the schools but the practical

competencies are lacking in the teachers. The implementation of the scheme has increased workload of the

already over burdened teachers. The teachers suggested that overcrowding in the classes, teachers’ training,

student absenteeism and administrative work assigned to teachers create problem in the effective

implementation of the scheme.

Keywords: Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation, Teachers’ perception, Teachers’ training

I. INTRODUCTION

The main aim of education is to make children responsible, productive and useful members of the society. It is

the classroom where their knowledge, skills and attitudes are built through learning experiences. They analyze

and evaluate their experiences; learn to question and think independently. To test their understanding, their

learning is often evaluated. In the Indian education system, the term evaluation is associated with examination,

stress and anxiety. For this reason the school education system has often been subjected to severe criticism due

to its inequitable and tiresome nature. Due to this, the nature and manner in which students‟ learning is

examined has always been a central and major concern of the educationists, teachers and policy makers. At the

present moment, Indian education system is at the juncture where education is made a fundamental right for

every child in the age group 6-14 years. And concerns are regularly being expressed about providing the

uniform and good quality educational experiences to all children, irrespective of the social and economic

background they possess. In response to this increasing pressure to improve the school performance, policies

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regarding the grade level promotion standards have been developed at the national, state and district levels.

Following this, a Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) was drafted and passed in Parliament on

August 27, 2009, notified on February 16, 2010 to come into effect from April 1, 2010. This Act gives

Education the same legal status as the Right to Life as provided by Article 21A of the Indian Constitution. This

entitles children to have the right to education enforced as a fundamental right. RTE, thus, is now a fundamental

right to equality and life. Thus, finally on April 1, 2010, India joined the league of over 130 countries that have

made legal commitments to provide free and compulsory education and India moved forward to a right based

framework. With this the concerns were simultaneously being expressed about the retention of students in the

schools and the quality of education provided. To balance it out, the RTE Act provided a clause for putting in

place a continuous and comprehensive evaluation procedure instead of year end examination and no detention in

elementary classes. The policy of No Detention and eradication of year end examination was thought of because

the failure and repetition of the students in the same class for 1 or more years leads to their dropping out of the

schools and to compensate for the quality of education the children will receive in the schools, CCE was put in

place. Thus the stress was laid on the meaningful assessment of students‟ growth. It states that “comprehensive

and continuous evaluation of the child‟s understanding to knowledge and his or her ability to apply the same”

will now be made.

CCE as a procedure to evaluation can be conceived as a procedure that will be non-threatening, releasing the

child from fear and trauma of failure, enables the teacher to pay individual attention to the child‟s learning and

performance. It emphasizes on evaluating a child throughout the year and not just based on performance in one

or two term exams. Conducting unit tests, for fewer marks on regular intervals, makes the students accountable,

without adding to the stress. Such a system has the best potential to improve quality, rather than punishment,

fear of failure and detention. Consistent with the argument that each child has the same potential for learning, a

„slow‟, „weak‟ learner or a „failed‟ child is not so because of any inherent drawback in the child, but most often

due to the inadequacy of the learning environment and the delivery system to help the child realize his potential,

meaning thereby that the failure is of the system, rather than of the child. This requires addressing the

improvement of the quality of the system rather than punishing the child through detention.

1.1 Genesis of CCE

It is quite obvious that without proper framework and implementation of evaluation and examinations system,

all efforts of curriculum definitions and its renewal would come to a standstill situation. Various commissions

and committees during Pre and Post Independence phases have made recommendations regarding laying

emphasis on internal examinations. Hartog Committee (1929) expressed its concern about the dominance of

examination over the entire system of education. The Calcutta University Commission (1917-19), Sargent Plan

(1944), Mudaliar Commission or the Secondary Education Commission (1952-53) and Hunter Commisssion

(1982), have all made recommendations regarding reducing the emphasis on the external examinations and

strongly encouraged the internal examinations via comprehensive and continuous evaluation. They recognized

the lack of validity, reliability and objectivity in examinations in the then existing system of examination. In this

regard, Kothari Commission (1966) observed that “on the completion of the course, at the end of the lower or

higher secondary stage, the student should receive a certificate from the school giving the record of his internal

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assessment as contained in his cumulative record. This certificate may be attached to that given by the Board in

connection with the external examination.”‟ It further adds, “This internal assessment or evaluation conducted

by the schools is of greater significance and should be given increasing importance. It should be comprehensive,

evaluating all those aspects of students‟ growth that are measured by the external examination and also those

personality traits, interests and attitudes which cannot be assessed by it”.

