Growing City

Of late, our examination system has assumed the role of an obsolete and defunct system. It has become the pivotal cause in the increasing...

Of late, our examination system has assumed the role of an obsolete and defunct system. It has become the pivotal cause in the increasing suicides and unprecedented failures of students. The entire system needs to be revamped. What8217;s the point of asking CBSE or University members and ministers what is the best for students?

A survey must be conducted in each and every school and students asked what they want ! Our exams determine the destiny of the student. We urgently require a system which fosters learning and discourages mugging. The evaluation should judge the overall personality and development of the students. By making students cram, we are throttling them. Students are made literate, not educated. Else why should students tremble at the mere thought of a Maths or Physics exam.

Parental and peer pressure and increased career competitiveness aggravate the stress. More or less, students have turned out to be computer floppies. The system has made them passive thinkers with no output in real life. They should learn not for exams but for success in life. The object of paramount significance is the evaluation scheme. I stated earlier, it must be on a regular basis.

So percent marks must be sidelined for monthly, bimonthly, quarterly exams and 50 percent for the annual; even at higher echelons of education. It will facilitate learning throughout the year and will give vent to the accumulating pressure on the students by the year end. There should be a student-teacher feedback system, and everyone like parents and friends should participate actively. The teaches must be given training in advance. What nowadays happens is that most teaches lack creativity as they are the product of the same system and pass this legacy of 8220;artless8221; education to the students. The process repeats itself again and again merely to produce 8220;uneducated literates8221;.

Another important aspect is subjects like S.U.P.W. and creative writing should be made credit courses. Instead of grades, marks are to be awarded. Subjects of personality development are more significant than Maths and Physics. But strangly, their grades lie gathering dust ! Students are content with E8217; grades also ! The score-sheets of students must be displayed on notice boards in order to enthuse a sense of pride; and shame also to failure cases. The syllabus should also be oriented more towards the overall development.

More than examinations, it is the entire academic system which needs to be revamped in order to make room for the mental abilities which each student has. Assembly-line homogenised testing must never be the norm !

The writer is a BA II year student at S D College, Chandigarh.