Srinagar, Apr 19: Teachers and lecturers on Monday debated the proposal of the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education to introduce “single-paper scheme” in its examinations from this academic session.
 While some teachers advocated that the scheme be adopted but with “cut in syllabus”, a majority of them said students need to be consulted before any final decision was taken.
 The teachers, not more than 20, were speaking at a day-long interaction titled “Single Paper Scheme: Need and challenges” organized by the Academic Division of the BOSE here.
 “Kashmir can’t be a laboratory for every such experiment. The move is completely unjust. All boards have not introduced the single-paper scheme yet. Our board cannot be equated with CBSE or any other board. Without discussing the pros and cons with students, implementing it from this academic session would be unfair,” said Muhammad Usman, president of the Plus-Two Lecturers Forum.
 He said such steps cannot be taken without giving a thought to the completion of syllabus, and the number of working days. “In CBSE they get 280 working days against our 180. So we can’t be compared with them. It is unfortunate that some people are just dictating policies to our educational system,” he remarked.
 Surprisingly, everybody in the function accepted that students were important stakeholders in such decisions, yet not a single student could be seen among the participants.
 A teacher, Zarina Qayoom, said before implementing the scheme, it is important that the BOSE distributes “mock question papers” among the student fraternity. “We can’t impose anything on students all of a sudden. So it is important that we hear the students before taking such a decision from this academic session,” she suggested.
 However, the former director, Academics, BOSE, Dr Meraj-ud-Din, asserted that the decision can be implemented from this academic session only, provided BOSE frames the “format of the question paper now” and distributes the same among students. “Let the BOSE frame 100 marks question paper now and see the reaction. Either way we have to implement it, so why not today only?” he asked, asserting that such moves could not be  taken at the fag end of the academic session.
 During the function, other teachers suggested increase in time-slot for examinations, cut-in syllabus, and complete transparency about the issue, if the scheme has to be implemented effectively.
 The Jammu and Kashmir Teachers Forum, an amalgam of about 1 lakh teachers, however said it had not been consulted about the issue. “We are an important stakeholder, both as teachers and parents. So we should be taken into confidence before such a major policy decision is taken. We cannot let the student community suffer,” the Forum president, Abdul Qayoom Wani, told Greater Kashmir.
 The BOSE joint secretary, General, A K Sen, who inaugurated the 2-day workshop said, “the single-paper scheme is prevalent all over India. It is the need of the hour to remain at par with national standards,” he said. “The idea is to seek opinion from stakeholders so that the change is brought about in a systematic way.”
 Others who participated in the interaction included KM Lone, ZEO Pampore, Jan Mudasir Gul, Lecturer, BHSS Pampore, besides senior BOSE officials, including Abdul Aziz Hajini, Academic Officer and Academic Officer (English), Naila Neelofar.
 Meanwhile, a handout issued by the BOSE later said: “The general consensus that emerged from the programme was that the J&K should adopt a single paper scheme in case of Class X from current session and for Class XII from next session.”

Lastupdate on : Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:00:00 IST