Students are the future wealth of a nation and their education is the socio-moral responsibility of every country. To be educated is both their right as well as duty. From the ancient times to the modern day schools, teaching and learning methodologies have taken a quantum leap. It is debatable topic whether a system of grading of teachers by students should be introduced in schools to improve the learning and teaching environment. If the system of grading of teachers by the school students is introduced, the teachers and the administration of the school will come to know about the performance of the teachers as well. It will give them an insight into the minds of the students and show whether the teachers are successful in getting their lessons understood by the students. It will evaluate whether the class atmosphere is conducive to aid their learning. It will measure the satisfaction level of the students. It will also encourage the good teachers to continue their efforts and motivate themselves. It will also expose those who are not doing enough and will lead them to correct their teaching mythologies as well as their attitude towards students. Thus the quality of teaching will certainly improve. Grading to measure the professional performance is very common these days in all the fields. So why not evaluate the performance of teachers by the grading given by the student? Many times students have problems with a teacher’s attitude but do not know whom to approach and how. The grading system will help them raise their voice by grading their teachers. It will make the lead towards positive changes at schools.
It may be
But is the school going children mature enough to grade their teachers? Children are young and inexperienced. They may not be able to judge correctly whether a certain teacher is good for them or not. Their parameters of grading may be too shallow. They may like or dislike their teachers depending upon the amount of homework he/she gives, the easiness of his tests, the leniency of the marking, their appearance, temper and such other things that appeal to the students and make the teacher a “favorite” among kids but do not generally reveal his effectiveness. But such an attitude is not good for the students in the long run. The grading may threaten the teachers and they may even change their attitude to score good with such students as their grade may be likely to spell the course of their teaching career. They may focus more on getting the right grades to sustain themselves in the competitive job market rather focusing on teaching the students with sincerity. Besides students are not administrators. Giving them such power to grade their teachers will also give them the opportunity to misuse it for their interest. They may lose respect for their teachers. It may also pave the way for staffroom politics and thus render the system useless. Also it may lead to students being penalized for having given bad grades to some teacher. They may have to face the consequences for having dared to give low grades. But with certain conditions and modifications, it can be made useful and free of faults. First of all, grading should be done by students who are above 10 yrs of age since those who are less than 10 may not understand the process very well. Secondly, students should be asked to mention the reasons for giving the grades to respective teachers. Grading process should include the parents to be part of it to make the grading meaningful. The reflection of the parents’ wisdom in the grades will make the system as useful as it can be. Their involvement will make the children more responsible towards the whole procedure. It is also very important to consider the parameters of grading. This includes his/her behavior-helping or rude, language – polite or abusive, temper, the way he keeps the class disciplined, his punctuality, utilization of time, paying attention to the whole class and not some students in particular and fair attitude to all students. A detailed grading system would ensure that all relevant points are being reported and the problematic areas are being brought to notice in a specific and direct way. Thus the entire score of the teacher will not suffer because of one wrong trait. It will also be easy for the teachers to recognize that trait and correct it by improving upon their methods. The school administration should also see that they are able to differentiate the right feedback from the wrong feedback. Thus the students, parents and the school head should collectively and responsibly grade the teachers in a fair way. It is a promising concept and will yield surprisingly good results if refined and applied with the right conditions. The future of the country depends upon how well the students are nurtured when they are in their formative years. The system of grading of teachers may prove to be a boon for the institutions who aim to nurture the the future of the nation.
Advantages of Students Being allowed to Grade Their Teachers
• It allows teachers to see how they are doing: if students can provide feedback, their teachers can assess what is and what is not working and hopefully improve.
• It makes teachers accountable: teachers should be able to foster a learning environment with the proper knowledge, attitude, sensitivity, maturity, enthusiasm, and judgment. The only way to find out if they can deliver is through student feedback.
• Emphasize feedback instead of grades: giving a letter grade of A, B, or C tells you nothing about how the teacher performed in class. Feedback instead of grade allows the student to provide criticism so that the teacher can improve their methods.
• Evaluate teaching skills: teachers are often evaluated based on their knowledge of the subject but rarely on their teaching skills. Are they able to explain the lessons well? Are students learning something valuable? Student feedback might provide insightful information on how teaching skills can be improved.
• Improve the student-teacher relationship: allowing constructive feedback can make students feel more respected. It can also help students feel more comfortable around their teachers while enabling teachers to understand better and help their students.
