The Government has announced that class 12 CBSE exams have been cancelled for the year 2021. The steps which follow is to create a “well-defined objective criterion” in a time-bound manner. It is safe to assume that many states will follow suit, and cancel their respective state exams for class XII based on the situation. The media has stated that this is an appropriate and bold decision. But there are always two sides of the coin.
Cancellation of the exams can have several repercussions and severely impact the students, the educational authorities and the nation as a whole. Issues like college admissions and student results need to be discussed and decisions taken need to run parallel with not only the present, but also the future, since we do not know when the situation may get better.
Firstly, what could be this well defined objective criterion that is proposed by the authorities? Marks of the class X board examinations ? Evaluation of students by teachers? None of the above can test the actual knowledge the student possesses.
There are already notices issued by the Delhi High Court to the CBSE, Centre to re-approach their final decision to use marks attained in internal assessment of respective schools for class X board examination marks. Fact is that evaluations will always be subjective and educational authorities will try to reward their students with more marks, hence leading marks inflation across the state.
Instead, new educational norms can be created in the current situation which can be implemented even after Covid as a more effective way to help students. One example can be that students should be continuously monitored throughout the year. Technology provides, “Learning Management Systems” for such evaluations. Hence, the student can learn new things instead of studying for 8 hours a day during the last month before exams. If positive results are attained, final year examinations can be scrapped off completely, since it’s a burden to the students.
Truth is, we had ample time to look at the mistakes of the educational systems and the loopholes of effective management of examinations during the pandemic. JEE, NEET, CET and other such national and state level exams can be used as examples, to conduct offline exams in an appropriate fashion.
Cancellation of exams can have a serious impact on students mentally. Imagine you start preparing for your 10th board exams from 9th standard or the start of 10th standard. Your ultimate goal is to secure a good score in the final exams and get a seat in your dream college. Now, the exams get cancelled. Students will be judged on the internal exams conducted by the college or the school.
It’s very wrong to assume that internal exams in college test the skills and patience of the student the same way final exams do. A student may not score well in internals, but may be very prepared for boards. This does not give us a proper system to acknowledge the knowledge and skills of each student.
The fact that all this was not even explored and we instead went for the softer option of complete cancellation of exams is unfortunate. Official justification for the decision is that it is meant to safeguard student’s health. The government must seriously explore all the possible options so that we don’t find ourselves in the same situation in the coming years.
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