South Point High School students have to pledge to uphold the school’s and their teachers’ faith in them and take a set of tests without the direct supervision of teachers.
The school has sent the “code of honour” expected of students and a detailed plan to parents on the way the school will assess how much each student has learnt so far.
Parents have been requested to invigilate the tests, which will be held in the pen-and-paper mode.
Many schools in the city have been using technology to monitor students during exams but some have rested the responsibility on parents and students.
It is time to inculcate a sense of integrity in students as well, a teacher of a city school said.
“I do understand that I will be taking a set of tests to assess the learning outcome without the direct supervision of my teachers and my school. I promise that I will uphold my teachers’ faith in me and shall conduct myself with honesty.... I hope to live up to my teachers’ and parents’ expectations, now and always,” reads the code of honour sent to each student of Classes VI to XII.
They will have to read it out before the start of the tests.
The principal said in a note to parents on Tuesday: “Under these unusual and unpredictable circumstances, the collaboration between the parents and us teachers has taken a more meaningful turn, and based on that strength we hope to make... the process a complete success. Any outside help the child gets during this assessment process will only harm his or her academic progress.”
Several other city schools are relying on the cooperation of parents to conduct tests during the pandemic.
Some schools such as Modern High School for Girls and Calcutta Girls’ High School have worked out the modalities to conduct the terminal exams in September.
The exams of both these schools will be held under the supervision of parents at home. In Modern High, students will have to download the question papers, write the answers and upload the answer scripts. “Parents have to supervise the exams and create a secure environment at home. We have been speaking to our girls… if they do something academically dishonest ultimately they will harm themselves,” Damayanti Mukherjee, principal of Modern High, said.
Calcutta Girls’ High School has decided to split a question paper into sets of three and students will have to take the tests during online classes.
The school will send out a note to parents to invigilate the exams. “It will be an appeal to parents to invigilate the exams at home. We have to teach the child to be honest and responsible,” principal Basanti Biswas said.
Several teachers said the pandemic had presented an opportunity to teach children life’s lessons like discipline, responsibility and integrity.
“It is part of self-discipline and teaching students to take full responsibility of their thoughts and actions. No matter whatever circumstances or disadvantages are one will not compromise if the person considers it to be wrong,” Mukherjee said.
South Point has decided to award grades instead of marks and there will be no ranks. “While we expect students to follow what we have said, we have strategised the entire process… to take away from students any incentive to indulge in any unfair means,” Krishna Damani, trustee of South Point, said.
Apeejay Schools will follow the same principle and teachers will have to frame questions that do not have direct answers. “If parents assist their children they should know they are throwing up their children’s future,” administrator Reeta Chatterjee said.
