VIEWS AND OPINIONS
National Council of Educational Research and Training New Delhi 16
December 1970
NOTE: This Appendix contains the following material:
No. Item Page
I. List of Documents 1
(Letters, etc., which were received either
by the Chairman directly or in the Ministry and
were passed on to the Member-Secretary)
II. Abstract of the Speech of Prof. V.K.R.V. Rao 3
(Delivered at the first meeting of the Committee
on Examinations on 6th August, 1970)
III. Statement of the Minister of State for
Education, Bihar 5
(This was submitted by Shri Sinha to the Committee)
IV. Views of Officers of Jammu and Kashmir 9
(Gist of the discussion of the officers with the
Committee on Examinations)
V. Proceedings of a Teacher-Student Seminar 10
(St. Aloysius College, Mangalor, 20th September,
1970)
VI. Dr. Bloom's Observations 12
(Evaluation in Higher Education, University
Grants Commission, New Delhi, 1961, pp. 12-14)
The above documents are being reproduced to give an indication of
some typical views and opinions.
MEMBER-SECRETARY
I. LIST OF DOCUMENTS 1. Letter from Shri Ram Parkash, Principal, National College, Sirsa (District Hissar), to Professor V.K.R.V. Rao, Minister for Education and Youth Services, Government of India.
2. Letter from Shri K.L. Joshi, Vice-Chancellor, University of Indore, together with the University Examination Reform Committee's Report, addressed to Shri J.P. Naik, Adviser, Ministry of Education and Youth Services, Government of India.
3. Letter from Professor G. Agarwal, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Kashi Naresh Postgraduate College, Gyanpur (Varanasi), to Professor V.K.R.V. Rao, Minister for Education and Youth Services, Government of India.
4. Letter from Shri Tulsi Ram Shoundlia, Assistant Teacher, Ram Bilas Vidyalaya, Bairmon, Hazaribagh, to Professor V.K.R.V. Rao, Minister for Education and Youth Services, Government of India.
5. Letter from Shri Harbbai Trivedi, Pro-Vice- Chancellor, Saurashtra University, Bhavnagar, to Professor V.K.R.V. Rao, Minister for Education and Youth Services, Government of India.
6. Letter from Shri Sham Lal, 104, Rishi Nagar, Shakurbasti, Delhi, to Professor V.K.R.V. Rao, Minister for Education and Youth Services, Government of India.
7. Letter from Professor T.C.N. Singh, Umesh Research Laboratory, Roop Mahal, Mangalore-1, to Professor V.K.R.V. Rao, Minister for Education and Youth Services, Government of India.
8. Minutes of the 5th Meeting of the Consultative Committee of Parliament for the Ministry of Education and Youth Services, held on 16th February, 1970.
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9. Note on the work done in the field of Examination Reform at the NCERT by Dr. R.G. Misra, Field Adviser, NCERT.
10. Note on Public Examinations by Professor S.V.C. Aiya, Director, NCERT.
11. Note on Student Unrest and Examinations by the Ministry of Education and Youth Services.
12. Suggestion by Dr. S. Misra, Vice-Chanceller, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, at the CABE Meeting held on 2nd/3rd May 1970.
13. Minutes of the Central Advisory Board of Education Meeting held on 2nd/3rd May, 1970.
14. Minutes of the Meeting of the Chairmen and Secretaries of Boards of Secondary Education held on 22nd and 23rd June, 1970.
15. Letter from Dr. G. Rudrayyachowdari, Vice- Principal and Head of the Department of History, Ramachandrapuram, East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, to Prolessor V.K.R.V. Rao, Minister for Education and Youth Services, Government of India.
16. Letter from Shri M. Padmanabhan Nair, Professor of English, S. N. College, Cannanore, forwarded by the Deputy Educational Adviser, Ministry of Education and Youth Services.
17. Letter from Mr. Mrinmoy Bhattacharyya, General Secretary, West Bengal College and University Teachers' As-sociation, Calcutta, to Professor V.K.R.V. Rao, Union Minister for Education and Youth Services.
18. A paper cutting from The Hindustan Times by Mr. S.G. Mampilli, 2-G Ramnagar, New Delhi-55 sent by Shri J.P. Naik, Adviser, Ministry of Education and Youth Services.
19. Access to books in Examinations-Reported statement of Dr. V.K.R.V. Rao, Union Minister for Education and Youth Services, in the fortnightly The States, Vol. 1, No. 15 of May 30, 1970.
