There’s no denying that the assessment of the academic performance of students is at the heart of education. The test scores are used to gauge the learners’ fortes and weaknesses, and their scores certainly play an important role in the next phase of their academic lives.
But this leads to a very crucial question that comes up time and again in the world of modern education: Is academic performance the sole yardstick to measure student capabilities? Should academic performance be the only thing to focus on in ensuring the success and development of children?
As one of the top schools in Gurgaon, we, at DPS Sushant Lok, believe that academic performance is too narrow a measure to be able to solely judge the students’ abilities or skills. Besides, if we take the answer to that first question as yes, we will also have to agree to the next one. And agreeing to that would mean teaching children with the sole purpose of raising their scores, which would simply imply taking away the joys of both teaching and learning.
So now that we have given you a glimpse of our stand in this matter, let’s delve deeper into the discussion to elucidate our viewpoint further.
The changing demands of the 21st-century world
In order to not just survive but thrive in the present world, it is crucial that our children’s prowess not only remains limited to academics but instead, they focus on mastering multiple skills. After all, our highly technological, knowledge-based economy needs future professionals to possess higher thinking skills, whereby they can better analyze, infer, and compare. These are the kinds of skills that are not measured by most of the regular assessments or tests.
Furthermore, it’s essential for children to also showcase varied abilities, like values of teamwork, collaboration, people skills, and veracity, which are also the qualities that aren’t measured in any standardized test. So, even though the academic performance was considered the main benchmark of children’s capability at a certain point in time, it definitely isn’t so anymore.
Refinements in the ways of assessing student capabilities
Globally, changes are already underway in terms of educating children and assessing their abilities in a more practical way. In fact, the New Education Policy 2020, recently announced by the Government of India, is a clear indication of this shift in the focus of learning. Under the new policy, curricular and co-curricular activities will receive equal weightage, in addition to the changes to be brought in the assessments to make them more skill-based.
Thus, the earlier concepts of using academic performance as the main factor to assess the students’ abilities are gradually becoming obsolete not only across the world but also closer home, in our own country.
Young buds have a plethora of talents and skills that need to be nurtured
Being one of the top schools in Gurgaon for years has allowed us to take a closer look at the interests and abilities of our young buds. And we have frequently noticed that there are students who might leave some room for improvement in terms of their academic performance, but they are excellent in singing, dancing, painting, or any other such fields. Hence, it wouldn’t be right to berate them simply because their academic scores are not the best in the class.
This is why at DPS Sushant Lok, while we certainly focus on addressing the issues that our pupils face in terms of their academics, we also lay equal emphasis on enhancing those other wonderful inherent abilities that they have.
At the end of the day, when parents enroll their kids to DPS Sushant Lok, one of the top schools in Gurgaon, their primary goal for the young ones is twofold. Firstly, they want their children to be well-prepared for future accomplishments, and secondly, they wish the children to grow into upright and respectable individuals of the society. And, when we set out to fulfill both of these goals, paying attention solely to academic indicators of performance falls quite short of what is expected from us, as their educators.
At DPS Sushant Lok, we have always believed in the significance of ensuring the holistic development of the kids in leading them onwards to future brilliance. Therefore, even though focusing on academic performance and scholastic pursuits will always be at the forefront of our efforts for our young minds, those are not the only arenas where we monitor or encourage their development.