Widely differing pass percentages are known in various education boards in India. However, one of the recent statements by the Director of General Education (DGE) of the Kerala State about the practice of awarding liberal marks to increase the number of students getting A Plus grades in the Standard 10 Board examination, has rocked the state, and the ripples are felt far and wide. He remarked that students who were not even capable of proper reading or writing were awarded A Plus grade.
The liberal mark or grade system in the Board exams is often the gimmick of the respective governments or the political bosses at the education ministries to jack up the pass percentage to show their "efficiency and performance".
Negative Implications-
Individual And Social
The ramifications of such political actions are much more serious not only at the individual level but also socially. The implications are not just in numbers. It is not even about the quality of the future doctors or engineers or other professionals coming out from these schools. One must really worry about the quality of teaching followed in these schools and future teachers born out of these systems. One can imagine the poor education standards, which will be followed by those teachers and their followers, going by their experience as students — the easy pass methods.
I'm sure the quality of the whole education system will spiral downward with a disastrous end result. Future of any state or country is decided by the quality of its human resource which are evolved from its educational system. Any oversight on the educational system will have far reaching consequences. The decision makers must clearly understand this.
In order to understand it better let us look at some analogies. If a doctor does not do a proper assessment or knowingly suppresses some problem and gives us a perfect condition report when we consult him to identify any health issue that we already suffer or may suffer in future, he is certainly not helping us but actually putting us into trouble. As a result, a problem that can be treated easily at this point may lead to a life-threatening situation at a later stage.
Similarly, when we take our vehicle for an inspection and if the mechanic did not identify or tell us a problem like a poor brake condition, one can imagine the consequence when the brake fails later on a highway.
Therefore, the issue raised by the Kerala Director General of Education (DGE) is not limited to or cannot be solved at the level of 10th standard. The issue is already developed at earlier classes. If one has to resolve the problem — the much inferior quality of teaching or the learning skills of the students, who surprisingly score higher grades in the government race for States' success rate, there needs an immediate rethink and revamp of the system. The whole education system of the Board needs to be set right. But offering undue marks or grades is nothing but like sweeping the real issue under the carpet.
Purpose Of Examination
At this point, let us ask again the same fundamental question. What is the purpose of conducting the tests or the examinations? We need tests to find out how much a student has learned and has he or she learnt it correctly. The test result or marks given must reflect exactly that. These results are an indication to the student where he/she stands, and accordingly, the student and the education system can take necessary steps to move forward.
Thus, an accurate assessment is essential at all times. For whatever reason, if a correct assessment is not provided, it is to the disadvantage of the student. The students lose an opportunity to correct themselves and each one of them will move forward with a false impression of oneself.
In a borderless, inter-connected world one cannot hide the truth for a long time and soon be exposed. The corresponding education system will also lose its credibility and establishing it back will not be easy. Apart from those students who have lost the opportunity to correct themselves, the other losers are the talented ones who happened to be part of such a system. If the system is not set right immediately, sooner or later the talented students will leave and that will further adversely impact those educational system and ultimately the state.
Children have various talents and capabilities which are very essential for their future that spans the next sixty or seventy years. A major purpose of education is to make a student realise his talents and potential, and develop it to the full extend so that in this fast-changing world he can steer himself. All those who are associated with a child’s education must realise this and move in that direction. A close monitoring and accurate assessment are essential to understand the strengths and weaknesses, and to correct oneself while moving forward. Anything else is ultimately to the students’ disadvantage and so to the society.
—The author, Dr. V. Premachandran, is a member of the working group in the Kerala State Planning Board, and was a Senior Fellow at the Solar Energy Research Institute, National University of Singapore.
Read his previous articles here
(Edited by : C H Unnikrishnan)
First Published: Feb 22, 2024 1:05 PM IST
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