20. Clipping from Patriot of September 24, 1970, on Examination System.
II. ABSTRACT OF THE SPEECH
OF PROFESSOR V.K.R.V. RAO 1. There are several Committees set up by the Central Advisory Board of Education to deal with different problems. This Committee pertaining to Examinations is, I consider, the most important. As per plans, I should like this Committee to hold meetings and complete its work before the end of November, 1970, as I propose to call a meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education in January, 1971. I should like to be. informed about the last meeting of this Committee as I propose to attend the same. The other meetings would be called by Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao, the Vice-Chairman of this Committee, and you are at liberty to plan your meetings in consultation with him.
2. Our examinations have become extremely important and have now attracted public attention. They are also posing law and order problems and students are now known to indulge in extensive copying and other malpractices. There are problems of providing protection to invigilators. With the large number of students to be handled in public examinations, the standards appear to have collapsed and the marks, ranks and other features of public examinations appear to have lost most of their significance. The lack of standards arises from several factors and the marking varies widely from subject to subject. In some subjects, the general level of marking could be low while it could be extremely high in certain others. The results of examinations, however varied the examination may be, were formerly accepted by the students, the teachers and the public alike. There used to be some grumbling but there was nothing more than that. Today, the large majority of the public including the students do not believe in the justice part of our examinations. Several serious facts have come to my own notice. I saw in the papers that the Indore University is going to remain content with condoning the students for copying with a fine of Rs. 50 only. This was an offence for which rustication for some years was the minimum punishment in the past. There is a considerable variation in the marking and in the standards from one university to another. In this situation, it is most appropriate for us to ask the question which others ask also, "What is wrong with our public examinations ?"
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3. The concept of lumping of three years of study into an examination in one year is not correct. The American semester system is one possible answer. Some academic people have introduced such a semester system but they have copied the form and not the substance of it. What is required is alteration of the frequency of examinations in a properly planned manner and giving a, credit to the work done by the students in the institutions. Further, the nature of the examinations has also to be considered. Firstly, the intelligence of a student has to be tested through examinations. Secondly, the variations in marking have to be reduced to the minimum. Objective tests reduce variations in marking and are indicative very largely of the information content of the student's mind. Essay type of questions test the boy's ability in a different way. Similarly, there could be problem-oriented questions. What is wanted is a combination of all such approaches with the overriding condition that the boy who knows his subject should be able to pass.
4. So far as marking is concerned, each question could be marked but the assessment of the paper on the basis of the total marks should be reduced to a form of grading. While assigning the different grades, the principle of moderation could play an important part. Thereafter, taking the grades in the different subjects into account, an over-all grading could be made of the performance of a student in the examination as a whole. For this purpose, a suitable formula has to be evolved.
5. What is really most urgent is to give less and less import- ance to the final examination and give more and more weightage to the class work. How this is to be done is a problem to be examined by itself. The essays written by the student, the record books of the laboratories, etc., could constitute one part of the internal assessment for class work. In addition, there could be a number of tests conducted by the institution and We marks obtained therein could represent another part of internal assessment. But, when a certificate is issued by a board or a university, the grade obtained by a candidate both in the internal assessment and the external assessment should be furnished. This is the only way to get internal assessment into a more rational form. When teachers will find that there are wide variations in the grading between the internal assessment and the external assessment, they would be tempted auto- matically to correct themselves. Further, such a marks card or cer- tificate would be an eye-opener to the prospective employers.
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6. Regarding admissions to professional institutions or other seats of higher learning, it should be possible to call people for a written test on the basis of their grading by the Board/University. Thus, first-class students only need be called for such a test. This would imply giving credit to the assessment of the University/ Board. Thereafter, the results of the test should be the sole criterion for admission.
7. We should restrict ourselves to consider examinations up to the first degree level only. In all such cases, large numbers of stu- dents are involved. Hence, objective type of testing should become a very essential feature of all such examinations. Where students are required to write 'yes' or 'no', a third type of answer should also be encouraged, viz., 'I don't know'. In addition, every examination should have one essay type of paper.
8. If question-papers are suitably set, it should be possible to permit students to use books in the examination halls. Further, depending on the question-paper, it may be possible even to do away with invigilation. But these are all interrelated problems and should be examined in a composite way.
9. We should also think of giving weightage to extra-curricular activities.
III. STATEMENT OF THE MINISTER OF STATE
FOR EDUCATION, BIHAR
EXAMINATION REFORMS 1. The examination system and various problems arising out of it cannot be discussed without taking entire education system into consideration. Any change in the system and pattern of examination, or any reform in examination will bring in its way a revolutionary change in the system, pattern and syllabus of education.