National Policy on Education (1986) in addition to the Programme of Action (1992) followed by CABE

Committee Report on curricular load on school going children focused on child friendly and pedagogically

sound evaluation system. The report of the National Advisory Committee appointed by MHRD, Govt. of India

or the Yashpal Committee (1992) stated that “Board examination, taken at the end of class X and XII, have

remained rigid, bureaucratic and essentially uneducative and hence should be reviewed with a view to

replacing text based and quiz-type questioning which promotes rote learning and induces stress and anxiety.”

Following this, National Curriculum Framework (2005) also stressed on child friendly and stress free

examination system. It recommended the specific measures to be taken to change the typology of the question

paper so that the reasoning and creative abilities replace the memorization in evaluation of children. Further a

position paper by NCERT on Examination Reforms mandates that school based CCE system should be

established to reduce stress on children and to make evaluation comprehensive and regular. Keeping all these

recommendations in consideration, MHRD bought in the scheme of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation

as a part of Examination Reform Programme with the aim of holistic evaluation of the learner. With this, CCE

got included in Right to Education Act (2009).

1.2 Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation or CCE is a system of school based evaluation of students that

covers all aspects of students‟ development. By continuous, it means that evaluation is done timely on a regular

basis and not at the end of a lesson, unit or course, i.e. evaluation as identified as an aspect of growth and

development, is a continuous process rather than an event and spreads over an entire span of an academic

session. Thus there is a regularity of assessment, frequency of testing, diagnosis of learning gaps, retesting and

feedback. It thus takes care of the periodical nature of evaluation. By comprehensive it means that it tends to

cover all aspects of students‟ learning i.e. both scholastic and co-scholastic aspects of students‟ growth and

development. This also implies the application of variety of tools and techniques to assess the learner‟s

development. With this, it is believed that it will help removing the tension and fear from the minds of students

which they otherwise feel in annual or semester exams. The major advantage of this reform is that it has

provided a more valid assessment of students as compared to the year-end exams and has shifted the emphasis

from academic testing to holistic learning.

II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

In an experimental study by Rao and Rao (2001) it was observed that it is essential to equip teachers with the

essential skills and competencies of evaluation so that they can integrate evaluation well with their teaching

learning process, assist students in the attainment of required standards through proper guidance, feedback and

remediation. Singhal (2001) studied the perceptions of government school teachers on CCE as per their level,

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their qualifications and the number of years spent in teaching. The study revealed that there is a moderate

acceptability of CCE by the government school teachers. Inspite of knowing the fact that CCE is an effective

scheme to improve the teaching learning process, they are not adequately prepared for the effective and efficient

execution of CCE. The level of school and the qualification of teachers were not found to have any effect on the

awareness level. But a significant difference was found in less and moderate experienced teachers and highly

experienced teachers.

Islam and Chakraborty (2012) studied the awareness of in-service school teachers towards CCE with respect to

their gender, demography and length of service. They concluded that the overall awareness rate is very low and

female teachers are more unaware than the male teachers. But no significant difference was observed in the

awareness of the student teachers towards CCE with respect to their teaching experience and their demographic

location. Kaunts and Kaur (2012) studied the perception and attitude of teachers from rural and urban schools

towards CCE. The study revealed the significant difference between the perception of teachers from rural and

urban background where teachers from rural schools perceived CCE in a better way than the urban school

teachers. Also no difference was found in the attitudes of teachers belonging to rural and urban background.

Ashita (2013) in a research study tried to trace the trends in educational assessment and looked at how the CCE

has been perceived by the teachers, students and parents and its effect on instructions and learning outcomes.

