18 Jul 2021  |   04:51am IST

EXAM, NO EXAM, WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

The results of the SSC Exam open up the possibility of a change in the evaluation system in the State
EXAM, NO EXAM, WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

Alexandre Moniz Barbosa

The results of the Secondary School Certificate examination are historic in more ways than one. The pass percentage of 99.72 is not just extremely impressive but also unbeatable. The SSC batch of 2020-2021 fell a mere 67 students short of attaining a 100 per cent result. That figure would have been definitely unassailable. The second reason why this result is historic is that is it the first to be declared without an exam being held. The devastating second wave of the coronavirus pandemic that swept through Goa forced the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education to first postpone and then call off the scheduled exams. Results were declared based on the internal assessment of the students and also the performance of the students in Class IX. The Board conducted training on the assessment pattern so that there would be uniformity in the results.

In Goa we have got accustomed to a system that grades students on what they are able to recall from the subject matter they have studied during the academic year. The Class X and Class XII results have for decades been the main indicator of a child’s success. In past years, there would be a ranking of the top 50 in the State. In the digital age, this system of evaluation is turning outdated and countries have moved to other methods of evaluation and assessment. Finland for instance has a model of education, where there are no standardised tests. The exception in Finland is the National Matriculation Exam that is voluntary for students. The test is not mandatory and would be equivalent to our Class X. Children in Finland are evaluated and given a grade on an individual basis and on a grading system devised by the teachers. The overall progress is tracked by the Education Ministry. It has worked extremely well in that country.

The results of the Secondary School Certificate Exam open up the possibility of a change in the evaluation system in the State. Besides being historic for these two reasons, the SSC results also pave the way for the possibility of a future with no exams. The question is whether we in Goa are ready for it. If one looks at the SSC results even cursorily, then the answer is that Goa is not ready for a future with no formal exams, unless those evaluating the students learns to be unbiased and the State develops a system of assessment that is entirely foolproof. On the other hand, giving the students who have passed the SSC exam the benefit of doubt, it is entirely possible, though not probable, that this batch of children are all extremely good students. If the latter is true, then the future is definitely bright for Goa.

But we need to look at this objectively. Results based entirely on internal assessment leads to the possibility of bias in the assessment process where the perception of fairness comes under a cloud. In the case of the Class X result, there is definitely more than just a smidgen of doubt that can be cast on the fairness of the evaluation process. From a pass percentage of 92.96 in the past year it has leapt to the unbelievably high of 99.72 per cent in a result based entirely on internal assessment. Can there be any logical explanation to this rise in the percentage? Of course the Goa Board chairman did state that those who failed were students who did not answer some of the internal exams or did not hand in their projects. What can be inferred from this statement is that had the 67 students completed their school work, the committees would have assessed them as passed. This is definitely not the ‘objective criterion’ that the Goa Board should have included in the assessment method.

Based entirely on the results of the Secondary School Certificate that were announced last week, it can be argued that the results based on internal assessment are not the best method of evaluating a child. Objectivity does come under a very grey cloud as each school has a stake in improving upon the result from the previous year. This bias is definitely visible in the result and if Goa intends to opt for a school future without exams, it has to be corrected before any further steps are taken.

For that matter every method of assessment will have certain flaws. The exam system, especially the kind that is followed in India, is a memory test that verifies how much a young mind has been able to cram and then reproduce on the answer sheet. It is accepted in Goa and India, for we have become accustomed to exams and the results based on this are the metric of success in the young. Goa’s first involuntary move for a non-exam SSC evaluation has not signalled that this is the best way forward. There have been arguments that there should be a combination of assessment methods to best evaluate a child, as exams and the scores based on them are not the most effective manner to measure the achievements of the child. Young students are capable of showing much more potential than what can be gauged by the grades on the report card. What happens with exams, it is argued, is that it places wrong priorities in students and that lower grades could lead to de-motivating students from not just academic excellence but even other extra-curricular activities.

Yet, despite being a very exam-based society, when it comes to competitive exams at the all-India level, Goa’s performance is nothing to crow about. So few are the Goan students who do well at the national level that the odd one who does shine is feted for a day or two before being quickly forgotten. If we are have a system where exams will not play a major role then we will have to still prepare students for the competitive exams for the entrance to professional courses. The choice will not be easy and change will not come without some amount of debate. But, if the Secondary School Certificate results have revealed the possibility of no exams, they have also exposed the flaws in the system that would need to be ironed out before any further decision.


Alexandre Moniz Barbosa is Editor, Herald. He tweets at @monizbarbosa

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