2. The malpractices adopted in examination and recourse to violence are agitating the minds of the considerate and intelligentsia of the country. They-view with great concern the doom of the sanctity and purpose of examination. The malady is very deep and needs radical cure.
3. Examination now remains a matter of manoeuvring in col- laboration with the invigilators, examiners and examinees. It has become a fun. The method of adopting unfair means in the shape
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of copying from the materials supplied from outside and dictating the answers by loudspeaker and by the invigilators themselves in the examination halls is now out-moded. Nothing is done in a secret and submerged way. The students get question-papers and examination books beforehand, and prepare the answer with the help of teachers outside the examination hall. This is the climax. The invigilators and teachers commit all the malpractices to get better results for their wards.
4. Examination should not be conducted only at the close of the period of study but it should be a continuous process. Oral test should form major part of the examination. Paper-setters, moderators, question packing, these should be planned in such a way that there should not be leakage of question.
5. The methods adopted in competitive examination should be adopted in general examinations. Protection of the invigilators and honesty and integrity of the teachers can play very effective part in controlling the malpractices in the examination. Examiners who examine answer books should rise to the call of the nation and curb the rampant tendency of procuring marks by pairvi. The following suggestions, if implemented, will- fetch better results:
(1) Universities should be prepared to make experimentations in examination system. The present examination system is anachronistic and out-moded.
(2) The university teachers should adopt new and improved techniques of evaluation (quiz, multiple choice question, homes essays, etc.) .
(3) A programme of seminars, discussions, workshops should be organised for the postgraduate students.
(4) Grading and classification of examination results should be done on a relative rather than on an absolute basis in a 6-point scale: A to F. Grade 'A' would mean that the student is in the top 20 per cent of those who have been successful at the examination.
(5) Payment of remuneration to examiners should be abolished. Evaluation should be treated as an integral part of teaching.
(6) Rigid and set syllabuses should be discouraged as far as possible. External examination based on them should be done away with.. What is needed is a system of
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internal and continuous evaluation. by those who teach the courses.
(7) Before any effective examination reform is introduced, measures for reorganisation of the courses of study have to be taken. Semester system should be introduced at the earliest. The courses accordingly have to be framed (40 lectures per course per semester seems to be a workable proposition). The system would provide semesterwise examinations under which a student failing in a particular course could either repeat the course in the next semester or take another course in its place. It also gives the student a high degree of flexibility in choosing courses from various disciplines in accordance with his inclination and capacity. A student may be assigned to an adviser who would help him to work out the academic programme for him.
(8) The academic session of the university normally should consist of two somesters with a short vacation between them. The first semester from 24th July to 25th November. Examination from 27th November to 15th December. The second semester from 5th January to 30th April. Examination from 2nd May to 15th May. 15th May to 23rd July-Summer vacation. Classes should not be held on Saturdays and Sundays.
(9) Every semester course should carry a number of credits on one-hour-one-credit basis. B.A. Hons. should be a 3-credit course. At the M.A. level 3, 4, 5 credit courses be evolved. In order to earn credits students will be required to pass practical or sessional work (if prescribed for the course) as well as written examination or term paper held at the end of the semester.
(10) Three or 4 credit courses may carry 100 marks, 2 credit courses 50 marks.
(11) Every student should be assigned an adviser appointed by the Department of Studies concerned with his main subject. Compulsory and subsidiary subjects are to be selected by the student with the approval of his adviser. Course selected by the student should be entered on a course card maintained by the adviser. On the course
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card should be recorded credits and marks obtained by the student.
(12) For B.A. and B.Sc. (Hons.) Degree, a candidate shall have to pass in sessional work and semester examinations so as to accumulate 120 credits as under:
(a) Compulsory and general courses 24 credits
(b) Main or major subject 48 credits
(c) Subsidiary or major subject 48 credits
For M.A./M.Sc./M.Com. examinations the number of credits should not exceed 30 (24 major, 6 minor) plus a Master's thesis and viva-voce examination.
(13) To pass in a course and obtain the credits a candidate must at least get an average of 'C' for B.A., B.Sc., (Pass & Hons.) and an average of 'B' for postgraduate degrees. The traditional grading may also be retained and students may opt for either of the two (60% and above 1st class, 50-59-2nd class, 40-49-3rd class).