Testing times for students from school to college

Examinations are definitely not the end of the world. But they do have a significant place in our lives.

In Kerala exams are given undue importance. More than students themselves the society is concerned about the percentage students have earned. The tendency to measure the worth of a student merely by academic score is very high here.

Academic failures lead many students to depression. The strong stress that is built up in the exam atmosphere also works towards the poor performance of the candidate.

Such tensions and failures have ended up in suicides.

Apart from the stigma attached to poor results and the tendency to look down upon students with lower grades the problems that are created due to the inefficiency in evaluation sometimes even adversely affect the future of the students.

Favouritism and outcome

Marks are highly valued by by students, parents and school authorities. The stress on marks leads to many undesirable effects.

Low-scoring students are sidelined, while better performing ones turn favourites of teachers. The latter develop a sense of superiority and may find it difficult to cope with failures in the later phases.

Such actions are sadly destroying the future of many students. This happens mainly due to two reasons. One is the deterioration in the quality of the teachers. The children rarely get teachers who love their subjects at school levels. The teaching profession for many is a last resort these days. Another problem is lack of specialisation of subjects for school teachers. The teacher who might have studied commerce at her or his Masters level are many times forced to teach her or his students subjects like History or Geography.

The case might be even worse when it comes to primary classes, where all subjects under science and humanities are usually handled by a single teacher. This naturally frustrates many teachers, as they themselves are aware of their inefficiency in the subject.

Such teachers tend to easily get irritated by the doubts of the students who raises question in the positive spirit of deeper learning. However, the negative responses of the teachers not only demotivate the kids but even make them hate the subject, laments a mother of a young enthusiastic student reflecting upon her son’s experience.

The absence of a centralised evaluation system in lower levels of education is another problem. Meanwhile, at the college level things get more complex.

The university system too has several ills. Delay in conduct of examinations and declaration of results, unnecessary postponment of examinations, technical glitches in published results, delay in issuing of certificates, errors in issued certificates and much more. There is no real mechanism to actually understand whether the whole process from the preparation of the question papers, to the conduct of the examination, evaluation and declaration of results was carried out in a free and fair manner. We hear of discrepancies in them now and then. Even if we believe that all things work in the lawful and fair manner, we need to examine the trend of results declared.

Those who seek revaluation often find there are changes in marks, many a times with 15% difference from the initial total. The application for revaluation clearly declares that the authorities will not be responsible for any losses that are sustained by the students in case of lower marks in the initially published result. Then who is actually responsible?

The fee for revaluation is usually refunded if there is substantial change during recheck. But can a monetary compensation be a sufficient explanation for the errors in the initial results? Students who fail in a paper often clear it during review. A monetary compensation can never compensate for the loss sustained by such a student in terms of the time involved and opportunities irrespective of the amount that might be offered.

The time involved between the initial declaration of the results and the results of the revaluation often have forced students to settle for lesser options that what they actually deserve according to their actual merit.The whole revaluation process is expensive and there are no fee exemptions in any form to the underprivileged classes. Many financially unsound students who are unhappy about their result and trust their performance in the respective examinations remain helpless as they find it difficult to arrange funds for the procedure.

Some students of autonomous colleges even doubt that wrong results are published on purpose in order to raise revenue.

Nobody loves to be called a failure. In a society like Kerala with undue concerns for academics, not clearing an exam itself is considered a disgrace. In such a scenario, the mental trauma that is suffered during the period of declaration of original results and the result of revaluation is immeasurable. A student who has the knowledge in the concerned subject unnecessarily undergoes mental trauma by being the subject of verbal bullying by teachers, parents, relatives or by self-imposed torture. It easily destroys the confidence in the victim.

Above all, to secure an admission is a difficult task as students face high cut offs and numerous certificate requirements. Many bright students leave Kerala for higher education owing to delay in obtaining certificates on time.

All these issues prove that the authorities are irresponsible and insensitive to students.