'Burdened' schoolchild? Wait and watch

PATNA: School-going tiny tots and their parents have reasons to sing paeans to CBSE as the board has come out with some "pleasant" suggestions: That children up to class II should be spared from the burden of carrying schoolbags everyday and doing homework back home.
Also, they should not be failed till they are studying in class V. But, alas, the "suggestions" do not seem to have gone down well with city''s school authorities.
"Students, if allowed to pass without any assessment, will not be able to face challenges in their career later," St Michael''s High School principal Father Peter told ToI on Monday.
Already in St Michael''s, he said, a student is not failed unless he is too weak at studies.
Fr Peter said the entire teaching methodology needs to be revised if the CBSE suggestions are followed in toto.
"You cannot experiment with a child''s education," he said.
Echoing Fr Peter''s views, Patna City-based Infant Jesus School secretary Anne Joseph asked, "How would you differentiate between a good and weak student if everyone irrespective of his performance is passed?"
How would one encourage a student, exceptionally good at studies, by putting him in the same bracket?
And how would one pay more attention to a weak student? she further asked.
However, Loyola High School''s Brother Joby shares CBSE concern for kids.
The current examination system does not help the child sharpen his intellect. "They just mug up notes and vomit them in the examination hall.
The crammed stuff vanishes once the exams are over," he said.
Eminent educationist Ramji Prasad Singh, a former principal of Teachers'' Training College and president of All India Teacher Educators'' Conference, would also like the schools to accept the CBSE advice.
"We have to achieve the goal of providing compulsory education to children up to 14 years of age. A major reason for dropouts has been that many students fail to make it to higher classes."
If the student is passed, the government or the parents won''t have to bear extra financial burden, he said.
Not many schools, however, would say "no" to "no-homework-upto-class II" suggestion. Schoolbags at schools would "add to the already overworked management", felt some school officials.
Time for kids, moms and papas to wait and watch. So far, many schools said they have not received the CBSE advisory.