Express Townhall: CUET could ‘dilute essence of school education’, ‘create new breed of coaching centres’

They are here today to talk about the impact that the Central University Entrance Test (CUET) is likely to have on school education. As most of us might know, the central government has moved to conduct undergraduate admissions in all central universities through this common entrance test. Though this is in the sector of higher education we all understand how gateways and admissions to prestigious and coveted higher education institutes shape students’ journeys through school, especially in their senior years.

I leave it open to both our guests to share their preliminary thoughts.

Sudha Acharya: CUET seems to put an end to the culture of high cut-offs with an aim to take the stress off students and the burden of multiple exams. With concerns raised over 100 per cent weightage to scores, academicians are beginning to wonder whether it would, in effect, dilute the essence of board exams results or a school education and create a whole new breed of coaching centres to help to get exam ready. Maybe NEP 2020 envisages CUET to relieve the stress of students in appearing for multiple University exams but NEP 2020 simultaneously focuses on semester-based board examinations to do away with the one high-stakes board examination. We have been conducting term 1 and term 2 board exams that were the focus of NEP… Moving away from board examinations based on the same NCERT books, to go in for one high-stake examination called CUET and the score will matter again for ‘branded colleges’.

Delhi University has declared that 40 per cent of pass marks in board examinations will suffice for appearing in CUET and then going for higher education. So, we have a lot of apprehension and concerns. We have raised our voice on various platforms saying that this may dilute the implementation of NEP 2020. NEP focuses on experiential learning, creative expression, and art integration… It brings a focus on coaching centres—like today also I have got so many applications from parents that the child has scored 80 per cent to 90 per cent in Term 1 so can they have non-attending status in Class 12 and attend classes in coaching centres so they are better prepared for CUET. Now, parents are concerned that CUET is the only exam that matters. Like science students were already going for NEET and JEE coaching.

Now, the whole platter is with coaching centres…It is my main concern. With a proper consultative process, it could have been done by normalisation and rationalisation process for boards with high cut-offs with CBSE… We aren’t against CUET but the timing is a question. This year the batch has gone through 2020 in Class 10 board to 2022 with two term board exams. In the middle of the term 2 exams and the fag-end of the academic session another exam has been declared. How far does it relieve students from stress is a question.

Ashok Pandey: The thing of course is that the combined university entrance examination for central universities was on the cards for a very long time and had been postponed several times. So, probably, there was pressure to do it now since it was already so delayed. But what has happened in my opinion is that in that rush and pressure three very important things have been missed out. The first is the context. In the light of the preceding two and a half years, this was not the right time to do this. And, of course, the rationale for this needs a lot of debate… The third is what the country wants out of its youth in terms of their education in schools and colleges and other streams of education. We want them to develop the values and knowledge and skills. We want them to be sufficiently competent. We want them to look at the future but at the same time also want them to understand Indian, ethos, art and culture. We want them to be community builders. We want them to use technology with a lot of responsibility for the social good.

Now, if all these things have to be done, then they need to complete their schooling up to Class 12. If we bring in this entrance examination, with whatever good things it may have, for the reasons that have been already cited, the one fear as we see with the entrance exam for engineering in medicine and law and journalism and all that, that it has perpetuated this culture of coaching. And so much that the NEP has taken cognisance of that and has devoted several paragraphs to say how this culture of coaching has taken away the precious time of students, where they could have learnt other values and skills and personality development. Now, giving one more opening to this culture of coaching goes against the grain of NEP 2020.

Q.A counterpoint to this could be that schools will be released from the pressure of board exams and create an opportunity for schools to focus on holistic education instead of being driven through the exam-driven culture.

Pandey: I will take this as an important counterpoint and it is welcome, but you see what the reality is whether it has worked with IIT exams or NEET exams or with a score of other competitive examinations? It has not and we complain that students go to IIT and have no background knowledge of India’s culture, India’s freedom struggle in India’s knowledge system. Of course, they are brilliant students. But what is the process? The process has been coaching, cramming, and cracking competition. If that is the culture we want to develop across disciplines, it is a different thing. But tell me one thing, if they know that they have to write CUET at the end of two years, why will they ‘waste’ two years in developing all those skills that you are talking about and not prepare for CUET. And particularly, when in less than three days from the announcement of this, model question papers have appeared in the market. Crash course offers are coming to the students in their inboxes and on WhatsApp messages. Imagine what is going to happen in the next one to two years.

