By Express News Service HYDERABAD: The first-ever baseline test at schools run by the SCERT and Samagrah Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was ill-managed and conducted amid much chaos. Until last year, the tests were conducted by schools internally. However, the School Education Department, aiming to ensure quality of education, decided that SCERT would prepare the baseline test’s question paper. Accordingly, students of classes of 3 to 8 were to have Math and Telugu exam on Wednesday and English the following day. However, due to a delay in getting the question paper, teachers and headmasters struggled to get them printed at the last moment. “The math exam that was supposed to be conducted in the morning. It was held in the evening and the Telugu exam scheduled for the evening has been postponed to tomorrow. In the morning, we had to run around local xerox centres to print copies of the question paper as it was sent late last night,” said Chava Ravi, general secretary of State United Teachers Federation. Some teachers were asked to write the questions on the blackboard if they were unable to get the papers printed. However, the teachers said some question papers were over seven pages long. Ravi also said, “It was supposed to be a simple test to assess the basics but instead, the SCERT came up with a full-fledged examination paper for which students were not prepared.” Meanwhile, Director of School education, T Vijaya Kumar, is learnt to have said that it was the maiden effort of the department, hence they would do better next time.

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