Mysuru: “Though we are providing coeducation in schools, when it comes to seating, girls and boys are separated. The parents object to boys and girls sitting next to each other”, said Sreekanth, Principal, Regional Institute of Education.
With regard to gender separation in the school system, Sreekanth said, “In foreign countries, in coed schools, boys and girls sit next to each other but it’s not the same in our country where many parents object to girls and boys to it. Over a period of time, we need to change. We have to take everybody into confidence. Otherwise, the girls will not be sent to school”, added Sreekanth who had received few complaints from some of the parents in Haryana when he was in Delhi before taking charge as Principal of RIE.
Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) misconceptualized by making it part of the summative assessment:
“There has been a large increase in the failures/dropout rate after class VIII, which needs to be checked through appropriate interventions. Unlike CBSE, states have decentralised monitoring units such as DIETs, BRCs and CRCs. We will make every attempt to strengthen the capacities of teachers and teacher educators to implement CCE at school level effectively and facilitate monitoring through decentralisation. We will emphasise on various forms of assessment including self, peer and group work assessment”, added Sreekanth.
“The government and private schools are often compared without taking into consideration the nature of schooling under these two. It will be essential to study the best practices in terms of teaching, learning and assessment across the schools and help in strengthening them. As a lead teacher training Institute, the RIE will also focus on bringing together all pre-service and in-service teacher training institutions so as to converge theory and practice and have regular interaction for enriching the curriculum and its implementation. There are several schemes implemented by the states at school level and it will be our endeavour to provide them an understanding about the effectiveness of these, through evidence based research. Resource support will be provided to states in the development of textual and non-textual and audio-visual material. Concerns related to gender, inclusion and students with multiple disadvantages will be emphasised. We will also strive for the documentation and dissemination of creative and innovative teaching, learning and assessment practices in the region”, added Sreekanth.
