Forty schools in the country were listed among the top 10 performing schools in 2012, according to the school performance rankings. The schools including primary, middle secondary and higher secondary schools were divided into four categories.
The annual ranking of schools was declared at four levels from Pre-Primary to the third standard under the primary level; IV to VI, VII to X under middle secondary; and XI to XII under higher secondary. Community primary schools, however, did not make it to the 2012 list.
The school Performance Management System is used as a tool to measure and improve the performance of schools across the country. The measurement comprises of School Performance Scorecards, School Self Assessment and Annual School Improvement Plan.
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…we look at not only those who made it up but also those who made significant progress from a certain level of performance in previous year to how they did in 2012. So we are not only looking at those who are not doing that well but those who are not making significant progress in between”.
Thakur Singh Powdyel
Education Minister
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The performances have been graded based on three areas: academic scorecard, good practices scorecard, and the GNH scorecard.
Academic scorecard assesses a school’s performance against student academic outcomes. Good practices scorecards highlight, the innovations and improvements that school and teachers have introduced to better their performance. And the GNH scorecard measures a school’s performance based on elements like social greenery and environmental greenery.
The Education Minister, Thakur Singh Powdyel, said the initiative has encouraged gradual improvement in schools, who were not doing well before. He also said that in most systems around the world, assessment is based on intellectual performances and leaves out other important criteria.
Lyonpo Thakur Singh Powdyel added that students are not only pupils learning academic subjects to improve their scores, but also to be better human beings in society.
The schools that made it to the top 10 will be recognised with awarding of certificates.
The Education Ministry initiated the system of assessing the performance of students over three years ago.
