Current relevance of radical changes in the Indian examination system.

06 Jan 2024 Current relevance of radical changes in the Indian examination system.

(This article is a brief summary of the joint editorial of ‘The Hindu’, The Economy Times of India and ‘PIB’. It also includes the suggestions of the YOJNA IAS team. This article is related to the UPSC Civil Services Examination specifically ‘Indian Economy’ Belongs to the section ‘Growth and Human Resources, Government Policies and Interventions, Growth and Development’. This article is related to ‘Current Relevance of Overhaul in the Indian Examination System’ under ‘Daily Current Affairs )’. 

General Studies: Growth of Indian economy and human resources, government policies and interventions, growth and development.

Why in discussion / News ?

• Every year or every examination season, news of examination malpractices, cheating and examination scams at all levels are seen and heard in newspapers and media coverage of India. Due to which questions are raised on the credibility of the examination system in India and the standard of examinations/certificates issued by school boards or universities. The lack of credibility of the examination system in any educational institutions affects the educational standards there because learning is determined by the examination system offered. The main objective of education and teaching should be to prepare a student to face any kind of examination.
• With over 1,100 universities, over 700 autonomous colleges including 50,000 affiliated colleges and a total enrollment of 40.15 crore students, India has multiple higher education examination systems with diverse methods of assessment. There are also about 60 school boards in India for the secondary and senior secondary levels of school education, which award certificates to more than 15 crore students every year. Confidentiality and standardization in examinations at any level are considered the hallmarks of good examination boards. The balance between proper testing system and continuous evaluation and examination confidentiality without audit leads to examination scams. Uniformity in examination at any level not only eliminates standardization, evaluation and constant innovation in the curriculum. Rather, only through transparency in teaching and evaluation can the credibility of evaluation and the level of education be ensured.

Why is there a need for improvement in the present examination system ? 

• India will have the largest youth population in the world by the year 2030. Therefore, unless this youth population is trained and skilled to join the workforce, this huge youth population of India will not prove to be a boon for India. Therefore, in such a situation, providing skilled and quality education as per the needs of the present time will play a major role in this.
• The current education situation in India is facing major challenges like lack of suitable infrastructure, skewed student-teacher ratio and low government expenditure on education (less than 3.5% of India’s GDP).
• Therefore, it is the need of the hour to bring the Indian education system in line with the global standards and adopt a modern pedagogy approach that is not only relevant to the needs of the present times, but is also responsive to the needs of the present times. At present, such an examination system should be developed in India which moves towards realizing the main objectives of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020).

Need for examination reform – As the needs and ideologies of the society change, the education system and its form also keeps changing according to the needs of the times. As the objective of education became employment-oriented, changes were made in the curriculum by the educationists of the country as per the needs of the time and the systems of examination evaluation also changed.

The main objective of education is the all-round development of any child or youth, but evaluating this development is not an easy task. The real objectives of education and the current examination system cannot be achieved by merely scoring a few marks and getting a grade in the examination or by memorizing the answers to a few selected questions. This is because evaluation of any person or organization is a continuous and ongoing process. Therefore, it is the need of the present time that there should be continuous improvement in the examination system and evaluation process in India so that it can meet the needs of the present time. The need for a radical change in the present examination system existing in India is important for the following reasons: –

• Keeping in mind the changing needs of contemporary society.

• To establish proper harmony between market and society.

• To give relevance to the current times and to utilize the available manpower through appropriate means.

• For overall development of special abilities and talents.

• To evaluate the interrelationships between actual skilled knowledge and employer needs.
• To establish connections between the current educational systems and the society.

Keeping in mind the changing needs of the contemporary society:

• There is a great need to reform the examination system to establish mutual harmony between the changing needs, ideologies and education of the society. For the last several decades, students were evaluated only through the marks obtained. As a result, students used to compete only for scoring marks by memorizing bookish knowledge. The students who got low marks through this examination system and evaluation method used to commit unfair and inhuman acts like suicide due to the fear of public shame.
• The nature of such unfair and inhuman acts gradually started increasing and then examinations also started being taken at the end of the year in which students were asked to answer only a few questions and they were evaluated on the basis of these questions only. used to go. But no one can be evaluated on the basis of some marks only, because the aim of education is the all-round development of the students and also to develop the qualities inherent in the students. That is why in the present time, to achieve these objectives, there is a great need for improvement in the present examination system.

