NCERT’s 3-day HOTS Workshop concludes

Srinagar : A three-day workshop on “Transformation of Assessment Practices at Secondary Stage” organized by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi, in collaboration with the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) at the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) auditorium, Bemina concluded here, on Saturday.
Besides the NCERT experts, the workshop brought together several school boards, teachers, and other stakeholders from across the country, who worked hard over three days to figure out how secondary assessment practices could be transformed in light of the NEP-2020 postulates.
Prof. P C Agarwal, Principal Regional Institute of Education (RIE), Bhubaneswar, Associate Prof Sukhvinder, NCERT, Dr Sandhya Sangai, NCERT and Kuldeep Agarwal, former Director (Academic and Vocational Education) from the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) who serves as an independent consultant to the NIOS, Dr Arif Jan, Deputy Director, Academics, JKBOSE, Anita Devraj, former Principal, DAV and Ekyimo Shitre, Joint Secretary, Nagaland BOSE were the prominent names who participated in the workshop.
In his welcome address, Mohammad Sharif Dehdar, Joint Director SCERT, urged the organisers to ensure that whatever is learned during these workshops and programmes is translated into action on the ground.
Outlining the workshop’s objectives, Prof Sukhvinder said the primary goal of this three-day activity is to collaborate with all school boards to bring qualitative improvement to all stages of school education in the country.
“We have held multiple workshops of this nature previously with the goal of putting NEP-2020 examination reforms into practice,” he said adding, “We will have to deal with the Parakh, the national assessment centre—mandate at some point, and will be concentrating more on how to create test items that support higher order thinking skills.”
The entire concept of higher order thinking skills, Sukhvinder said, will have to be demystified and the current workshop will assist us in doing so.
The Survey Wing of the Educational Research Survey and Analysis (ERSA) Division of the SCERT headed by the senior academic officer, Dr Nazneen Meraj, provided the logistical support to the workshop.