Right time to unlearn the board examination

Of late, there was much hype about the conduct of the board examinations amid the pandemic. First, the class 10 board examinations were cancelled. Then, after due consideration, the class 12 exams were also cancelled. It was announced that the result will now be declared on the basis of internal evaluation. While doing so, certain people and even the media took a swipe at the entire system of assessment. The loudest cheers came when someone raised the question: should we do away with board examinations?

Cancelling examinations was an easier option. But without any credible alternative, this measure will neither give any push to our students, nor such ad hocism will give any fillip to our school education.

There is no doubt that while we are living in the 21st century and the new world order, we still follow the practices and principles of the last century in assessment. We still follow the oneshot terminal examination that determines the performance of the students.

There are more than 61 boards in the country. They conduct the external exams and immediately after that, start preparing for the next exams. The situation is more or less similar in the higher education sector too.

The challenge that some of the top universities in India are facing is that they do not have continuous assessments in place. Hence, they are thinking to promote first and second-year undergraduate students without any assessment and will conduct exams only for final year students. Some prominent new-age universities have continuous assessments (reports, reviews, group presentations, research-based assignments, quizzes, open book tests, case studies, besides others) well in place. So, they are not facing any issue in transiting their students from one semester to another.

The present pandemic thus pushes the long-awaited exam reforms in India. For a long time, educationists have been calling for drastic changes in the exam system. All the education commissions have been scathing in their criticism of the system. They have also made a number of recommendations to reform exams. Though there has been a considerable improvement over a period, the basic maladies still remain untreated. We have to identify them.

One of the limitations is that we believe in one-shot terminal exams. This mindset of external assessments be replaced by credible formative assessments throughout the year. The present uncertain times also demand more comprehensive and continuous assessment structure. The boards can still organise the summative test and the performance of the students in formative and summative tests can be reflected separately in the report card.

To begin with, at least in class 10, students can be given grades instead of marks with inbuilt flexibility for improvement of grades.

We should be prepared to move one step at a time, not rushing into a largescale or radical change process. Nor can we be discouraged by the slowness of the change dynamics. Let us sit down and create a viable alternative.