Maharashtra International board: Exams in 81 schools before Diwali break

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Students in 81 schools across the state, affiliated to the newly-established Maharashtra International Education Board (MIEB), will write their first exam before the Diwali vacation, officials from the board said.

The schools, which started in June, conduct classes from the pre-primary section to Class 3. While they will be allowed to set their own exam timetable, the question papers for all the classes would be sent by the board.

“Our board of studies, which was involved in the process of framing the syllabus, will set the question papers, as its members are well-acquainted with the curriculum,” said an MIEB official.

As a part of the newly-formed curriculum, the board offers activity- and experience-based learning to the students, an approach that aims to gradually replace textual and theory-heavy learning. With the board’s focus being on conceptual learning, students will be tested on activity-based questions.

“The questions for the exam will be based on the concepts taught to the students and will largely be application based. The board has set certain themes to be taught every month on the basis of which the learning outcomes of students will be tested,” said the official.

As opposed to textbooks in every subject, children enrolled under MIEB have only one textbook, explaining to them the basic concepts in their surroundings, along with teaching them English and maths at an elementary level. The text for some concepts is trilingual: English, Marathi and Sanskrit. Apart from the biannual exams, the board has also asked the schools to evaluate students every month, on the basis of their behaviour and performance in the class, in accordance with the set learning outcomes. Each class has a strength of 25-30 students, so that each student gets individual attention from the teachers.

“We have prepared an observation sheet for each class and have submitted it to the board to see if a child understands what is being taught in the class and to highlight the areas of improvement,” said Rachana Shinde, headmistress, Holy Cross High School in Kurla, which is one of the three schools from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region to be affiliated with the MIEB.

Meanwhile, schools under the state board will have to wrap up their exams early, as many teachers will be deployed for the election duty on October 21. “We plan to finish exams by second week of October, so that teachers are free for poll duty,” said the principal of a Malad school.