* Overemphasis on grades and marks: Despite aiming to reduce pressure, the system often led to an overemphasis on grades and marks, especially with the introduction of grades in report cards. The continuous assessment components sometimes added to the overall pressure rather than reducing it. Parents and students still focused heavily on the final grade.
* Teacher workload: The CCE system required teachers to spend significant time on formative assessments, record-keeping, and documentation. This substantially increased their workload without commensurate increases in resources or support. The extensive paperwork often took away from actual teaching time.
* Lack of standardization and objectivity: The subjectivity involved in formative assessments, especially in areas like creativity and participation, raised concerns about fairness and consistency across different teachers and schools. Different teachers might have varying interpretations of assessment criteria, leading to inconsistent grading.
* Administrative burden: Implementing and managing the CCE system efficiently required substantial administrative resources and infrastructure. Schools, especially those with limited resources, struggled with the additional logistical demands.
* Limited focus on higher-order thinking skills: While aiming for holistic development, the emphasis on continuous assessment sometimes overshadowed the development of higher-order thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, and critical thinking. Formative assessments often focused on rote learning and recall rather than deeper understanding.
* Data management challenges: The large volume of data generated by CCE presented significant challenges for data management and analysis. Effective utilization of the collected data for improvement was often lacking.
* Implementation inconsistencies: The system's implementation varied across schools, depending on factors like resources, teacher training, and administrative support. This led to inconsistencies in the quality and effectiveness of the CCE system.
* Reduced emphasis on summative assessments: Some critics argued that the decreased importance given to summative assessments (final exams) might have negatively impacted students' preparedness for higher education. While formative assessments are valuable, strong summative assessments are important for benchmarking and indicating readiness for the next level.
It's important to note that many of these disadvantages stemmed from implementation challenges rather than inherent flaws in the philosophy of continuous and comprehensive evaluation. A well-designed and adequately supported CCE system could potentially avoid many of these issues. The CBSE eventually phased out the CCE system in its original form, addressing some of these concerns.