Written and Oral exams must not be encouraged for Pre-school children: NCERT

The National Council of Educational Research and Training has said that pre-school children must not be made to appear for any kind of written or oral examination. The NCERT has termed it as a harmful practice that is undesirable resulted from misguided parental aspirations.

The NCERT stated that the purpose of evaluation at pre-school is not for labeling the child as pass or fail and on no account should a child be made to take any form of test or examination. An official from the NCERT stated that presently there are pre-school programmes in the country ranging from those which put children to a dull and monotonous routine to those which give the children an exposure to structured formal learning which is often in English. Such pre-schools also made children appear for tests and are given homework denying them the right to play. The official stated that this is an undesirable practice that will further harm and is resulted from misguided parental aspirations.

The NCERT has listed dos and don’ts on how to assess and report in pre-schools as part of its guideline for pre-school education. It has been stated that each child’s progress must be assessed on c continuous basis using different tools and techniques including anecdotal records, checklists, portfolios, and interactions with other children.

The teachers at pre-schools are supposed to make a brief written note based on observations of the children as to how and where the children spend time, their social relationships, use of languages, modes of interactions, information about their health and nutritional habits. The folder of each child must be made available to the parents and the children to view and must also remain with the pre-school until the time of the child’s transition to another pre-school programme of the primary school. It has also been directed by the NCERT that the parents must receive written and verbal progress summary report of the child at least twice a year.

The guidelines given by the NCERT have also defined the parameters for the infrastructure, qualifications and the salary for the pre-school staff, the admission process and records, and registers to be maintained along with monitoring and supervision mechanisms and the importance of coordination and convergence with the community and the parents.

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