Education reforms or just Examination Reforms?

More than thirty five years ago, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen analysed the crisis in Indian education in his Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial Lectures on the 10th and 11th of March 1970 at Hyderabad. Rather than attributing the crisis in Indian education to the administrative neglect or to thoughtless action, he pointed out that the grave failures in policy making in the field of education require the analysis of the characteristics of the economic and social forces operating in India, and response of public policy to these forces (Sen, 1970). He emphasised that due to the Government’s tendency to formulate educational policies based on public pressure, often wrong policies are pursued. Unfortunately, even today, Government’s education reform policies, seek to achieve arbitrarily set goals that are either elusive or pursued lackadaisically.

For last one year our HRD minister has been talking about reforming ‘education policy in India’, but as it seems today, all his efforts are directed towards reforming the ‘examination policy in India’. He believes and advocates that steps such as ‘grading system’, optional Board exams’, etc. will have the following implications on prevalent education system:

• No stigma of failure with a choice of opting out of annual examination for students.
• Enhanced teacher accountability toward students' performance through formative assessment.
• Making a shift towards school-based reforms.
• Stressing inclusiveness and quality in education.

Though not totally illogical, but it is not difficult to see how farfetched these assumptions are. At best Mr. Sibal’s effort can be described as a small start with every chance to go the wrong way. In fact these steps can prove to be disastrous in future.

Let me explain.

The problem that India faces is of ‘quality’ manpower and not ‘quantity’ manpower. Today, we face the harsh reality of growing unemployment among graduates that co-exist with skill shortages in many areas. While dedicating a public-private partnership initiative at IIT, Delhi on March 20, 2006, the Prime Minister noted the fact that sector after sector India is facing a supply constraint when it comes to skilled, qualified manpower. According to him, this is unacceptable in a country of over a billion people where many are still unemployed or are engaged in low-income activities.

Making examinations easier (or doing away with it altogether) will not help India produce quality scientists, engineers, doctors and academics. It will only increase the number of ‘pass-out’ students.

The problem arises out of the fact we never teach our students to ‘think’. Rather what we learn is ‘how to crack’ exams and get good marks. And after the grading system, it will be simply how to get good grades.

The much publicized Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system will not test students only on their academics and rather students will be graded on their attitude towards teachers, fellow students, programs organized by the school and their general behavior. Obviously reactions have been generally skeptical, since we all know it’s barely possible for one teacher to keep more than fifty students disciplined. There is every chance that ‘keep your teachers happy’ will become the new mantra for success; not to forget that this system also may lead to bias.

This situation can be prevented only if our HRD minister and schools come up with a scientific/ practical way. But till date we haven’t heard anything on this front. Also, the prevalent education system cannot be reformed unless the quality and style of teaching is improved. If the teachers and their ways remain the same, no policy will work. We need a all-inclusive policy that ensures improvement in the way we teach.

And then comes the higher education.

All the higher education institutions in India (such as IITs, IIMs, Medical Colleges, Universities, etc.) depend on written tests, commonly known as Entrance Examination, to select students for enrollment. Taking these tests require a certain ‘minimum marks’, but the final cut off leverages on the scores earned in these tests. A student who is a product of ‘grade and optional examination system’ cannot be expected to qualify in these entrance examinations as the ‘marking system’ is completely alien to him. Now the question arises – Do our HRD minister and educationists have a plan to tackle this? Will our higher education institutions change their policy accordingly or will continue with their primitive ways?

IITs and IIMs have produced few students who have achieved success in the international arena, but these institutions can never be compared to the best in the world. Plans to establish more AIIMS-like institutions are in pipeline since 90s, but nothing concrete has been done yet. Universities apart from imparting education, does nothing to become centres of research and learning. They still lack dedicated hubs to encourage world-class research along the lines of the research universities abroad. The alarmingly low number of qualified teachers and faculty has crippled our whole education system. No surprise that we are still far away from our dream of becoming a nation of scientists, researchers, intellectuals and academicians.

To sum up, our education system needs a complete overhaul, which requires a more comprehensive and sensible plan. Cosmetic steps will not achieve anything significant except positive media coverage for our HRD minister.