Has examination system failed the education system?
Do not mistake the subject statement as a mere exaggeration to just call for attention. Over the years, the purpose of Education is being lost to the process of Examination. Let us discuss the two separately. Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, morals, beliefs, and habits. If the above were to be true, then we all should be very well aware as to what are the skills, values, morals, beliefs, habits and knowledge that a student is likely to possess after a specific number of years of education. With loads of information and data, children today have been made to feel as if they are totally in the unknown and that they need to learn from the text books which are the gospels of truth and knowledge . Without going into how the syllabus has been structured to meet the larger objective, children burn the midnight oil to master the information. Some score 100 percent and some 40 percent. Without going into how the 40 percent was accepted as the passing mark, both the students with 40 percent and 100 percent pass out the system and are declared successful. The student who scores 100 percent develops the attitude that he/ she knows it all and that the one with 40 percent feels that if he / she were to master the books, it would give him/her the taste of eternal knowledge. Without going into the 'correlation' of the education goals with the subjects and syllabus being covered in schools; even for a moment if we say all is well; why does the system needs to send hundreds of changes / additional circulars to schools on newer practices / commemoration of days / activities / etc. Even it being so, we may like to conclude that the system is ever evolving, ever expanding , ever developing. So isn't the process standardised to not achieve the goal which is supposedly earmarked in the first place , that we need to keep adding newer activities every week /fortnight as additional curriculum / activity. Also, why doesn't the system also delete some activities / material /workload which may become redundant and due to which there is a need felt to add more activities over the old. It is anybody's guess that no School would be able to complete the set of stipulated exercises / activities / work as enshrined in the system' s requirement . They are the most important stake-holders who need to be taken alongside. Or is it too mechanical that everything that goes in the system comes out and further goes in and then again comes out and on and on. The state of affairs in today's society speaks volumes of where the system is heading. With School toppers languishing in jails, being unemployed, most disillusioned, with no morals, values, beliefs, habits etc . ; It is high time we have a re-look at the education system of today. Now coming to the examination aspect of today's education system; it can be anything except being perfect. The focus of all school children, teachers , and parents is on examination. Examinations are not adjusted on completion of education but education is adjusted seeing the examination timelines. Examination process is being taken care of by people who seldom teach in classrooms. The examination system has become a kind of test in itself. It has become a speed test, power test, alongwith appropriate language usage and ability to understand the question in the intended direction in which the question paper setter is seeking the answer. The examination's validity, reliability and standardisation needs a re-visit for determining the achievement of the goals of education. Examination reforms have always been advocated in this country, but nothing seems to be happening on the ground. We were not able to implement the last NPE in 34 years. Now the country has another NPE 2021. The quest that mankind is behind, the pandemic that we are in today; is all a result of the faulty education system. We need to start again. Start without boundaries, without syllabus, without rigidity, without text books, without top down approach, without - with. Start this time with not 'A' for Apple but 'A' for Anything, May be. (The writer is Chancellor of Sanskriti University)