Assam issues guidelines for uniform internal assessment of Class 9 and 10 students

Guwahati: The Assam government has issued strict guidelines for holding internal examinations and assessments of Class 9 and 10 students in schools under the state board, failing which the affiliation of an institute could be cancelled or its employees might face pay cuts.

The internal evaluations are to be done under the supervision of District Level Internal Examination Committees formed earlier to bring uniformity in holding internal examinations in all secondary schools and for evaluation of answer scripts, online entry of marks and subsequent declaration of results, according to an order of the education department.

Reports of the absence of proper records in many schools and attempts at manipulation of records have emerged recently, and two persons, including a school principal, were arrested in Kamrup district last week for allegedly demanding money to award more marks to students of Class 10.

The matter of internal assessment has also gained prominence after the Class 10 and 12 examinations were cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation and it was decided that results for both exams would be declared following an evaluation system, based on the assessment of students at schools, as recommended by experts.

The pass percentage performance of a school and also of a student depends on the outcome of results of such Internal Examinations, the office order issued on July 19 said.

"Therefore, it is very important to hold Internal Terminal examination for both class IX and X as per the schedule of Academic Calendar circulated by Board of Secondary Education, Assam, (SEBA) in a systematic manner with uniform procedure and standard in all the districts,” the order said.

Mentioning that four examinations, including two unit tests, are to be held in a calendar year at the school level, the order said that the respective examination shall be held on the same day in all schools with common question papers set by the District Examination Committee. In case of difficulty in holding the examination offline due to the COVID-19 situation, the school authorities must conduct all internal examinations through digital mode or any other suitable method, it added.

A school can collect a maximum of Rs 15 annually from each student for all the unit tests to be held in one year. For half-yearly, annual and pre-board examinations, a school can collect a maximum of Rs 70 per examination as fees from a student. Evaluation of answer scripts of unit tests will be done by the school itself, the office memorandum said.

“The District Level Internal Examination Committee shall make evaluation system for evaluation of Answer Scripts of half-yearly, annual examination of Class IX and Pre-Board Exam of class X, with four nos. (of) schools as a group,” it said. Four nearby schools will be grouped by the Committee and they will not have an option for entry or exit from the group, it added.

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