She also looked at the challenges faced by the teachers while implementing the CCE. She found that the

teachers face a lot of problems while assessing the students using CCE. The teachers are often left with spending

too much time filling the tables and recording, neglecting everyday classroom assessment. The teachers are

often resort to mechanical ways of assessment which does not produce any impact on the teaching-learning. The

teachers reported that the training programs, modules and materials in circulation and directions provided by the

authorities add to their confusion. The other such problems faced by the teachers are large number of children in

class, time consuming process, irregularity of students, lack of resources and most importantly inadequate

training.

In a study, Kaur (2013) observed that the teachers find the old examination system as faulty and stressful and

this scheme has given a fair chance to every child to perform well. Although the pressure of the examinations on

the children has now been lifted from the shoulders of the children but it has given birth to a different kind of

pressure for the teachers on how to fill the assessment records of the students. Maintenance of registers poses a

great problem for the teachers and their work load has increased. Mishra and Mallik (2014) in one of their study

revealed that although most of the teachers said that they are aware about CCE but they were actually not found

to be aware about the scheme. They also said that they find it difficult to manage with the restricted time,

limited funds and conducive environment for the smooth implementation of CCE. They consider it rather a

burden as the teacher has to do a lot of things other than teaching.

Kumar and Kumar (2014) explored the secondary school teachers‟ awareness about the scheme of CCE and the

problems they face while its execution. After interviewing 30 secondary school teachers, the findings revealed

that majority of the teachers possessed awareness towards the policy. The study also took account of the

problems that teachers face during the execution of the CCE. Overcrowding in the classrooms, lack of proper

training of teachers regarding the CCE, lack of adequate infrastructure and teaching materials, increased volume

of work, cost factor, time consumed and lack or parents‟ interest towards CCE are the major factors that hinder

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the effective implementation of CCE. Panda (2014) in his study on status of CCE at elementary stage

emphasized on studying the level of awareness of the elementary school teachers of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha

and West Bengal regarding CCE. The study also took account of the attitude of elementary school teachers of

these states towards CCE. The study revealed that in the state of Odisha and Bihar, more teachers show

favourable attitude towards than in west Bengal and Jharkhand. The head teachers in Bihar said that the CCE is

not properly implemented due to insufficient teaching staff, overcrowded classrooms, excessive workload on the

teachers, poor attendance of teachers and insufficient infrastructural facilities. Around 55 percent teachers were

found to be aware of CCE in Bihar while in Jharkhand, half of the teachers do not show acceptance for CCE and

84 percent teachers feel that CCE has increased the workload of the teachers. In Odisha, teachers‟ awareness on

CCE is average where rural teachers are more aware of CCE as compared to the urban teachers. Around 60

percent teachers appreciate the introduction of CCE to a moderate level; however, none of them appreciate it

wholeheartedly. In West Bengal, 58 percent head teachers reported that the teachers appreciate CCE moderately

as compared to the traditional method of teachers.

Sikdar and Poddar (2014) analyzed the awareness and comprehension of teachers on CCE. They found that

teachers possessed theoretical understanding about CCE but they lacked practical application of the concept.

They found that the teachers were not given proper training regarding the implementation of the CCE due to

which they face problem managing time. The teachers face difficulties in completing the syllabus; organizing,

grading and distribution of tasks in group activities and providing individual attention to all the students. There

were only fifty percent teachers found satisfied with the implementation of the policy. The study also revealed

that around eighty two percent of the teachers, who have received training from school or other government

authority, admitted that they needed more clarity on implementation of CCE. Pazhanimurugan, Sivakumar and

Benjamin (2015) also revealed that the perception of teachers is average which indicates moderate acceptability

of CCE by the teachers. But the teachers are not properly prepared for the effective execution of CCE in the

government schools. Other problems faced by the teachers include large number of students in class, lack or

training, inadequate infrastructure and teaching material.

III. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

RTE was enacted in 2009 and has been implemented in all the states of our country in 2010-11 and to regulate

the quality of education the children will receive in the schools, CCE was put in place. It is concerned with the

appraisal of achievement and its improvement. It is no denying the fact that implementation of this scheme is a

revolutionary step. As and when CCE is successfully implemented in all the schools, it would be interesting to

see whether the aims of the scheme have been achieved or not. Also the success of this evaluation system is

largely dependent on its effective implementation, wherein the role of teachers remains of utmost importance as

they are the main component of the entire process of evaluation. The teacher is directly involved in information

gathering, information processing, providing judgements and decision making. The proper implementation and

hence success of any strategy in the field of education depend on the willingness of the teachers to adopt the

new strategy and how well equipped they are in using it without stressing themselves. Thus it would be of great

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importance to see the perception of teachers regarding the scheme and how the teachers deal with the

assessment of students as per the scheme.

IV. METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

The study uses both the qualitative and quantitative approach to investigate into teachers‟ perception on the

implementation of CCE concerning their experiences, expectations, teaching competencies to deal with CCE and the

practical problems that teachers encounter while executing CCE.

Study Area: The study took place in Faridabad district of state Haryana.

Target Population: All the primary school, the head teachers and the other teachers of the primary schools of

Faridabad district form the target group.

Sample: The district is composed of two blocks: Faridabad block and Ballabgarh block. Out of 255 primary

schools in the districts, 136 schools are located in Block Faridabad and 116 schools in Ballabgarh. A

proportionate sample of 15 percent schools was selected from both the blocks by using random sampling

technique. Thus in all, 22 schools were selected from Faridabad block and 17 schools from Ballabgarh block to

make a total sample of 38 primary government schools. To further collect the data on teachers‟ perception on

CCE, 38 head teachers and 20 other teachers from the same sampled schools were selected.

Tools and Data: Two questionnaires were used to collect the relevant data; one for collecting the information

from school and the head teachers and the other for teachers. Some of the questions in the questionnaires were

close-ended and others were open-ended. The information about the strategies adopted by the teachers in their

teaching-learning process so as to implement the policy was collected. The teachers were also asked about the

enabling conditions, from their point of view, that if applied at the primary level, would lead to the successful

implementation of the CCE. Secondary data on the number of teachers in the school, their qualifications, training

status and work allotted to them was collected from the school records. The data related to the working

conditions of the teachers like the time they spend in the class, the responsibilities and the work they are given

and their plan to give remedial classes for the weak students was also collected.

V. ANALYSIS OF DATA

The data collected from the self constructed tools is interpreted under five major sections:

(1) School Profile (2) Teachers: Availability and Training Status (3) Teachers‟ Perception about CCE (4)

Implementation of the Policy: Strategies Adopted (5) Enabling Conditions for the Successful Implementation

of CCE

5.1 School Profile

5.1.1 Infrastructural Facilities

It is normally expected that a primary school should have adequate infrastructure facilities including pucca

building and classrooms. These are essential because the building of the school protects the students and

teachers from the severity of climate. Availability of appropriate infrastructural facilities also facilitates the

teaching-learning process.

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School building: The analysis of data shows that out of the 38 sampled schools, a majority (84.6 per cent)

of schools had their own building while only 2 schools (5.1 per cent) were operating in rented buildings.

However, 4 sample schools didn‟t have their own building and hence these schools were held in the park,

dharamshalas or the temporary buildings provided by MCF.

School condition: It was found that out of 38 sampled schools, 41 percent of the schools were found to be in

the good condition, 13 percent required major repairs and 41 percent of the schools needed minor repairs

while 2 percent schools need reconstruction of the building.

5.1.2. Availability of Basic Facilities

RTE entitles all children enrolled in government schools all the basic facilities like drinking water, toilet

facilities, blackboard, benches/ daris etc. The situation prevalent in the sampled schools was as: The presence of

blackboard, chalk and duster in the schools was checked. In all 38 schools blackboard, chalk and duster were

available. It was found out during the visit to the schools that in 32 schools, the sitting arrangement for the

students was there. While in 6 schools, the students had arranged for the dari-tat-pattis on their own. In 35

schools, the chairs for the teachers were available. While in 3 schools, the chairs were in insufficient quantity.

