SCHools unHaPPy Cbse sCraPPed re-evaluaTIon
Say students should not suffer due to mistakes teachers make during evaluation.
To minimise the shortage of police personnel on the field, around 5,000 personnel of Delhi Police have been transferred from administrative units to operational units this fiscal. The move is also meant to allow those who have been working on desks for a while to get back on field. These transfers took place across all ranks in various departments of Delhi Police. To maintain transparency, Delhi Police is also going to digitise the transfer records so that there is no delay in the transfer process once the stipulated tenure of the personnel ends.
A senior police official said, “We can’t say that there was a surplus in administrative posts and that is why we were able to transfer so many people to field work. But yes, since there are less people working on desks now, the workload on some is bound to increase. Earlier, the administrative work which was done by two or three people is being done by one person now. The others will be on the field now.”
A large number of people have been transferred to operational units like PCR, traffic etc. to increase the number of vigilant feet on the streets. Speaking about the large-scale transfers, Praveer Ranjan, Joint Commissioner, Headquarters, said, “More police on the ground increases our visibility. Delhi Police is trying to bridge the current shortage and fill the positions. The focus is on improving the operational staff, traffic units and PCR. These transfers are not only meant to make the city streets safer, they also serve as an opportunity for our personnel to gain more experience on the field.”
Earlier, sources had confirmed that there were a significant number of policemen with field experience who had been working on desks in police stations for a while. However, the recent transfers and promotions are an attempt to change that picture.
Explaining the social relevance of the recent promotions, Ranjan said, “A few days ago, 2,020 constables were promoted to the rank of head constable. In all, 4,800 people in the force had been promoted; so many of them had been waiting for these promotions for years. The benefit of such promotions to the police force is that we have more people who are eligible to participate in investigations now. That leads to an increase in the pace of work, but apart from that, these promotions bring a huge change in the social standing of those promoted. To be promoted to positions of head constable or a sub-inspector is a big deal for people in the police force who come from humble backgrounds.”
Other than transfers and promotions, Delhi Police is also aiming to recruit 16,000 more people in the force by next year. Apart from recruitments, efforts are being made to increase police resources and bring in more patrolling cars, bikes and other paraphernalia like water cannons and arms required for policing under stressful circumstances by operational units.
Sources in the Establishment Board said, “We have rules when it comes to transfers and promotions within the police force, but often these are delayed. Transparency in the maintenance of records will ensure efficient implementation. Standing order 289 that provides guidelines to be followed for transfers is now being followed in letter and spirit. Digitising the records will ensure timely transfers.”
The deficiencies in the overall evaluation system of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) have come to the fore with a majority of schools slamming the CBSE’s move to scrap the re-evaluation facility for Class 12 students from next year, terming the move unjust to students who would end up being a victim of “human error”.
Earlier this week, R. K. Chaturvedi, CBSE chairperson, had announced that the governing body had given its assent to the scrapping of the existing re-evaluation facility, but a system would be put in a place so that “genuine cases” get looked into. Students until now could seek fresh evaluation of their Board exam answer sheets in 11 subjects and were allowed to apply for a copy of their answer sheets and challenge the evaluation of up to 10 questions by paying Rs 200 for each.
Analysing the implication of the CBSE’s move, Sumit Vohra, founder of admissionsnursery.com, a Delhibased education portal, said, “Class 12 board exam results decide a student’s future in the contemporary cut-throat world of competition where every decimal counts when it comes to getting an admission in country’s best colleges. It is unfair for students if the re-evaluation system is scrapped.”
Priya Dhall, principal, Dehradun Public School, Ghaziabad, said, “Last year, over 10 students in my school had been granted 7-25 marks more after reevaluation. The process of evaluation prescribed by CBSE includes several levels of examiners who check a single answer sheet. First the answer sheet is evaluated by an examiner, then by the assistant head examiner. The head examiner is responsible for cross-checking the answer sheets checked by the examiners, but is not liable to go through all the sheets. So the head examiner checks only 8-10 sheets evaluated by every examiner.”
Dhall added, “My experience is that a lot of teachers do not take this job seriously. There is too much pressure on them since a single teacher has to check hundreds of answer sheets on a single day to meet the deadline.”
Speaking about the “injus- tice” to students, S.K. Bhattacharya, president, Action Committee for Private Unaided Schools in Delhi, said, “This is a matter of transparency. If the board feels that their evaluation system is foolproof, then allowing re-evaluation should not be a problem. Until and unless these mistakes, which are human, are corrected, students will suffer.”
However, Ameeta Mulla Wattal, principal, Spring Dales School, Pusa Road, supported the CBSE’s move, but criticised the shortcomings in the current evaluation process. Wattal said, “The re-evaluation process has become exhaustive over the years. Earlier, re-evaluation meant looking for calculation mistakes only. But in 2014, the three-tier re-evaluation system was introduced which allowed students to see their evaluated answer sheets as well.” Wattal highlighted the lack of uniformity in allotment of marks in board exams and questioned who decides how much marks should be allotted to an answer. Wattal said, “The immediate need is to revise our evaluation process. That is where the fault lies.”