BY Sineen Qureshi
The introduction of grading system and Continuous and Comprehensive Exam(CCE) have proved beneficial for students according to the Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal. Considering doing away with the Class 10th Board examination (CBSE) and setting up an alternative evaluation system based on percentiles, not percentages is indeed going to be a path breaking step for Indian education system.
Such grading system will indeed pay off dividends in making the tests stress free and reducing the rate of suicides among students. The Class X results in CBSE this year has been better than last year, as quoted by the systems officials. While 89.28 per cent students cleared the Class X test, the pass rate was 88.84 per cent last year. Mr. Sibal took a bold step last year by deciding to abolish Class X board exam from 2011. Besides, he replaced grades by marks in the Class X exam in CBSE.
The ministry feels that since the child moves up from Class 9 to Class 10 in the same school and there is no reason, for either the student or the parents to get traumatized by the 10th Board exam which, make it unnecessary to have a board exam. The Right to Education (RTE) Act will pave the way for state education boards replacing the Class 10 board exams with a grading system. “Under the RTE, elementary education until Class 8 is under comprehensive and continuous evaluation. Once you have that system until class 8, is no point in changing over to an exam system in Class 10 in India as decided by the authorities. The major changes being introduced in school education include a uniform syllabus for all central and state boards from next year. The human resource development ministry is also pitching for a single national-level entrance test for Class 12 students from science and commerce streams applying for undergraduate courses from 2013.
The act pitches for classroom assessment of students instead of an annual exam. The Central Board of Secondary Education introduced a grading system for this year’s Class 10 board exams and will make the exam optional from next year.
It is assumed and stated in the philosophy of the current Indian educational system that grading encourages learning and without it students would not study. The system is based on fear: the basic motive for students to study is fear of low grades. Furthermore, because the grades are the main criteria for passing courses, students do not study: they just develop methods of cheating. Thus, without learning the subject, they keep passing.
Advantage of such type of education system is that, the suicide rate of students due to exam stress has come down this year and the system has become more student friendly too. Many seemed skeptical about the approach and its benefits but the results this year have put all doubts to rest. More state boards will be influenced to take up this kind of grading system in the near future. In this way, the course content is also likely to change and exams would be aimed at testing the talents of students. The Indian education system which is marks-centered and examination-based is a source of trauma for both parents and children. Knowledge, like everything else, should be user-friendly, and the acquisition of knowledge should not be a stressful exercise. This will rather help students decide which stream to follow in class 11 rather 
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