Also in 31 schools the tables for teachers were available and in 7 schools the tables were in insufficient quantity.

The availability of science kit and math kit in the schools also contributes towards the effective understanding

of concepts. Analysis of data shows that out of 38 schools, 16 schools did not have science kit, 15 schools did

not have mathematics kit. It was found that the science and mathematics kits were lying unused and unattended

in the schools. They were given to the schools years back and the teachers had not even used it more than once.

It was observed that they don‟t know about how to use them. Sports being a major aspect of CCE, it becomes

very important to provide the students with the playground facility in the school where they can play sit and talk

with other students, can share their knowledge and experience. It was found that 5 schools did not have

playground.

5.2. Teachers: Availability and Training Status

5.2.1. Availability of Teachers

The sufficient number of teachers is another such indicator that predicts the performance of students. If there is

enough number of teachers, they can teach the students in an effective way, can assess the students properly and

give the required remediation and assistance. However in India, the multi-grade teaching is a big problem. In

many primary schools there are only 1-2 teachers who have to look after all the five grades.

In one sampled school, there was single teacher available carrying out the teaching-learning process in all the

five classes in addition to doing the administrative work. There were 2 schools where 2 teachers were available,

2 schools where there were 3 teachers, 5 schools with 4 teachers. In all these schools, multi-grade teaching was

being followed. There were 13 schools where there were more than 7 teachers each. Also, all the teachers

available in the schools were trained and possess the qualifications required to be a primary school teacher.

Infact some of the teachers were found to possess B.Ed. along with master‟s or Bachelor‟s degree. Other

teachers were JBT.

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5.2.2. Teacher by Training Status

Besides the shortage of teachers, availability of trained teachers (in-service training) is also an issue in primary

schools. Under the SSA, the primary school teachers are given training on different areas every year. During the

visit, it was observed that no in-service training program had been organized in the schools since the past 2

years. Another point worth mentioning here is that only the permanent teachers were being called to attend the

training programs and none of the teachers recruited on temporary basis were made to attend the in-service

training programs; even if the teachers on temporary basis have been working in the schools for more than 10

years.

The teachers were also asked about the in-service teacher training programs that they have attended in the past 5

years. It was found that majority of the teachers have attended two programs in the past 5 years. One among

them was „Orientation Program on CCE‟ which was arranged by SCERT, Gurgaon so as to give an overview

and hands on training to the teachers on how to effectively assess the students by using continuous and

comprehensive evaluation. It served as a medium through which the orientation to CCE was given to the

teachers. Besides, the teachers of 15 schools attended training program on „Health, Mind and Body‟. It was

shocking to note that in 3 schools the teachers have not attended a single in-service training program in the past

5 years.

Besides the conduction of the program, it is imperative that the program should be useful. On asking the

respondents about the usefulness of the program, 9 respondents opined that the program titled „Health, Mind and

Body‟ was very useful for them. 7 opined that it was somewhat useful while the teachers from a majority (57.9

percent) of schools did not attend this program. A majority of respondents (65.8 percent) said that the Program

on CCE was very useful. 11 teachers (28.9 percent) said that it was somewhat useful. However the teachers

from 2 schools did not attended the program at all.

Table 5.1 Usefulness of the Program

Name of Program → Health, mind and body CCE

Usefulness ↓ No. Of Teachers Percent No. Of Teachers Percent

Very useful 9 24.6 25 65.8

Somewhat useful 7 18.5 11 28.9

Not attended the program 22 57.9 2 5.3

Total 38 100.0 38 100.0

Source: Data collected by researcher.

