Reimagining examinations

1st July, 2021 Economy

Context:

Disruptions caused by the pandemic call for innovative and holistic methods of assessment.

Students in higher education cannot be promoted without writing the final-year or terminal semester examinations.
The court made it clear that the States could, under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, postpone final-year or final-semester exams, but they did not have the power to direct universities to promote students based on prior performance.

Challenges to Cooperative federalism: Many State Governments like Rajasthan, Haryana and Maharashtra had already cancelled examinations for final-year student.
Creates fresh uncertainty for states.
Confusion among the Parents and students.
Spread of Virus: A number of State Governments are enforcing periodic lockdowns to prevent the spread of the disease. Hence, difficult to conduct the exams.
Exams itself can become the super spreader.
If the virus doesn’t subside, then, exams will further needs to be postponed creating more confusion or if the UGC shifts the mode to online then, it will be discriminatory for students belonging to poor class.
Since, Corona virus has already affected the learning process, students cannot be held to appear in the exams.
Already the premier institutions have cancelled the exams and evaluated the students based on marks in internal assessment.

The online pattern of examination should not only judge intellectual development, but it must also test the holistic development of students.
It must include the assessment of educational objectives of understanding, critical and independent thinking, problem-solving ability, reflective thinking, skill development, and application of knowledge.
A revised system should assess analytical and application skills, rather than mere knowledge in a given time slot. This would enhance the quality and competence of students.
Testing the knowledge gained and the presentation of that is the essence of education.

To restrict copying, answer scripts may be assessed using plagiarism software.
With technological tools, monitoring and supervision of students during online examinations is not a difficult task.
An alternative approach may be open-book examinations — it allows students to refer to textbooks or other source material while answering questions.