Acharya: Even if we continue with holistic learning and create learner’s profiles or innovation and skill, but parents don’t want to take that risk. They want their children to have safe career prospects. They think they are doing their best by sending their children to coaching centres. What we have observed in our experience is that these children are devoid of life skills. They do not have survival skills to take on challenges and skills to convert challenges into opportunities. We have seen documentaries like Kota Factory and documentaries on IIT-Kharagpur, were reaching there, children understand that did not have a passion for the subject.

Q.We also had the UGC chairperson join us some time back and he emphasised that this will not be an exam like the JEE, but a simple exam based on NCERT, which is being taught in schools already. Do you think this fear of a coaching culture is premature?

Pandey: I ask anybody to tell me about any competitive exam that does not have a full-fledged coaching program. Number two, the primary purpose of education is that we study the subject and develop domain expertise in that. So if you are studying English or Mathematics or Science, we want to know its nuances, formula applications etc. The secondary purpose is to develop self-advocacy, to develop ideation and the ability to apply these ideas and to develop qualities and soft skills, which will make us be competent to work in a multicultural team. Where will we develop all these qualities?

Redesigning the curriculum, and conducting semester examination was for this purpose. The entire content will be reduced to core essentials so that domain expertise, critical thinking and questioning analysis etc will be developed. And the free time will be utilised for developing skills which are so important, like compassion and sensitivity. That is where it is coming into question because parents and children at that stage are more focused on aspirations… For that additional coaching is required because the school is focusing on so many other things, which are not going to help him crack the examination.

Acharya: In board exams, one part was MCQ centric and the other was descriptive. So when the children came back recently, we could see that huge gap in writing skills. In term 2, we are observing the loss of writing skills again. In CUET, you don’t need that skill. We are speaking about creative expression and comprehension. The uniqueness of every child cannot be accessed through this. The third part of CUET also focuses on current affairs or logical reasoning and the Class 8 level of mensuration. Students who left maths after class 10 and are doing well in their chosen fields will now have to go back and refresh their skills. For that, they have to go for coaching… If the NCERT syllabus will be followed, why not give any weightage to board examinations?

Q.If you had the option of rolling something like this out, what would you have done differently?

Pandey: Let me preface my answer with some relevant things. What are the international benchmarks for undergraduate and postgraduate admission? Have we studied that? International Benchmarks are your marks in class 12, but at the same time about the kind of person you have been till 17-18 years of age. What is the community engagement you have done, and what are those soft skills that you have developed? What is your outlook on life? What is your outlook toward society? What contribution do you want to make? These things are assessed before you give admission. The second thing is that schools will have more time to develop them holistically. And then students, teachers and parents will have to be incentivised for preferring this. But you are saying, no-no, sit for the entrance examination. The third thing is the timing, the context, and the conflict with NEP that is the problem.

Let me now come to your question. My suggestion is that on one hand, the entrance examination is something that we welcome to the extent that since the universities are spread across the country, they will now have students from across the country and they will not become localised regional universities as has become the character of all universities, unfortunately. India’s diversity will be reflected there. Even a foreigner coming to these universities will have the complete feel of India.

But in the light of the discussions that we have had, I think the best thing would be that the entrance examination is held but the board examination is also given weightage. Then there will be incentives and encouragement for this. Otherwise, it will be a complete indifference and refrain from board examinations. Many years ago there was a committee of IIT directors and even for the IIT examination, it was suggested that there be weightage of class 12 and not just the entrance examination. The model is there and I think it is to be looked at.

Acharya: International boards are recognising our class 11 marks and 12 predicted scores and the learners’ profile to assess what the nature of the child they are taking in is. Was the child working for the environment, the community? What are the activities in which the child had participated? What is the value system? We will continue in the school, but where will it be recognised?

Q.When you talk about admission criteria in international universities, where they look at a student’s entire profile, is it replicable in India, where issues of caste and gender discrimination are a reality? What category of students suffers the most because of the new system because of new coaching packages?

Pandey: As is with other examinations, I think those socially and economically disadvantaged groups will continue to be given relaxation. Their cut-off will not be the same as the general category. We have made these systems. The problem is the logistical nightmare that it creates for any institution which is going to get applications from a large number of people.

Having a learning profile for every student does not come in conflict with the learning profiling or the board examination. The question is, are our universities prepared for an admission process that is centred on student profiles. Private universities in our country have changed the admission process. They are not relying on entrance exams only. They take board marks; have a group discussion and other parameters, and what your contribution so far has been.

I think I would only agree to the extent that large numbers are our problem. But the problem of large numbers should not be overcome by a shortcut. We have to take the help of technology and other methods of discovering a child’s aptitude and nature.

Acharya: In my view, girl children from underprivileged classes will be the worst affected. If a parent has one boy or one girl, a boy maybe will go to a coaching centre and the girl will be deprived, this is what we see in our experience.

