KOCHI: “It is good that the method is being discontinued. It makes the students lazy,” this was the first thing that every teacher had to say when asked about CBSE’s decision to discontinue with the Open Text Based Assessment (OTBA). It’s interesting to note that the students too are welcoming the move.
They say OTBA never reduced their anxiety and stress level. It rather made the entire assessment more difficult. Prima facie, teachers, students and parents in the city are appreciative of CBSE’s decision to discontinue OTBA scheme.
CBSE introduced OTBA method for the students of class IX and XI two years ago. Under the scheme students were allowed to carry textbooks to their examination halls. But the board has decided to discontinue the system after it came to fore that the practice is hindering the development of students’ critical abilities.
OTBA was introduced by CBSE in Class IX for Hindi, English, Mathematics, Science and Social Science. For Class XI OTBA was introduced for a few subjects such as Economics, Biology and Geography. Under OTBA, students were provided text materials four months in advance and they were allowed to carry the case studies to the examination hall.
An ineffective method: Teachers
Teachers and parents lauded CBSE’s new decision. “The scheme didn’t achieve its goal of encouraging independent thinking amongst students. Rather, it made them more lazy,” said Silver Hills Public School Parents Teachers Association president George Joseph.
Meanwhile, some teachers said OTBA system is more tough. “Since the purpose of this system is to develop critical thinking in students, the questions drafted by CBSE becomes more difficult in nature. Students only get hints from textbooks. It is better to follow the traditional examination method,” said Vedavyasa Vidyalayam principal A Chenthamarakshan.
A few teachers who were in favour of OTBA said it was a better method of assessment. “This system is being followed by some foreign and Indian universities. Students have to read books to become familiar with the topics and this eventually creates a reading habit in them,” said Little Daffodils School principal N Ramachandran Nair.
Logic of students
Most of the students found that the OTBA questions were tougher than those in traditional examinations. “The method was useful for subjects like Mathematics where we had to remember so many equations. But it didn’t help in other subjects including social sciences,” said Fadil Abdullah, a Plus Two student from Al-Farook Senior Secondary School.
Though the students were allowed to refer their notes or textbooks while answering questions, they say they scored less marks. “The evaluation for OTBA exams is strict compared to the closed book examination,” said Limha Majid, a class IX student of Dayapuram Residential School.