5.2.3. Working conditions of the teachers

The teachers were also asked about the load of work they are given in the school per day. As the schools were

primary in nature, one teacher was given one class as its class teacher and she spends whole day in that class. In

addition to this, the teachers had to do administrative work of the school; e.g. they have to do all the work

related to opening up of the bank accounts, work related to construction, dispersal and collection of voter card

forms and the distribution of cards. It was observed that due to their involvement in such type of administrative

work, they were not able to devote adequate time to teaching learning which has adversely affected the teaching

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and consequently affecting the academic achievement of students and performance level of the schools. in

schools with singl teachsr, the teacher takes all the classes simultaneously. She teaches one class, gives work to

do and the mean time teaches another class. And the process is carried over to all the classes.

5.3. Teachers’ perception about CCE

CCE was introduced so that the quality of education and the grade level standards may not get affected due to

the promotion of the students (as per No Detention Policy). And the proper implementation and hence the

success of any strategy in the field of education depend on the willingness of the teachers to adopt the newly

introduced strategy and on how well they use it without stressing themselves. As CCE demands assessing

students on a continuous basis and in a comprehensive manner, looking at CCE from the teachers‟ perspective

becomes much more important. The teachers gave a mixed reaction to this scheme.

Further, the analysis of teachers‟ perceptions about the CCE shows that 55 percent of teachers find CCE a better

way to assess the students than the term or year-end examinations or the traditional methods of evaluation. They

said that as the students can no more be detained and they are assessed on a wider range of aspects, it is

benefitting the slow learners. 45 percent teachers admitted that CCE has put an extra burden on the teachers in

the continuous assessment of the students. Along with putting a burden on teachers, it has also created confusion

as to how to fill various columns in the record cards of the students. They said that they assign grades to

students based on certain skills, but later on, they sometimes find it difficult explaining the reasons for assigning

those particular grades. This raises questions on the validity of the evaluation being done by the teachers. 55

percent teachers said that they are not given proper guidelines as to how to properly assess the students

following the CCE pattern. For instance, the teachers conduct CCE as per the instructions given to them. They

make their students do project works, make models etc., but the teachers find it very difficult in evaluating them.

They admitted that this is the major limitation of the training provided to them. During the training programs

specifically for CCE, they have not been properly instructed as to how to properly assess the students; how to

use different methods of assessment and how these can help enhancing the learning of the students. They further

added that they were just provided with the booklets of record cards with almost no instructions about how to

fill them properly. This added to the confusion of the teachers as it left the teachers with different techniques of

assessment with very little knowledge on how to use it, when to use it and what actually to look for while

assessing.

Table 5.2 Perceptions on CCE

S.No. Particular Strongly Agree (in %) Agree Disagree

1 CCE is better to assess the students than the term or

year-end examinations.

20 55 25

2 CCE has put an extra burden on the teachers

regarding assessment of the students.

25 45 30

3 Proper guidelines are lacking from the school side

or the department side as to how to assess students

from time to time.

10 55 35

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4 The records of students‟ assessment are properly

maintained.

20 75 5

5 SMC is trying its level best to bring back the

students to the school whether drop-outs or

absentees.

25 70 5

Besides, the teachers also revealed that the data and information about the achievement of the students is not

maintained by the schools properly. The report cards especially designed for the purpose of students‟ assessment

based on the CCE were not available timely. They get the report cards in the middle of the session, due to which

they first maintain record on the registers and then copy them to the record cards. This takes a great deal of

teachers‟ time and labour. Also there is not sufficient time to conduct all the activities recommended under CCE

and to evaluate all the students on all the aspects at the same time. They further added that they have to spend a

lot of time converting the marks into grades and thus they are left working on the CCE formats rather than

teaching the students.

5.4. Implementation of the Policy: Strategies Adopted

It is generally believed that the successful implementation of any policy requires a lot of preparative activities to

create enabling conditions. Several changes are introduced in different spheres so as to get the desired results as

what the policy of CCE is destined to. While implementing the process in the classroom settings, the teachers

had to bring changes in their teaching-learning methodology and it is the students‟ achievement which acts as

the guiding factor. Hence, the teachers were asked about the strategies that they have adopted in their teaching-

learning process keeping in view the CCE.

