Tamil Nadu: Online test for Class 1-3 students draws mixed reaction

COIMBATORE:  The Directorate of Elementary Education’s (DEE) decision to conduct first-term summative assessment tests for the students of classes 1 to 3 in primary and middle schools across the State online under the Ennum Ezhuthum mission from September 20 to 30 has drawn mixed response from teachers and educationists.

According to official sources, the test’s aim is to find out how efficiently the students understood what was taught by the teachers in the class and this will be monitored by the state officers, who would take steps to reform primary education based on the results.

The test is being conducted in objective format for three subjects Tamil, English and Mathematics. The questions for each subject is further divided into two parts, the first part consisting of 60 marks objective type questions from the subject and the remaining 40 marks are of formative type, including reading ability test. The tests are being conducted on mobile and on computers through the Education Management Information System (EMIS) in schools, where the students answer the question, which would appear on the gadget, after which the teachers will mark the answer on the portal.

Headmaster of the CSI primary school in Christenpet in the city A Reddykumar told TNIE: “A total of 13 students from Classes 1 to 3 attended the online test and they performed well. The tests were conducted using three different question papers framed by DEE. When offline tests were conducted before the pandemic, many students were afraid of the test and some even didn’t attend it. This time, we conducted this test without informing them about it and they attended it without fear.”

Class 2 teacher R Velraj from a primary school in Tharamangalam block in Salem said, “During the test, some students had learning gaps. Even though the students were able to identify the pictures, they struggled to spell out the letters in Tamil and English.”

R Ramkumar, president of Tamil Nadu Teachers and School Protection Association said if teachers conduct this test properly, the DEE can know the actual learning skills of the students. He also criticised some teachers for putting the correct answers in the portal to improve their school’s performance.