Reforms needed in the system of Examination
This article suggests some essential modifications in our present method of examination.
It is an important argument here that actually carrying out these modifications is not a very difficult task. Seconly, these reforms can be carried out on modular basis.
Most importantly, any investment in Human Resource Development will pay far richer dividends hence we should be spending more efforts on carrying out these reforms.
The erstwhile department of education was renamed the Department of Human Resources. We however, have not yet started treating our masses as resources; we neither bother about their deployment nor as to how to use them for further improving the resources for example, how to utilize them for reducing illiteracy. Among the many possible reforms that are called for, I treat reforms in the system of examination as most easily doable with an ingenious application of tools made available to us by the present day technology.
Our present system of examination has evolved by keeping printing technology at the center of all logistic solutions. This is essentially a centralised system in its character. With the increasing number of children to be examined every year, the load on this centralised system is very heavy. It is necessary to change our examination pattern to bring in decentralisation by replacing the printing technology with computer technology. For this, it will be essential to prepare a question bank in the computer on different subjects and for different levels. This process has already begun on a small scale in some places. The Indian students taking the GRE examination for selection to American or other foreign universities have already been adapted to computer-based on-line examination.
Once school boards or universities have such a question bank, where computer memory is the store house for all questions and the levels of the examination and the marks allocated to that question, the computer can churn out various question papers in various combinations. It can take out desired number of copies depending upon the number of children expected for examination. Thus taking out the question paper right at the time of examination without any breach in secrecy becomes possible; this makes the process leak proof..
Shifting from printing technology to computer technology will save tremendous amount of time for a very large number of teachers and administrative staff in the school boards or colleges or universities. This time and manpower resource can then be utilised for bringing in qualitative improvements in other areas, for example in evaluating the question paper.
Switch over to computerised question bank and churning out question papers directly from it is further facilitated if the number of children per examination is less. Hence it is important that rather than all the children taking examination in the same subject on the same date and time, we should encourage children to take the examination according to their convenience. Let a child decide what subject, what level and when she/he wants to finish the examination. Examination centers can be opened in many places where children can come according to their convenience, let us say once in two months and take the examination in the subject and for the level of their choice.
Further it should not be compulsory for the children to take the examination in all the question in the same month or in the same year. A child may be allowed to take examinations in different subjects and for different levels in different months or years. This means that the number of examinees per subject per course per month will be far fewer than the present number of examinees who all go together for yearly examination. Hence, the teachers who are evaluating the answer papers will do far better justice in their evaluation.
Such a system in which the computer will be containing question bank and will itself create the question paper has two advantages. Firstly, it will the reduce the menace of copying as well as of staff --teaching or non-teaching -- going on strike right in the nick of examination time thus putting the children and their parents in a tense situation. It will avoid the need of transporting so many question papers to so many examination centers – which inter-alia requires a very meticulous planning and keeps the staff under tension for having to maintain the secrecy and sanctity of question papers.
It is pertinent to also speak of one related reform that I consider equally urgent.. The present system under which attendance by a school or college is compulsory and a student is required to have specified minimum attendances must be stopped. Students unable to attend schools must not be debarred from taking examination. They should be allowed to take examination and prove their own ability and level even without formally sitting through the classes in school or college. There is a reason.
The advantages of formal schooling system have been well-discussed in past and suffice to recount three important advantages as i) The system allows a large number of students to pass through the same pattern of education and thus reduce the time and staff spent by the society for producing a standardised batch of educated children of a certain level. ii) Different experts can sit together from time to time and discuss the changes needed and the reasons thereof in the curriculum and need as well as methods to introduce new modern subjects. Thus there is a continuous updating of the syllabus done by the experts. The suggested change in the pattern of schooling and examination appears not to have this advantage although it will promote self study and iii) Formal education allows children to mix with the other children of different age groups.
Despite these three advantages the formal system cannot be the only right and insurmountable system. We have to think of other systems too, if we are careful about those that are per force remaining out of the system of formal education – and their number is staggeringly high. The suggested reform specifically the reform of allowing the children to miss their school or colleges but still allowing them to take the examination or enter into any formal stream of schooling at their convenience is the major diversion from present system and is with merit. Our present illiteracy in the country is nearly 45% and the present drop out rate from the 100 students enrolled at standard 1 to a level of 70 at standard 5 comes to 30%. This is worse as we proceed upto standard 10. This speaks volumes of different inadequacies of our formal system of education that required compulsory attendance in schools. We can immediately do away with this requirement.
Let us consider these cases: a) A child who has to earn his bread by working in hotel or by any other type of child labor. such a child cannot attend school in our formal system of education. b) A genius who wants to use much more time in developing his ability for international sports competition and whom the parents also want to encourage but are bogged down by the formal system of education which requires that this child must leave aside his/her abilities and must attend the required school hours and days without which there will be no scope allowed for improving his educational abilities by joining the formal system of education at a later day. c) Consider the case of children who are interested in trekking, understanding environment, forest, wild life, touring world wide etc. They want to spend much more time in these activities and can take out a little bit of time for studying a subject. If they want to get themselves evaluated in the present system of education so that in later years they may enter the formal system, then today’s system does not allow it.
If the above three categories of children are allowed to prove their capacities and abilities by adequate reforms in our present system, then nearly 50% more children would benefit tremendously just by getting such an opportunity of evaluation of their own as study and the flexibility of entering into formal system whenever they so desire.
One more reform is equally needed. Children who are not satisfied with the evaluation and the marks must be allowed some chance of satisfying themselves that their evaluation was broadly proper. When this not allowed, as under the present system, it leaves a feeling of unfairness and injustice in the minds of the children. We cannot expect that while growing up and becoming adult citizens, they would have any respect for the concepts of justice and fair play.
Yet another urgently needed reform is to allow children to write the examination in their own mother tongue rather insisting that the examination for 11th standard (especially in the subjects of science, engineering etc.) must be written in English language. This is a major reason for a large number of brilliant students to miss out their chance and feel frustrated again leading to a wastage of valuable human resources.
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Mrs. Leena Mehendale Jt. Secretary National Commission for Women 4, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg New Delhi-110002. Ph. 3236110(O)/4678802(R)