By students having the ability to grade teachers, it allows teachers to see their progress and be able to make their class more enjoyable for the students. The more the students are into the class the more their grades improve. The teachers are accountable for making an environment for students to learn, and they should know if they’re doing a great job or not. Yes, some kids may be too immature to evaluate their teachers, but having a kid’s input on how their teacher is performing in the classroom may be better than an adult supervisor. Teachers need to know how the ones they’re teaching feel about their style. If you have more than half of the class sleeping, then maybe that’s an indication that the lesson is boring. Also, by allowing students to grade teachers, it develops a better environment for the kids to learn more and teachers to teach in a way the kids can understand. The only way this concept may not be developed into the school system is if the children are not serious about grading their teachers. Some students may have a bias against their teacher and give them a bad grade because they’re failing in the class. Others might not care about the concept at all. If this was the case, then there should be a compromise. Instead of grading their teachers, the students can give feedback. Feedback helps the teacher to improve their methods to become a better teacher and develop different styles of teaching. Feedback can also help the teachers and students be more on the same page. The more teachers and students are on the same page, the more the environment in the classroom improves. The class can go from being a sleeping place to a place of vibrant discussions and lectures. While no one likes to take criticism, meaningful and constructive feedback might be able to help teachers improve and evolve their craft.
(The author a teacher of J&K School Education Department is presently posted at Govt High School Brakpora Anantnag. Views are his own)
CUCET – an entrance to seek admission in 54 universities across India
Ankit Kapoor
Being one of the major reforms introduced to the Indian Education system in the recent times, the Central Universities common entrance test (CUCET) is an All-India test for admission various Under-graduate/Integrated, Post-Graduate and research programs in Central/State Universities of India. Having a major change in this academic year, CUCET has been named the common entrance test for admissions to 54 central universities. It is anticipated that the CUCET will be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Recently, Delhi University has also hinted to conduct the admission process for the Academic year 2021 through CUCET and based on class XII marks. Though it is known that CUCET is not an entirely unfamiliar entrance test but the central universities have been conducting it until the last year for admissions. While the major difference would be that the earlier version of CUCET were conducted in the offline mode and now the proposal is to conduct the test as a Computer Based Test (CBT), which, with complete details of the exam is expected to be revealed soon. Various suggestions were recommended under the New Education Policy (NEP, some of which were to change the current setup of 10+2 to 5+3+3+4. The graduation was also modified to 4 year program with various exit points for the student. If a student exits the program in one year you get a graduation certificate, similarly, if a student exits after two years a student will get a graduation diploma. A student who completes three years gets a degree. Similarly, the CUCET was also a suggestion provided in this NEP.
Why CUCET? The new education policy 2020 proposed a common entrance test for higher education. This will scrap the current domination of marks among the students. Over a period of time, we have seen the sky-scraping cut offs of Delhi University creating a lot of pressure on the students and the parents to get the best so that they get admission in these colleges. There will be no stream instead there will be a multi-disciplinary setup with the option to choose a foreign language and more emphasis on critical thinking. This will enable students to have a varied knowledge of the subjects. For example, a student wants to pursue Math Hons with it now it is possible to take history as a subject. This is the most important recommendation of the new education policy called multi-disciplinary.
If a student exits the program in one year you get a graduation certificate, similarly, if a student exits after two years a student will get a graduation diploma. A student who completes three years gets a degree. Similarly, the CUCET was also a suggestion provided in this NEP.
The expected CUCET approach: The Computer based aptitude test will test the students on
a. Verbal Aptitude
b. Logical Reasoning
c. Quantitative Aptitude
The CUCET entrance test will be compulsory for the students who seek admission to all the universities, and experts believe that it is absolutely the need of the hour to introduce a common admission test for all the universities. It is very important for the following reasons:
a. The rising cut-offs of the universities create unnecessary pressure on the students
b. Equal Opportunities to all the students
c. This will enable the students to understand the importance of APTITUDE BUILDING and will make them market ready.
d. The quality of students will get enhanced
e. This will aim to give students holistic development
This change of conducting one exam is the change for good and will allow students to experience equal opportunity in the real sense. For this, students need to continuously strive towards honing their skills and understand the importance of aptitude building
(The author is Managing Director – Pratham Test Prep. Views are his own)
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