Concepts taught in classrooms have to be connected to real life, the director of academics of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) told school principals on Friday.
In the city for a principals’ meet, Joseph Emmanuel stressed on competency-focused education. He said in 2024, the Class X CBSE exams will have 50 per cent competency-based questions and Class XII 40 per cent.
“Assessment to focus on core concepts, higher order and foundational skills. Board exams to be more flexible with assessment of core concepts and competencies. That is why CBSE has made it a pointto add 10 per cent of competency-focussed questions every year in the board exams.This year there will be 50 per cent competency-focused questions in Class X and 40 per cent in Class XII,” said Emmanuel.
In 2023, there were 40 per cent of these kind of questions in Class X and 30 per cent in Class XII.
Competency-focused learning is an attempt to shift from rote learning to application-based and experiential learning, said teachers.
Emmanuel was one of the speakers at the West Bengal CBSE Principals Sahodaya Meet on Saturday organised by the Kolkata Sahodaya.
The theme was The Changing face of Education in the Light of NEP 2020, which was attended by about 100 principals and around 300 vice-principals and academic coordinators.
During a 90-minute presentation, Emmanuel said classroom teaching has to be aligned with real-life situations and there was a gap that had to be overcome.
“All the theorems, concepts we teach in the classroom should be connected to real life. The learner will never forget and the learner will find learning meaningful. This is the biggest disconnect in the present scenario and we need to overcome that, “ said Emmanuel.
Competency-focused learning would help a child connect concepts and real life and they will learn the applications of the theory they have been taught in class.
Emmanuel said if students are taught about measurements, the immediate expectation from them should be that they are able to measure a table or a classroom or a playground.
“The quality of questions developed by teachers is also an indication of the level of understanding and mastery of a teacher on the subject and how well the teacher is able to connect the classroom transaction and learning outcome of the learner,” said Emmanuel.
Several school principals who spoke to Metro later said they have started introducing changes in their question papers.
“Our question papers in school are being designed in a way that would make children apply their knowledge. In our school, we have even asked teachers in the primary to teach in a way that would encourage thinking and analysing,” said Loveleen Saigal, joint treasurer of the Kolkata Sahodaya and principal of Birla High School.