To establish proper harmony between market and society : 

• In the present times, what is taught to students in the classroom and the way it is taught is becoming less and less related to the evaluation of its examination system. At present, there is no proper and mutual coordination between the teaching-learning process and the examination and evaluation system. To maintain this coordination properly, it is very important to improve the present examination system.

To ensure relevance of the curriculum to the contemporary times and appropriate use of available manpower :

• In any society or nation, the curriculum also keeps changing with time. Now various activities and activities have also been given place in the curriculum. To evaluate them properly and to check the knowledge acquired by the students, there is a great need to improve the existing examination system and evaluation system.

For overall development of special abilities and talents :

• It is necessary to improve the examination for the development of qualities and talent inherent in the students. Through education, not only all the qualities within the child can be brought out, but whether the objectives of education have been achieved or not and how those objectives can be achieved can be examined through examination and evaluation.
• In any society, family or school, no two children have similar tendencies or interests and every child has some special ability or talent. That hidden talent is also developed through education. The development of this talent is evaluated by examination. For the development of talent, it is very important to improve the evaluation process in the existing examination system.

To evaluate the interrelationship between actual skilled knowledge and employer’s needs :

• Assessing the interrelationship between actual skilled knowledge and employer needs also requires a radical change in the assessment methodology of the current examination system. Whatever knowledge is acquired by students in various activities and activities is tested through assessment and the methods of assessment are different. For example, objective and essay questions are also included in interviews, questionnaires, written examinations and oral examinations. Through these types of examinations, the actual knowledge of the student is evaluated.

To establish connections between the current educational systems and society :

• To establish a relationship between the present education system and the society, there is a need for a radical change in the evaluation system inherent in the examination system because any student enters the school after leaving his/her family or society. In fact, just as education creates society, society also creates education. As the needs and ideologies of the society change, the form of education changes. Evaluation of examinations is also a part of this. Therefore, to establish proper relationship between education and society, evaluation reform of examination is the utmost need of the present time.
• Gradually the students started answering only a few selected questions. Due to this, the student’s acquired knowledge could not be fully evaluated. Gradually, this form of examination was changed and objective questions were also included in the written examinations, in which the written, oral and experimental work of the students was also examined. Through this, the student’s knowledge throughout the year was evaluated. With the inclusion of various subjects in the curriculum, the quality of these examinations also began to decline and it was thought that the achievements of the students throughout the year should also be given a place in the examination results. That is why the semester system was considered as a grading system to evaluate the knowledge throughout the year and it was included in the examination system of India. Despite all these changes, there are many flaws in the existing examination-evaluation system in India, which, considering the needs of the present time, is in great need of radical change, so that we can move forward in the direction of building an inclusive society and the present time. An examination evaluation system can be developed to suit the needs of the present time and can retain its current relevance.

​The journey of development of the Indian education system in India so far:

National Education Policy, 1968

• This first policy on education in independent India was based on the recommendations of the Kothari Commission (1964–1966).
• Education was declared a subject of national importance.
• A goal of compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14 and a focus on better training and qualification of teachers.
• The policy also encouraged the teaching of the ancient Sanskrit language, which was considered an essential part of India’s culture and heritage.
• A target was set to spend 6 percent of the Union Budget on education.
• A call was made to implement the ‘Tribhasha Sutra’ at the secondary level.

National Education Policy, 1986

• The objective of this policy was to lay special emphasis on eliminating inequalities and equalizing educational opportunities, especially for Indian women, Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Caste communities.
• This policy launched “Operation Blackboard” to improve primary schools.
• This policy expanded the ‘Open University’ system with Indira Gandhi National Open University.
• The policy called for the creation of a “rural university” model based on the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi to promote grassroots economic and social development in rural India.

Amendment in National Education Policy, 1992

• The objective of the amendment to the National Policy on Education, 1986 was to conduct a common entrance examination on an all India basis for admission to professional and technical programs in the country.
• For admission to engineering and architecture programmes, the government conducts Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) at the national level and State Level Engineering Entrance Examination for state level institutions. (SLEEE) determined.
• It solved the problems of reducing the physical, mental and financial burden on students and their parents due to multiplicity of entrance examinations.

