 EVALUATION OF EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTS

Both Formative and Summative

Open Learning, especially when offered through distance education mode, can and does pose problems at various stages. At the stage of admission, the compulsion to be open means relaxation of standard admission norms, the production of certificates of achievement etc. NOS does not insist on a formal certificate about previous educational attainments, but is satisfied with a self certificate for admission to both the Foundation and Secondary level courses. Students will cheat? Possibly, Yes. But, NOS insists on all students, regardless of the certificate that they produced, qualifying for appearing at the external examinations, by studying the first two dispatches (about 15- 20 lessons) and appearing in an internal test and passing with at least 25% marks. Those who fail are not rejected, but allowed to appear again at the following internal test, till they pass. As a result, the standards have not been reduced, but actually increased. It is much easier to produce a certificate. NOS asks for both evidence of study and of educational ATTAINMENTS.

The internal tests are computer marked, namely through an Optical Mark Reader. In the last Internal Test, there were 1.67 lakh scripts, but thanks to the Optical Mark Reader, the evaluation could be done in about a month and results compiled, centre-wise and despatched. The Infernal Tests do double duty, namely serving as eligibility to qualify for appearing at the external examinations and those who pass at the test have these marks counted for the final Grade, to the tune of 20% of the total.

At the Senior Secondary stage, a formal certificate of pass from a Board or from NOS is insisted on as well as appearing in the Internal Assessment test. 20% of what the student scores goes towards the final grade,. in that. subject.

As distance education materials are aimed at maximising self-learning, in-text questions are provided at frequent intervals and terminal questions at the end of a unit of lesson. At the end of a series of lessons in a despatch, a set of formal questions are set (similar to the questions that the students will encounter in the public examinations) which the students answer. Earlier these response sheets were sent to the Open School for marking, and returned to the students but now these are taken care of by the teachers at the study centres.

External (public) examinations are held twice each year, in mid May and in mid October. Students have the option to take upto five years to complete the course and they can accumulate credit (passes in subjects) all together or one or two subjects at an examination. Most students take two to three years to complete the acquisition of sufficient credit passes for certification.

The Secondary course remained unbifurcated till the current year but the students of May, 1991 examinations will have the bifurcated course. That is to say, they will have questions at the external examinations only from the portions designated as Certification course. The Foundation course will be for study and as a base for the Certification course. However, for the internal assessment, questions are included from both Foundation and Certification course units. The same applies for the Senior Secondary, where the course is divided into Foundation and Certification units. In the same lesson, parts of it may be foundation, while the rest certification or a whole lesson may be of one or the other category. Such close intertwining of the course units, makes the course equivalent to what obtains in the formal system, though, in the formal also, some Boards test the Class IX/XI course units through a test internally set and examined by the concerned schools.

A small study from a random sample of students of NOS shows that:

a. 07% took the full five years to complete the course

b. 20% completed in four to four and a half years

c. 09% completed in two years

d. 19% took one to one a half years to complete

e. 45% completed in one year.

Though advised to take the number of subjects, depending on one's ability and availability of time to complete the course, 82% of the students in the 1989 examinations had passed 3 subjects earlier, indicating that they take advantage of the flexibility provided.

The NOS does not provide data on the percentage of passes each year, since the students pass in subjects and accumulate pass credits. The diagram as given below shows the average percentage of pass in the different subjects, which indicates a creditable achievement.

The important question of equivalence, recognition and eligibility for jobs, for pursuing higher studies (from Secondary to Senior Secondary or from Senior Secondary to University) are of relevance. As a matter of principle, the NOS preserves, equivalence of educational standards in the development of courses, something that it invites others to ascertain for themselves. Obviously, the equivalence is different from uniformity or point to point correspondence in the topics prescribed, within a course. Being a newcomer in the field, the NOS will necessarily have to answer questions, experience difficulty in getting equivalence from Boards and Universities. Either it can, while maintaining rigidly standards of attainment, insist on its right and necessity, as a distinct and different system and catering to own clientele, preserve its own identity and flexibility or succumb to the pressure and conform to the demands from the formal. This is a major issue for the very survival and growth of the system. Reforms in curriculum development and evaluation will become teasing illusions, if the Open System surrenders to the formal, for the immediate gains of a pot of porridge.