Thread by @imvishnukarthik

Over 1.25 Mn #CBSE students & another 10 Mn students are experiencing stress due to uncertainty on the status of #Grade12 exams. A thread on how deep this crisis is. And what CBSE could do & shouldn't do to avoid collateral damage. Grade12 exams are called high stake exams. 1/n

But even this is an understatement for an exam obsessed country like India. In Apr-19, 20 students committed suicide bcos they wrongly assumed they had failed not realising that there was a glitch in calculating the marks. That's how high-stakes board exams r in our country 2/n

Thus any decision CBSE takes, if not managed well, will have some tragic collateral damage. Unlike other international curriculums, CBSE has not invested in valid and reliable internal year-round assessments (also known as formative assessments). 3/n

In International curriculums, the formative assessments over grade11 & grade12 provide a fair prediction of a students performance in the final grade12 exam. In #CBSE, there is not much correlation between internal exams and final external exams. 4/n

For various legacy reasons, CBSE doesn't have any credible formative assessments. In fact, it's quality & rigour of the final exam are also very inconsistent. 5/n

It is a national tragedy that for an institution that is primarily an examination body (unlike international curriculums that are also curriculum bodies), CBSE still doesn't have reliable and valid assessment protocols. 6/n

So what r the options CBSE is dabbling with? There is a report CBSE may use the last three year's performance to arrive @ the grade12 score. This will be unfair 2 many students. Data we have @heritage_ggn shows that on average students make leap of over 20–25% over grade11. 7/n

Jump is more when compared to gradeX. Main reason is that most students tend 2 get more serious in grade12 as they know that last-minute effort is enough to ace CBSE exams. Students also do well in grade12 as against gradeX as they don't have 2 study subjects they don't like 8/n

Another option CBSE is dabbling with is 2 ask schools to give a final grade based on internal assessments. This will lead to significant grade inflation across schools as most schools will be liberal to their students. 9/n

Unlike intl. boards, CBSE schools aren't subjected to rigorous assessment audits & statistical moderations. There isn't even a modicum of accountability in CBSE schools for internals. Just look @ the inordinate high grades students achieve in Grade12 internal practical exams 10/n

Any new solution CBSE now comes up with will be unfair 2 some section of students for all alternatives looks like worse alternatives. No new method of assessments will be seen as fair especially when a 1% marks will impact college admissions. 11/n

The best option is to postpone exams till September/October and hold the exams after a reasonable coverage of the vaccines. Prioritise vaccinations for the examiners, assessors and grade 12 students.12/n

Ministry of Education should also direct all Indian Universities to delay their admissions process for this academic session. A truncated undergraduate program is a far better alternative than an unfair and unscientific admissions process. 13/n

There is a minority but a growing number of students who seek admissions abroad. Most intl. universities would not wait till September for final grades. CBSE could provide an exception only to these students by issuing a mark sheet based on internal assessments 14/n.

CBSE should also do some soul-searching on why it squandered 12 months to develop options & build consensus. I had written about CBSE's structural weakness in this article: vishnukarthik.medium.com/cbse-exams-pap… 15/n

Lastly, CBSE could learn from international boards to build institutional strength for valid & reliable round the year assessment as against one final exam. After all, life can't be dictated by a three-hour exam. #cancelboardexam2021 #cbseboardexams2021 #cancelboardexams n/n