CCE stands for Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation. This is the term give to a new education system in India. CCE has been implemented in classes 9th and 10th all over India in schools which follow the CBSE guidelines. This system has been initiated by Mr. Kapil Sibal, the minister of Human Resource development in India. CCE has been started to improve the quality of Education and was meant to lessen the burden of studies on Students. It was implemented in the later half of 2009 on students of the 9th class at that time.
The system preceding the CCE was the "Board Examination" system. There was one final board examination conducted throughout the country which would be marked by different teacher. This was to be given by all students of CBSE in Class 10. This earlier system has been criticized due to the lack of any real overall assessment and the complete focus being on getting marks in one final exam and not on overall quality education. The Earlier system also resulted in many students committing suicide, which is common in India these days.
CCE has been a measure to relieve the students of tension and stress. CCE has been thought as a better set of innovations and ideas, many of them taken from other Education systems. The CCE system divides the whole session into two terms. Each term comprises of one Summative Assessment (SAs) and two Formative Assessments(FAs). Formative Assessments refer to projects, small worksheets, group discussions and practical activities. SAs are simply examinations. SA examination papers are sent to each school by the CBSE.
A major difference between the earlier system and the CCE one is that answer sheets of students are not marked by teachers from other schools, but rather their own teachers. This does mean that the student does not remain anonymous but it has also been said that it is better as the teacher would be able to understand the child's work better while marking. The class 10 in India is extremely important for students, as this is when they are supposed to opt for their specific streams.
Most schools in India offer three streams, which are the Humanities, Commerce and Science. These streams are allotted to students on the basis of their marks in each subject. CCE implies that marks from CCE from Class 9 and Class 10 of the student be combined and reflected in a common mark sheet. This gives equal importance to both the classes. CCE involves Assessments throughout the year which means that students have to work hard throughout the year and not just the exams and this was an important idea behind the CCE system.
The Board examinations, which CCE replaced, were supposed to be optional, and thus students have been given a choice between SA-2 or Board examinations. The weightage for Exams is also greater in the CCE system as sixty per cent of the weightage is given to SAs. Thus, CCE is also similar to the earlier system in some aspects. Question 3. How have the parents and students responded to CCE? Answer 3. Initially, there was a lot of apprehension and fear among the students but teachers were able to induce confidence in them.
Parents were also apprehensive since there would be no board exams in the new system. A year has passed and students and parents have started to accept the new system and realise its benefits. Answer 3. The feedback of parents has been excellent as they observe the change in the mindset and attitude of thier children. This confidence level is what is needed in today’s world to establish ones identity. What is its aim? 1. To decrease students’ stress of board exams 2. To introduce a uniform and comprehensive pattern of education for children all across the country