In board examinations, I would like to point out here the internal assessments are based on this holistic profile. If we talk about climate action, the projects we have undertaken or sustainable development goals, I find in rural areas, they have many more platforms to do these activities. They are more oriented towards this – how to take care of the environment, sustainable development, reduce, reuse, recycle, what we are orienting children towards in Delhi, maybe a child in rural areas is better oriented towards this because they understand the value of electricity, water and the scarcity of it.

Pandey: The children who will not have the benefit and access to coaching will suffer but the third most affected class would be the same children that we are showing our concern with – the children from a socially and economically disadvantaged group. You see, where will they get the benefit of coaching? And even if they have some seats reserved, their number is also so large that most of them will not reap the benefit of that.

Q.DU administrators were keen on CUET because they were talking about how different boards mark their students differently. You are both educators from CBSE schools. Is this something that was a concern among you and the parents of your students as well? Do you think this needs to be addressed in other ways, apart from CUET?

Pandey: Yes, this was also a problem because all the boards, for reasons known best to them, were normalising their marks or modifying their marks at the end of the results. In some cases, it was done for very good reasons too because they themselves recognise that one examination is not a sure shot indication of a child’s learning ability or a child’s proficiency. Then, there were problems with the question paper, problems with the evaluation etc. There are also years’ of data on how the students have performed year on year and therefore if the board saw the results of that year and it did not align with the previous years they utilised their discretion and their wisdom to normalise marks.

But then I tell you here in all honesty, sincerity and responsibility that there was some kind of unwritten competition among the boards as to who is modifying it to the best advantage of their students. As a result of that, the impression outside the board went that some boards are very lenient and some boards are very strict and there is no equity. But there is an answer to that also. You know there is one institution here BITS Pilani which till some time ago, used to take direct admission in their undergraduate B Tech programs and all the board students came and they normalised their marks. One way of normalising was that if one board has got 85 per cent as the highest mark and another has got 95%, both of them will be treated as 100 per cent. There is a huge amount of research available across the world as to how to reduce this impact and normalise the marks.

Acharya: That was a concern but if a proper consultative process would have been followed to normalise and rationalise the marks with that of CBSE as a Central Board, it could have been worked out. Not giving any weightage to the CBSE exam would not solve the problem.

Q.DU has already announced that the way would hold CUET is that students can only sit for exams in which they have appeared in Class 12. So, there are some apprehensions that this could favour science students, who say want to study history, as opposed to humanities students because those are higher scoring subjects. I wanted to know if you had anything to say about that. Both of you are saying that a mix of the class 12 board and the CUET score would have been a better method to admit students but do you think that would actually create dual pressure on students because they have to think of performing well in two separate exams?

Pandey: These are not two separate exams. Even now two exams will remain. On the first point, I agree… That is another anomaly in the whole process and how this will be taken care of is something to be seen. In any system you develop, I think it is very difficult to foresee everything in one go. That is why it becomes an evolving process. We will go through, we will learn but the only thing we are repeatedly saying is that if we could have given a little more time for this, a little more concentration, a little more study and finding a middle path, things should I will better.

Q.Do you think there is a need for some sort of regulation in the coaching industry given these hubs that we see in parts of the country where there are thousands of students coming, many taking loans, many bankrupting families in the process?

Acharya: Over two-three years, the whole question pattern of NEET and JEE has also undergone a change because of this coaching centre and coaching culture. It was decided that the question pattern will be based on NCERT and on the application part, which we call higher order of thinking questions, problem-solving or critical thinking based questions… Regulation is required but we see among parents there is a competition. Instead of sending them (for coaching classes) in Class 11, they have started sending children from Class 6, meaning they are making a decision about what a child is going to do that early. Here, parents need to be counselled. Regulation is required but it’s very difficult unless our parents understand the child’s hopes, aspirations, uniqueness and determination to achieve something.

Pandey: One very quick anecdote. One of my students who wanted to become a doctor left my school after Class 10 because we said that we have full attendance, you have to come, experience schooling, take part in sports, drama, theatre everything. His father decided to withdraw him and put him in a proxy school. There are proxy schools where you just take admission, your attendance will be given and you study 24x7x365 for coaching. In short, what happened, he did not get through the medical entrance. So, after Class 12, he somehow managed to get enough marks to get into St Stephen’s College on sports quota. As my student, he was the number 4 squash player in Delhi. Today, in the third year itself before his final exam, he was hired by Deloitte and he is one of the consultants working with them.

Acharya: Dummy schools are blooming. They have one classroom and they have 900 students, not attending school. They have 500-700 students and when our teachers go for practical exams, they have not seen the lab even. They just come for the exam.