Internal assessment scheme discussed

"The introduction of project work, worth 10 marks, will be a major problem for teachers as well as students," said Principal S G Chitale of Somani College, Chowpatty. For teachers, it is a tremendous burden as the teacher-student ratio is as high as 1:80/100. For students, in a total learning period of not more than eight months per year, the time taken to complete one project is actually over a month. Science students will be more severely affected as they also have to worry about practical examinations, saidPrincipal Chitale.

"Readymade projects will become available in the market since the project work is done in private and the students are expected to submit the project for each subject, which is practically not viable," observed Principal P Unnikrishnan from Vivek College of Commerce, Goregaon.

Deshmukh observed that the principals had put up some suggestions on project work evaluation, which she would discuss at length at another meeting on April 3. "Five principals and five teachers will attend this meeting where we will analyse the suggestions. Then I will table it before the Academic Council meeting on April 16," said Deshmukh.

Some of the suggestions on project work evaluation were that subjects like Economics, Business Communication, Accounting and their tutorials can be evaluated as an assignment. Failing this, a group of students, rather than individuals, may be asked to do a project and then present it at a seminar, Deshmukh explained.

Dr Chandra overruled any considerations on altering theprevalent 30-70 system (30 marks for terminals and 70 marks in the finals) to a three-part evaluation system of 20-20-60. He added that discussions are on about the break-up of 30 marks. As for the varsity’s stand on sick cases, Chandra maintained that it formed a part of an ongoing discussion process.

The internal assessment scheme, said to be a step towards continuous evaluation of degree students, has not been received favourably by candidates as they now have to score a minimum of 20 per cent marks in the terminal exams in order to appear for the final exams in that subject.

Principal D B Kadam of Bhavan’s College, Andheri, objected strongly to the Performance Criteria wherein students failing to score six marks out of 30 cannot continue. "These students should be given a chance and their performance should be evaluated on the basis of the aggregate marks that they get out of 100 marks (30+70)," he said.

Another point raised by Principal Kadam was that unlike unsuccessful students of FYBA andFYBCom, there is no provision for unsuccessful FYBSc students to apply for Distance Education. The university, he added, had agreed to table these suggestions before the next Academic Council meeting.

Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court refused to grant interim relief to students who had recently filed a petition against the internal assessment. The next hearing of the case is on April 16.