Bhubaneswar: The Odisha School and Mass Education Department has introduced a major change in the way students are evaluated in schools. Under the new system, students from Classes III to VIII in all government and government-aided schools will now have four mandatory assessments every academic year.
According to a notification issued by the Directorate of Teacher Education and SCERT, the academic year has been divided into two terms. The first term will run from April to September, while the second term will be from October to March. During the full year, students will appear for two Formative Assessments (FA1 and FA2) and two Summative Assessments (SA1 and SA2).
Each Formative Assessment will carry 25 marks per subject, and each Summative Assessment will be of 50 marks per subject. This new framework combines continuous evaluation with term-end examinations to better track students’ progress throughout the year.
For Classes I and II, schools will use a special ‘Learning Ladder Register’ to record children’s progress every month. This register will help track their skills and plan the next steps in teaching.
The department has banned any formal written examinations for these classes. Instead, teachers will track learning only through regular observations of how children participate and perform in daily classroom activities.
