‘No Child In Pre-School Should Be Made To Give Any Written Or Oral Exam’, Says NCERT

Terming written or oral tests in pre-school as a harmful and undesirable practice, the the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has said that no child in pre-school should be made to give such exams, reports The New Indian Express.

According to the report, the NCERT, which is the curriculum developing body of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), has said that the purpose of evaluation at the pre-school stage is not to label a child as “pass” or “fail”.

"On no account, should children be made to take any form of test or examination either oral or written. The purpose of evaluation at the pre-school stage is not to label a child as 'pass' or 'fail'," a senior NCERT official said.

"Currently we have in the country, pre-school programmes ranging from those that put children to a dull and monotonous routine to those where children are exposed to structured formal learning, often in English, made to do tests and homework, and denied their right to play. These are undesirable further and harmful practice that results from misguided parental aspiration," the official added.

As part of its “guidelines for pre-school education”, the NCERT has listed do’s and dont’s on how assessment should be carried out and reported in pre-schools.

According to the guidelines issued, progress of each child needs to be assessed on a continuous basis different tools and techniques like anecdotal records, checklists, portfolios and interactions with other children.