Analysis of the responses of the teachers reveals that a lot of improvisation has been made in the existing system

and in the pattern of education so as to properly execute CCE. Changes have been introduced in the teaching

styles of the teachers and the assessment techniques. About 20 percent of the teachers said that they have

increased the use of audio-visual aids in their teaching. They believe that by using A-V aids, children can retain

the learnt lessons for a longer time. 55 percent teachers said that they have adopted play-way methods in

teaching the students in the class. Play-way method helps in better understanding of the concepts and helps in

prolonged retention. Stress is also being given on using inductive-deductive approach. 25 percent teachers said

that they have started using student centered approaches to teach in the class while only 15 percent admitted that

they teach keeping in view the individual differences in the pace of learning and grasping power.

Besides, the teachers also said that parents-teacher meet is organized on regular basis so that parents can be

made aware of their ward/s performance in the class, but a majority of the parents don‟t turn up. The teachers

also reported that keeping in mind the objectives of CCE, rote learning in the class by the students is

discouraged and more emphasis is laid on the understanding and reflective learning. However, as low as

15percent teachers admitted that the records of the students‟ performance are maintained daily so that their

progress can be assessed and monitored throughout the year.

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5.5. Enabling Conditions for the Successful Implementation of CCE

The teachers were also asked about the ways by which further improvement in the implementation of the

scheme can be made. They said that the introduction of CCE has made the students more learning oriented. It‟s

a good assessment technique as the students are evaluated on a regular basis and that too in varied aspects. It

gives a lot of opportunities to the students to improve their achievement level. But the teachers were found to be

favouring some sort of examinations, as per which the students will take the studies more seriously and it will

help improve their achievements. The responses elicited by the teachers are categorized under two heads viz.

Examination related conditions and teacher related enabling conditions.

5.5.1. Examination related conditions

Majority of teachers were found to be in favour of re-introduction of examination system. About 40 percent of

the teachers said that the examination system should be re-introduced. They want the examination system

because the commencement of examination makes the students study seriously and they learn in a much better

way than in a situation when they don‟t have any fear of examinations or being failed. Only 5 percent teachers

said that there is no timely dispersal of the report cards by the Board. In the absence of assessment cards, it

becomes difficult to assess the students and even if the records are maintained in the registers, the filling up of

the report cards later takes a lot of time. Only 5 percent of the teachers said the attendance of the students in the

school should also be given weightage in their promotion, so that the students remain regular in the school.

5.5.2. Teacher related conditions

There can be a lot of factors that can help in the better and effective implementation of the CCE. The teachers

said that the proper implementation is also lacking somewhere due to the teachers and their proper and adequate

training. 25 percent teachers said that ideal pupil-teacher ratio has to be maintained in the school so that the

teacher can give due and appropriate attention to the progress of each and every student of the class. If there are

more students than the limit, it becomes difficult for the teacher to pay individual attention to every student and

proper remediation to the weak students.

Around 35 percent of teachers said that the teachers are overburdened with work. The teachers are given extra

work like distribution of voter cards, administrative work of the schools etc., due to which the classroom

activities gets suffered. Thus they want that the burden of extra work should be removed from them. As many as

30 percent of the teachers want that the teachers should be trained at regular intervals, so that the teaching-

learning activities are improved using the latest methods. They also want that not only the permanent teachers

should be trained, but all the temporary teachers should also be trained as they are also involved in teaching

students. 5 percent teachers said that proper orientation about how to implement the policy in school should be

given. Only the permanent teachers were called to give the orientation about CCE. These permanent teachers

were given hands on training as to how to assess the students as per CCE and these teachers in turn briefed other

teachers of their schools how to assess the students using CCE. And thus, a lot of the teachers are lacking proper

instructions to use that assessment technique. Around 25 percent teachers said that in various schools, multi-

grade teaching is occurring and it is almost impossible to effectively assess all the students of 2 or more classes

at a time. Thus there is a need to appoint more teachers so that the work can be done smoothly.

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VI. MAJOR FINDINGS

The major findings of the study are as under:

1. In all the sampled schools, infrastructure was appropriate, and all the basic facilities were available in

almost all the schools. But the teaching aids (science and math kits) remained unavailable or not in working

conditions in majority of schools. Due to this the teachers of those schools were not able to teach the

students using teaching aids, which is quite an essential element for teaching-learning process.

