The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) will provide schools a 15-day window to select their assessment dates for Classes III, V, and VIII.

The assessments — a pilot project — are likely to be held in the first half of October, and the question papers will have to be downloaded onto the computer and will be different for each day.

“A 15-day window will be provided to conduct the assessments, and schools can choose their days as per their convenience and timetable,” said Joseph Emmanuel, chief executive and secretary of the CISCE.

“We are giving schools the flexibility because if they have any internal assessments during that period, they can choose their dates accordingly,” Emmanuel told Metro.

The flexibility will allow schools to choose multiple dates for one particular class. It can be held in batches or on different days, as well.

“It has to be a joyful experience. It is a diagnostic assessment that will assess the learning outcomes. If students get into any kind of preparation for these assessments,
it will fail the purpose,” said Emmanuel.

The assessments scheduled in October will be conducted in 50 schools across Bengal that include 21 in Calcutta.

Nationally, 300 schools will participate in the pilot before the assessments are rolled out across all affiliated schools in the next academic session.

“The assessments will bring out the actual competency of a student...,” said
Emmanuel.

The council has so far conducted two meetings with the schools — one on the technical aspects of implementing the pilot project and the another on the academic aspects.

“The assessments are not syllabus-based, but the concepts children have learnt throughout the year, their understanding of it, and their ability to apply it to real-life situations. It won’t be testing students on the questions given at the end of each chapter,” said Suchandra Laha, headmistress, Future Foundation School.

Future Foundation School is one of the 21 schools where the assessments will be conducted.

Laha said that schools are supposed to get a report that will help them to understand their areas of gaps and strengths.

“It will help us understand how well our students have understood the concepts and what percentage of students require help,” said Laha.

Schools will choose their days also depending upon their available infrastructure, the duration of the assessment and the number of students in a class.

“For example, for Class III, which will be a shorter duration assessment, we will be able to complete it in one day in different batches. But for Classes V and VIII, we might have to conduct it in multiple days,” said the head of a school.

Class III will have a 30-minute assessment, Class V a two-hour-and-10-minute (130 minutes) assessment, and Class VIII a three-hour (180 minutes) assessment, testing proficiencies in English, math, science and environmental science.

“There will be short gaps so that there isn’t any screen fatigue,” said a teacher.