Why is there a need for change in education policy ?

• The changing global scenario required changes in the existing education system to meet the needs of the knowledge-based economy.
• To promote innovation and research and to enhance the quality in education, India needed a new education policy keeping in mind the needs of the present times.
• There was a need for change in the education policy in India to adopt the global standards of the Indian educational system and also to ensure the global reach of the Indian educational system.

National Education Policy (NEP) – 2020

• With the aim of paying special attention to issues like quality, accountability, access to all, egalitarian, democratic and affordability of education in India, the National Education Policy-2020 has made a radical change from the existing education system. Under the new education policy, with the cooperation of the Central and State Government, a target of investment equal to 6% of the country’s GDP has been set in the education sector. Under the new education policy, approval has also been given to change the name of ‘Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to ‘Ministry of Education’.

Key points of National Education Policy (NEP) – 2020:

Provisions related to elementary education

Division of educational curriculum for children of 3 years to 8 years of age into two groups-

1. Ensuring availability of free, safe and quality ‘Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)’ for children aged 3 to 6 years through Anganwadi/Kindergarten/Pre-School. to do.
2. Children aged 6 to 8 years will be provided education in classes 1 and 2 in primary schools.

• Priority will be given to make elementary education based on multi-level games and activities.

• The NEP calls for the establishment of a ‘National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy’ by the MHRD.
• State governments will prepare a plan for the implementation of this mission to achieve basic literacy and numeracy in all children up to class 3 in primary schools by the year 2025.

Protecting linguistic diversity : 

• In NEP-2020, emphasis has been laid on adopting mother tongue/local or regional language as the medium of instruction in education up to class 5, and in this policy, mother tongue has been given priority for education in class 8 and onwards. Suggested.
• The option of Sanskrit and other ancient Indian languages will be available to students in school and higher education, but there will be no compulsion on any student to choose the language.

Curriculum and assessment reforms:

• According to the reforms proposed in this policy, there will not be much difference between arts and sciences, vocational and academic subjects and curricular and extracurricular activities.
• Vocational education will be included in the educational curriculum from class 6 itself and the provision of internship will also be provided in it.
• National Curriculum Framework for School Education will be prepared by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
• Keeping in mind the goal of overall development of students, changes will be made in the examinations of class 10 and class 12. This may include improvements like semester or multiple choice questions etc. in the future.
• A new ‘National Assessment Centre’ called ‘PARAKH’ will be set up as a standard-setting body to evaluate the progress of students.
• Use of ‘Artificial Intelligence-AI’ based software to evaluate the progress of students and help students in taking decisions related to their future.

Reforms related to education system:

• Following an effective and transparent process in the appointment of teachers and promotion on the basis of performance assessment taken from time to time.
• The National Council for Teacher Education will develop ‘National Professional Standards for Teachers’ (NPST) by the year 2022.
• ‘National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (NCFTE)’ will be developed by the National Council for Teacher Education on the basis of consultation with NCERT.
• The minimum degree qualification for teaching is 4-year integrated B.Ed. Having a degree has been made mandatory by the year 2030.

Provisions related to Higher education:

• Under NEP-2020, a target has been set to increase the ‘Gross Enrollment Ratio’ in higher educational institutions from 26.3% (year 2018) to 50%, along with this, 3.5 crore new students will be added to the higher educational institutions of the country. Seats will be added.
• Under NEP-2020, multiple entry and exit system has been adopted in the undergraduate course, under this, students in 3 or 4 year undergraduate program will be able to leave the course at multiple stages and will be awarded the corresponding degree or certificate ( Certificate after 1 year, Advanced Diploma after 2 years, Bachelor’s degree after 3 years and Bachelor’s degree with research after 4 years).
• An ‘Academic Bank of Credit’ was created to digitally safeguard the marks or credits obtained from various higher educational institutions, so that degrees can be awarded to students based on their performance in different institutions. Could.
• The M. Phil program has been abolished under the New Education Policy 2020.

