| Abstract: |
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 marks a decisive shift in Indian school education from rote, summative testing toward competency-based, formative, and holistic assessment practices designed to measure conceptual understanding, critical thinking, and real-world application of knowledge. This paper empirically examines the implementation of Competency-Based Assessment (CBA) in secondary schools of Ujjain district, Madhya Pradesh, focusing on the extent of adoption, the readiness of teachers, infrastructural constraints, and the perceptions of students and administrators. Using a mixed-methods survey design covering government and private secondary schools, the study collects data on teacher training exposure, assessment tool usage, digital infrastructure availability, stakeholder perception, and learning outcome trends. The findings indicate that while awareness of CBA principles is comparatively high among teachers, actual classroom-level implementation remains uneven, constrained chiefly by inadequate training, high student-teacher ratios, resource gaps in rural and semi-urban schools, and continued reliance on traditional examination formats. Nonetheless, the study identifies notable prospects, including growing institutional support, digital initiatives such as DIKSHA, and PARAKH-led capacity building, which together create a foundation for gradual but sustained transition. The paper concludes that successful CBA implementation in Ujjain will depend on targeted teacher professional development, equitable resource allocation, and continuous monitoring aligned with national assessment frameworks, thereby linking local classroom practice to the broader policy vision of NEP 2020. |
