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Education Plus
Clearly, the skills were lacking
CHITRA V. RAMANI
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Only reforms in teaching and exams can improve PU pass percentage
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"Those who do not perform well in first year should not be promoted"
— Photo: K. Gopinathan
Dull show:A casual attitude was evident among many students in the Pre-University examination this year.
The pass percentage of the second Pre-University course examination held during March 2008 was a measly 41.31, the lowest in the past six years. This was a drop from 50.7 of last year. Of the 5.72 lakh students who appeared for the examination, only 2.36 lakh had passed.
This has academicians, parents and students alike worried. Officials claim that the low result can be attributed to the vast difference in the levels of the syllabus of the State’s Secondary School Leaving Certificate examination and that of the PUC. Educationists, on the other hand, do not buy the argument.
Probe needed
K. Balaveera Reddy, former Vice-Chancellor of Visvesvaraya Technological University and executive member of the Forum of Former Vice-Chancellors of Universities of Karnataka, said that the second PUC pass percentage of this year is very low compared to the earlier years. “Why are our students not able to score well? The pass percentage in the neighbouring States is more than 80. I am sure our students can outdo them. We have to take up the case seriously and investigate the reasons,” he said.
Dr. Reddy said that the performance may even have a bearing on the Common Entrance Test.
“The number of students who will even qualify will come down. We may even have a situation where the ratio between the number of students and available seats is very low.”
He also said that the need of the hour was reforms in the classrooms and in the examination system. “The PU department has to investigate how best to do this. The SSLC level may be brought up to match the PUC level. It should not be difficult. There are many academicians and educationists in the country who will be able to suggest how this can be done to the department,” he said.
Dr. Reddy said that teachers’ training programmes need to be revived. Reforms in the examination system, such as introducing online examinations, could be explored. “We will be at a disadvantage if the situation continues like this. Renewed attention on both primary and secondary education is of utmost importance.”
Test aptitude
M.S. Thimmappa, former Vice-Chancellor and executive member of the Forum of Former Vice-Chancellors of Universities of Karnataka, said that a lot of parents want their children to take up science subjects, even though the students may not have the aptitude for it. “Many students may not be suited for careers in engineering or medicine. It should not be forced upon them. Else, their performance will suffer. Schools must stress on career guidance and aptitude testing for SSLC students. This way, they will be able to choose careers they are best suited for,” he said.
While it is crucial to find out what the students’ strengths are, it is equally important to get the teachers to attend programmes to better their teaching methodology and be aware of the latest developments in their subjects.
He was of the opinion that the objective-type questions should also be introduced in the PUC level. “It cannot be disputed that the objective-type questions test the creativity and analytical ability of the students better than essay-type questions. We need to get students to think and answer, rather than pass by mugging up answers to questions.”
S.G. Hegde, Commissioner, Department of PU Education, said that the pass percentage of the private candidates and repeaters was low, which had, in turn affected the overall percentage. “The pass percentage among freshers is 47.74, while the figure for private candidates and repeaters is 24.42 and 20.27 respectively.”
He said that the department was concerned about the decrease in the overall pass percentage. “There is a need to study and analyse (it). Those who wrote the examination this year were from the first batch of students who wrote the SSLC examination after the multiple-choice questions were introduced. Experts felt that their writing skills may have suffered, which might have affected their performance.”
The Commissioner observed that the pass percentage in the Arts stream was 36.21, while it was 54.79 and 41.26 in the Commerce and Science streams. The low pass percentage in the Arts faculty was testimony to the fact that the writing skills had suffered.
“They are the ones who are most affected. The students of the Arts faculty have to give descriptive answers. The introduction of objective-type questions in SSLC, I feel, has affected these children the most.”
Another reason could be the students’ tendency to take the first year pre-university course lightly. “This is a worrying trend. We are looking at it seriously. We have directed teachers to tell first pre-university course students to concentrate and study well, failing which they will be retained in the same class. There may also be certain social issues that will need to be addressed.”
He also said that the first PU examination is conducted very lightly. Students who do not deserve to be admitted to second PUC are “pushed.” “One cannot just pass students. Obviously, such students will find it difficult to cope with the high standard in second PUC. We have already intimated the principals and teachers concerned of the different PUC colleges in the State.”
Mr. Hegde said that some changes in the examination methods and strengthening up of first-year PUC will be taken up this academic year itself. “There is room for improvement. We cannot better the results by looking at second PUC in isolation. We need to change the syllabus from the high school-level such that it matches the PUC level,” he said.
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