Opinion - Editorials   

Can examinations be stress free?

The rapidly expanding regime of examinations for admission to higher education courses has generated, in recent years, a great deal of debate on the extreme anxiety that it subjects young people to. Examination stress is a universal phenomenon and has been widely reported among school-leavers in Britain and Japan. Yet in India, the exceptionally high stakes involved in major examinations at the school-leaving stage have resulted in traumatic consequences for many candidates who were unable to withstand the pressure. Reform of the stressful examination system, which in its present form weighs heavily against true understanding and promotes rote learning, is a major goal of national educational policy. The draft National Curriculum Framework for School Education, currently being debated in educational circles, recognises the major student concerns and correctly seeks abolition of the psychologically scarring classification of students as failures; it is well known that the stigma associated with `failure' has driven several students to suicide. Against such a background, the recent decision of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to come up with measures that will lower anxiety levels for candidates taking Board examinations in its affiliated schools is creditable. The CBSEwill give students extra time to read the question paper, set questions that the average student can answer in less than the allotted time, and introduce continuous assessment for Mathematics, Science, and Social Sciences in place of a one-off annual test. These are progressive and path-breaking steps. Even more fundamental is the proposed changeover from a marking system to one awarding grades, though a quantitative conversion of grades to marks may still be required for some admission procedures.

The National Curriculum Framework makes far-reaching recommendations to achieve high levels of credibility in the examination process and, moving away from rote learning of poorly written textbook content to problem solving and understanding. It also suggests, as a more accurate measure of merit, the introduction of multiple assessment parameters that are made possible by computerisation. A student would thus get not merely his marks or grades, but his percentile rank among all candidates of a subject and percentile among peer schools of the same rural or urban block; these scores would help evaluate the performance of examiners as well. There can be little doubt that this reform agenda needs to be urgently and extensively debated by all States, with an obligation cast on the regional authorities to benchmark their examinations against the nationally endorsed system. Considerable strain is also being caused to students by the multiplicity of entrance examinations. There is a strong case for a national agency, such as the CBSE, to offer periodical aptitude tests that are acceptable to all admitting agencies. The high anxiety associated with make-or-break annual examinations can then be safely avoided.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Peace but no common ground
Can examinations be stress free?
A critical choice in Jammu and Kashmir
The booming nuclear weapons business
Should Mumbai govern itself?
New Saudi monarch plans clean-up
"No, we are not behaving like Nazis"
Another crisis looming?
Mumbai rains
Opportunism
The Gurgaon episode
Take a leaf
Accuracy the casualty
Dress code
On J.R.D. Tata

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu