Verity of Examination and education system

       Examinations are mainstay of our education system till today. However, they are now being considered as a big trouble, especially in this COVID-19 crisis and majority of both teachers and the students are not in favor of exams. Currently questions are being raised regarding execution of exams- should they be taken or not? If they are to be taken then question is still present as to how they would be conducted. Many of the students seem reluctant to taking exams for this semester. "Exams can't decide our potential", they are spotted quoting on various platform especially social media. Yes, it is true that one paper/exam can't decide students' potential. However, this doesn't make the perfectly right call. This may result in huge consequences on future of these students. Employers or, in general, companies hire prospective candidates based on their performance in exams.  Exams have become the assessment tool in every field. So conducting exams is the necessary primary action we must perform in accordance with the academics-career nexus. Whereas when they could be carried out, in this pandemic, remains secondary.

             Let's think what if exams are not to be taken for this year or anymore? Will it be okay? I guess, No!, this may not be okay at all. It may hamper the quality of education and the main motive behind it, which is more likely to be 'Make Good and Responsible Society'. What happens nowadays is that most of students study for knowledge purpose while some study only for passing/gaining degrees. This indeed is a very sad reality. Due to exams only, such students are compelled to study otherwise  they can't.             

          It has been duly observed that examinations fail to assess the development accurately. They have allegedly been considered as not being great at assessing one's physical and mental development nor even one's intelligence.  Since a student is aware of the type of questions he will be asked and he can fairly anticipate a few, if he has the talent of tackling the fear of both exam and  the examiners too, he/she will complete his education with flying colors. But another student, who is more thoughtful and logical, more curious and active may not achieve the same feat owing to the faults in evaluation schemes in exams. Here is the best example of  Hegel, one of the greatest philosophers of the world, who was not consistent with his performance in the subject of philosophy. Judging by the results, Hegel could be blamed as a poor student, yet later in his life he achieved great sucess in philosophy.

               Examinations are often criticized on account of the very poor marking scheme. Marking of the papers can never be uniform. Some teachers might be too strict. On the other hand, some are might be a bit too forgiving. They would like to give every student a pass on humanitarian grounds. How far can the score given by these two examiners be accepted as a fair index of the relative ability of their examinees? 

              This system exerts an adverse effect on class teaching in two ways. First, a good teacher always finds himself constrained by the flaws in examination system- be it a time limit or syllabus completion at any cost. They do not teach, they only prepare students for the examination. Secondly, number of students, by mere rote learning, get into next class which they technically do not deserve. The standards or the difficulty level of that class/grade being beyond their understanding, they usually feel bored in the class and may cause chaos or indiscipline. It is never noticed that a good students might fail not due to lack of sincerity but due to non-academic reasons or some average student top by cheating the exams. In such cases examinations may not be technically fair.

                With the widespread awareness of importance of education, there has been a phenomenal increase in the number of examinees. This has brought about further deterioration in an already not so sound system. Examinations are often conducted in very poor condition. Mass copying is very common everywhere. The incidences of leakage of question papers has risen. Sometimes supervisors misconduct, unfair personal marking scheme. Examiners need to have good knowledge of the subject and must have well understood guidelines on how to mark the papers. They should be made to do the evaluation work at notified centers under the strict supervision of head examiners to avoid. Random cross-checking by head examiners will reduce the illegal acts. An examiner should not be allowed to mark more than a specified number of papers in a day so that the interest of earning more money could be discouraged. Examiners who are not doing their job sincerely should be penalized or debarred from examination work as per the degree of misconduct. Rectification of evaluation scheme will itself go a long way in removing the drawbacks of the examination system so that they stop damaging the careers of the students.

                If we set the aim of education to be the melodious development of human personality, then our education need to go practical or experience based. The road between theory and practice can only be shortened by a deeper understanding and development of open communication between student, teacher and company/recruiting agency nexus. Let's conclude this with a hope that we would be successful one day to accomplish what we have aimed. 

By Prajakta JK