2. The teachers appreciated the scheme stating that it is a good attempt to shift the rote learning by the

students to understanding and application of the concepts.

3. The training aspect of the teachers is the weakest point. All the teachers are not given the adequate training

even with respect to CCE. Even if the training program was held by the state authorities, only the

permanent teachers and that too few from each school were allowed to attend. This caused a major problem

as majority of teachers were left without any orientation and training on execution of CCE.

4. In some schools, multi-grade teaching is being carried. In this scenario, it becomes utmost difficult for a

single teacher to assess students from all the classes on all the aspects of CCE. Other than multi grade

teaching, sometimes large class size also creates hurdles in the path to evaluate students under CCE. Paying

individual attention to each and every student becomes almost impossible.

5. Majority of the teachers did not receive proper orientation about how to implement the scheme of CCE and

if in case any training program is scheduled, then only the permanent teachers are invited leaving behind the

guest or contractual teachers. Also the guidelines and the manuals provided to teachers lack the clarity on

proper implementation of CCE in classrooms.

6. Managing lengthy syllabus with CCE is a tough job. The teachers have to hurry with the syllabus while

carrying out CCE and this does not justify with the purpose of introduction of CCE.

7. Students‟ absenteeism creates another hurdle in the successful implementation of the scheme.

8. Subjectivity in the evaluation sometimes raises questions on the validity of the scores assigned to the

students.

9. The teachers suggested various ways by which the existing mechanism can be strengthened. They

appreciated the examination system and the assessment to be clubbed with the attendance of the students so

that the students become serious about their studies.

VII. CONCLUSION

The implementation of the scheme CCE has been facing many challenges which have to be met in order to

achieve the targets. Although the scheme has the capability to pull children out from the time of rote

memorization to the development of original thinking capacities, there are certain problems faced by the

teachers which inhibit the success of the scheme. These are large number of classrooms, lack of proper training

and lack of training materials. To overcome these problems and to properly implement the scheme, the teachers

suggested that the classroom size should be reduced, the teachers should be given proper training and orientation

for the new schemes launched. The teachers are given a lot of unnecessary work to be done besides teaching,

thus the extra amount of work should be removed so that the teachers only engage themselves in the process of

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teaching and learning. The teachers are also found to be engaged in other works not related to the working of

the schools. Such kind of work also fetches a lot of time of the teachers and they are not able to devote their

time in teaching. The teachers are found to be favouring the scheme of CCE. Although they said that it has put

an extra burden on them but they somehow are able to manage the records of the students. They have not

received proper training and guidelines from the state and the school authorities for the implementation of the

scheme. The teachers have made a lot of improvisations in their teaching methods to bring out the results. They

have adopted play-way methods, use teaching aids, student centered approach to learning, check performance of

the students on a daily basis, organize PTMs etc. The teachers suggested that the class size should be reduced,

proper and adequate training should be given to all the teachers and most importantly the text books and the

record cards should be dispatched timely by the concerned authorities so as to avoid the confusion and bring

efficiency in the working.

VIII. SUGGESTIONS/ POLICY IMPLICATIONS

The study concludes that the scheme of CCE is being implemented in all the schools but the need of the hour is

to implement it with greater thought and rigour. A major area to strengthen is the existing mechanisms of

imparting training to the stakeholders about the scheme. Thus to promote better understanding of the scheme,

mode of transaction should be made better. Proper training programs, workshops, seminars should be conducted

to foster better understanding of the concepts among the teachers. Timely dispersal of record cards should be

made so as to avoid the unnecessary hassle. Another important thing that cannot be ignored is the teachers‟

readiness for the implementation of the scheme. It is the most important component for the success of CCE.

Thus the views of the teachers regarding the proper implementation should be observed by the authorities so that

the smooth running of the scheme can be made. Instead of pressurizing the teachers to adopt the new evaluation

procedure, they should be convinced and inspired to adopt it.

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