Nagpur ‘fails’ summative test: Cancels common question paper

NAGPUR: The state education department’s decision not to send question papers for the mandatory Sankalit Mulyamapan Chachni (summative assessment) is seen as failure to implement the tests properly.
This test is mandatory for every single school in the state, regardless of their medium or affiliated boards, with the purpose being to evaluate statewide performance of students in certain core subjects. TOI has reported extensively about private schools criticizing the tests, because the question papers were never sent securely, neither in the right quantity, and nor was invigilation up to the mark.

Zafar Khan, founder-president of School Headmasters Charitable Association (SCHA), minced no words and said the tests have always been a sham. “There have been reports from many schools that teachers are telling answers to their students, since external invigilators are not present. Question papers were received by schools without any protective wrapping, and since quantity was less, it had to be photocopied from outside. So, secrecy was never the keyword for question papers there,” said Khan.

TOI had reported many times how the question paper was available on social media at least 24 hours before the test. Recently, someone shot a video of the paper and put it up on YouTube almost three days before the exam. Back then, the education department officials had dismissed concerns of ‘paper leak’, saying the test is not to be compared with board exams.

Sunil Magar, director of Maharashtra State Council for Education, Research and Training (MSCERT), had told TOI last month, after the YouTube paper leak fiasco, that “our question papers are not confidential as the purpose is more holistic. We want to know if students have understood the concepts or not, and that’s why there is no competitive angle to this”.

Nago Ganar, MLC from teachers constituency, said the education department should not have taken up this effort. “Education department officials went beyond their mandate and tried to administer a test which is not the board exam we have for STD X and XII. These non-board exams had to be handled completely by schools, thus resulting in this fiasco,” said Ganar.

What are these tests about?

Evaluating state level performance of students in certain core subjects

Total three tests are held in a year. First is called Baseline Test, followed summative assessment 1 and 2

It is mandatory for all state, CBSE, ICSE school students up to Std VIII to take the test

Evaluation by respective schools and marks to be uploaded on education dept website