WhatsApp turns into most used platform for internal assessment

A group of students take selfies after submitting the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam form in their school, Samta Vidya Mandir at Kandivli. The SSC exam was cancelled later. File pic/Satej Shinde

Whatsapp has been the most used platform for assessments in schools amid the pandemic. This was found in the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) survey, launched to understand the possibility of internal assessment for SSC students, since the traditional exam was cancelled.

As the findings show different methods used by secondary schools to continue assessment amid the pandemic, WhatsApp emerged the winner with over 12,298 of 12,931 schools (no. of schools that participated in the survey) making use of it. This was closely followed by offline and online tests with 9,930 and 9,758 schools responding positively for it respectively. Workbooks and online sessions followed after, with 8,402 and 8,402 schools respectively. At least 7,352 schools also did assessments through home visits by teachers.

How WhatsApp helped

Explaining the use of WhatsApp, Jaywant Kulkarni, a teacher from Gandhi Balmandir School in Kurla, said, "WhatsApp is the most accessible platform for many. Each household has at least one smartphone with access to WhatsApp which the child can use once questions are sent on it, which is not possible in other platforms. Moreover, multiple children from a single household or locality can use that one WhatsApp number for academics. This is why WhatsApp has certainly come out as the most used platform."

Adding to this, Pushpa Gawai, a parent from a slum in Borivli said, "Both my children use my husband's smartphone in the evening to study. In fact, their cousins living in the same neighbourhood too have access to the same smartphone. They take turns to access the group chats of their classmates and get recorded study material as well as tests sent on it."

Also Read: Refund SSC exam registration fee: Student and teacher organisations

SCERT's surveys

The total number of secondary schools is much higher than those which responded in the survey, but according to SCERT, even 50 per cent of these schools responding to it gives a clear picture. There are a total of 25,927 secondary schools across Maharashtra.

The survey was launched to understand if internal assessment can be an option to score students of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC), whose exam had to be cancelled considering the pandemic. As the state is brainstorming over how SSC results can be declared, two online surveys were floated by the SCERT: one to understand how many schools have engaged in internal assessments during this year of virtual learning and in which format; and the second to understand the willingness to appear for a Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission to class XI, for which the SSC score was the sole deciding factor until now.

"A total 65 per cent of respondents have shared their willingness to appear for CET for class XI admissions, and 85 per cent schools have responded that internal assessment can also be done for SSC results. But delving deeper, when we found out which platforms secondary schools have used for internal assessment, this data came forward," said Vikas Garad, deputy director of SCERT. There are some schools which have held offline tests, too, which according to SCERT, could be from the time in November to January when some schools had reopened for a short while, or also by sending question papers home.

12,931
No. of schools which participated in the survey