Examination System in India
The most important function of a Board or a Council or a University in India is to hold examinations. From the very beginning of his student life, the very impression of an examination is ingrained in his mind. He is given to understand that, in due course, the examinations are the sole determinants of his future life.
Advantages
Examinations have gathered in a tremendous importance in the scheme of life of a student in India. There is, of course, no denying the fact that examinations are imperatively necessary for the students. No other method is yet in the horizon to assess the merits of the students objectively.
All the students are not always the willing sorts to mind their lessons and prepare them adequately in order to reap the full benefit out of them. The system of examinations compels them to this direction.
In the public examination the examiners are not known to the examinees. The examiners have no scope to be prejudiced in their job of examining the scripts; and an honest assessment of the merits of the students can be made through examinations.
The richest endowment a student is offered by the examination is that he inculcates in him a zeal for healthy competition; and without this spirit a student can scarcely shine in life.
The present examination system may offer a possible chance to a mediocre student to score better results than a really meritorious one.
Disadvantages
The existing system of examination with its yardstick fails to measure properly the merit of such a student. A student of gifted intelligence and talent can never remain confined to the narrow zone of his text books. His horizon is wider. On the other hand, a student may be of an average merit. But he guesses with precision about the probable questions; and he reproduces them neatly in the examination. His results may be quite attractive. This anomaly is the creation of the present examination system in India.
In the present system an examinee is to answer quite a good number of questions within a very limited time. Obviously, he finds no scope to answer from his conception and thinking. As an inevitable consequence, he crams the lessons and answers from memory. Thus, the true assessment of merit becomes a far cry.
The examiners are to examine a large number of scripts in a comparatively short period of time. In a hurry they too are not expected to do justice in the uniform valuation of the answer scripts. Moreover, the mood of the examiners under varying circumstances is, sometimes, reflected in the task.
Conclusion
This examination system needs an overhauling. The method of judging a student’s merit in a single examination needs some changes. A student’s records with his tutor for the entire academic session are to be taken into consideration before making the final judgment of his performance. Methods should be devised to make the qualitative assessment of the students. Thus, the darkness of chaos will disappear in the wake of the illuminating light of cosmos.
