Do not label, compare students with peers: NCERT

Teachers and parents should not "label" students on the basis of their performance or compare their grades with those of others, the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) has said.

"Evaluation often is thought as labelling or comparing performance of children against one another through marks, grades or any other means by pointing out their weaknesses, which only humiliates them and lowers their self-esteem," the NCERT said in fresh guidelines for Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE).

"Comparing the performance of a child with her/his previous performance, instead of comparing it with that of her/his peers, can be used to identify her/his learning and developmental needs (and) to provide the required support without any humiliation. This not only enhances learning but also boosts their self-confidence," the guidelines said.

The education council also said CCE should not be seen as the responsibility of teachers alone.

"CCE may not be seen as the sole responsibility of teachers. It reduces their burden as it places the onus of learning on different stakeholders, thus, making it a collective responsibility of all, especially parents, children and teachers in addition to the principal, head teacher and others," it said.

"Children's previous knowledge and experiences need to be acknowledged and used to develop new learning. During teaching, learning and assessing children, it is important to appreciate the differences amongst them and respect the fact that they will understand and respond in different ways while learning," the NCERT guidelines said.