Recently, annual results of 10th and 12th classes were declared. A sizeable number of students have made transition to the next grade. Still the emphasis is laid on the grades achieved by the student in the examination, which unfortunately assesses the content rather than competencies. The problem in assessing the content fostering rote learning or cramming up of information which now is considered as an obsolete skill. What really we are celebrating then? The parents, teachers, institutions, and relatives attribute the success of the child based on the score he/she acquires in exams, which evaluate the amount of content student has memorized and is supposed to vomit out in a two –hour pen paper test. Is this the only tool to assess the level of acquisition of skills?

The tag line of NEP 2020 is transition from content to competencies. How the competencies will be nurtured when they are not even assessed? Nature of assessment decides the type of pedagogy to be employed by the teacher. When the assessment evaluates retention of content, obviously teacher will encourage overdosing of the content. Why the teacher will re-direct his pedagogy then? The teacher always directs his classroom teaching learning transaction to ensure his students do fairly well in the year end examinations. The acquisition of 21st century skills will not be realized unless the teacher shifts away from traditional approaches of teaching learning: he has to shun the dry-mouthed chalk and talk pedagogical approach and embrace inclusive and newer approaches of pedagogy to let the realization of age –appropriate competencies. This wouldn’t be possible unless and until there is paradigm shift in the assessment landscape. Besides evaluating the........

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