Higher Education Commission of India :

• Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) will be constituted as a single body for the higher education sector for all other subjects except medical and legal education.
• For efficient and effective execution of the functions of the Higher Education Commission of India, the following four institutions/bodies have been constituted/determined –
• For regulation- National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC)
• Standard Setting- General Education Council (GEC)
• Funding- Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC)
• Accreditation- National Accreditation Council (NAC)
• In accordance with the standards of global education level in India, ‘Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities’ (MERU) will be established at par with the education level of IITs and IIMs.

Related Challenges:

• Expensive education: The new education policy has paved the way for the entry of foreign universities, various educationists believe that the entry of foreign universities is likely to make the Indian education system expensive. As a result, it will become challenging for lower class students to get higher education.
• Migration of teachers: With the entry of foreign universities, skilled teachers from India can also migrate to teach in these universities.
• Sanskritisation of education: South Indian states allege that the government is trying to  culturalize education through the ‘three-language’ formula.
• Disregard of Parliament: The opposition alleges that the procedure of Parliament was violated in giving permission to this policy which decides the condition and direction of Indian education. Earlier, the National Education Policy, 1986 was also implemented by the Parliament.
• Lack of human resources: At present there is a shortage of skilled teachers in the field of elementary education, hence there are practical problems in the implementation of the arrangements made for elementary education under the National Education Policy, 2020.

Conclusion/way forward:

• “Value based education” should be implemented in the field of primary, secondary and higher education to develop responsible citizens and sensitive character in a society, because moral and high value based qualities are developed by children at the age of 5-6 years. These are learned only till the age, if for some reason children fail to learn these qualities during this period, then it is very difficult for them to acquire these moral qualities again in life.
• An investment in nutrition, health, and enthusiasm in the first thousand days of life also builds a strong brain. Therefore, it can be easily established through effective early childhood development programs and basic education.
• Through investment in what is called basic human capital, India can prepare its citizens or manpower for upcoming changes in jobs, skills and market structures.
• The lack of investment will seriously harm future generations, especially the poorest, and will worsen the inequality that already exists.
• This may lead to a situation of socio-political instability in India when rising aspirations are met with disappointment instead of opportunity.
• Currently India has started investing in human capital and this is likely to have a positive impact in the coming years. The shift in the education sector towards more competitive federalism and results-based funding is expected to improve accountability and learning outcomes.
• The International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international survey conducted every three years, conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). India’s agreement to participate in PISA is a major step towards its strategic outcomes, which will help India improve its rank with global peers on education outcomes and achieve better results.
• There is also an urgent need for the World Bank’s policy makers and governments to think seriously about human capital because the changing nature of work prompts them to think so.
• Future prosperity in India Current and long-term investment in national human capital is an effective investment in the future prosperity of people and also nationally.

Practice Questions for Preliminary Exam:

Q.1. Consider the following statements regarding the need for radical change in the education system of India at present.

1. A new ‘National Assessment Centre’ called ‘PARAKH’ will be set up as a standard-setting body to evaluate the progress of students.
2. The National Education Policy, 1986 expanded the ‘Open University’ system with the Indira Gandhi National Open University.
3. ‘National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education’ will be developed by the National Council for Teacher Education on the basis of consultation with NCERT.
4. Under the new education policy, with the cooperation of the Central and State Government, a target of investment equal to 16% of the country’s GDP has been set in the education sector.

Which of the above statement /statements is correct?

(A). Only 1, 2 and 3.

(B). Only 1 and 4.

(C). Only 2, 3 and 4.

(D). Only 2 and 4.

Answer – (A).

Practice Questions for Main Exam:

Q.1. In the light of India’s National Education Policy – 2020, discuss why there is a need to change the evaluation methodology of the current examination system in India to assess the interrelationship between skilled actual knowledge and employer’s needs? Give a logical explanation.

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Akhilesh Kumar Shrivastava

Qualified Preliminary and Main Examination ( Written ) and Shortlisted for Personality Test (INTERVIEW)  three times Of UPSC CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION in the year of 2017, 2018 and 2020. Shortlisted for Personality Test (INTERVIEW) of 64th and 67th BPSC CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION.

M. A  M. Phil and Ph. D From (SLL & CS) JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY, NEW DELHI.