Page 52 - EW July 2021 final

Teacher-2-Teacher

Culturally compatible

exams reform proposal

VENUNADHAN PILLAI

N MANY COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD includ- Explosive grades inflation has
ing India, examination boards have cancelled or post-
poned exams because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This jeopardised the credibility of school
Idecision has not been taken lightly. Public board exam board exams. Therefore the criterion
scores are the most important determinant for undergrad
college and university admission. referenced assessment (CRA) system is
Therefore with exams cancelled for the pandemic years, receiving new traction
examination boards have been compelled to devise alterna-
tive methodologies to measure students’ learning outcomes.
In the pandemic year 2019-20, national boards unable to charter. Following Macaulay’s minute, governance of the
conduct their full set of exams, permitted managements of subcontinent was subsequently taken over by the Crown in
affiliated schools to use their judgement to award grades/ 1857, and the norm-referenced assessment system of stan-
marks to school-leaving class X and XII students. dardised tests which compared students’ performance inter
Some schools acted ethically and awarded grades/marks se was introduced. This learning outcomes-based assess-
based on the historical progress of students. However, not a ment system prevailed, as the primary purpose of education
few availed the opportunity to award highly inflated marks became filtration due to limited seats in higher education
to their students. The resultant grades inflation has further and employment after graduation.
jeopardised the suspect credibility of school exam boards. It’s instructive to note that as in India’s gurukuls, the
Therefore, the criterion-referenced assessment (CRA) sys- CRA system was normative in ancient Greece, particularly
tem proposed by American educators Robert Glaser (1963) Athens, the seat of learning of Greek civilisation. Much of
and Popham and Husek (1969) who devised this alterna- the jargon used in contemporary education has Greek roots.
tive assessment system to measure academic learning out- Young boys in ancient Greece studied in an academy or
comes, is receiving new traction. schole. Trusted slaves known as pedagogues mentored the
According to these University of California academics, boys, lived in schools with children, monitored their prog-
“criterion-referenced assessment is the process of evalu- ress and ensured they did their homework.
ating learning outcomes of students against a set of pre- s in the Indian gurukul system, schole students also
specified qualities or criteria, without reference to the Alearned reading, writing, reckoning (maths), art, music
achievement of others”. Under this methodology, students and warcraft. Interestingly, the Greeks divided human life
are expected to cross specified learning milestones with- into four segments — pais, ephebos, aner and geron — to
out comparison with others in their cohort. On the other represent childhood, youth, manhood, elders (gerontocra-
hand, the norm-referenced assessment system measures cy) — much akin to the four ashramas. As in ancient India,
the performance of every student relative to others writing the purpose of Greek education was to prepare children
the same test. to learn appropriately in each stage of life. Students were
Before 1835 when British educationist Lord Macaulay exhorted to become kalakagathos — ideal persons — “who
wrote his famous ‘minute on Indian education’ and up- combine beauty and justice in a lifestyle that values fame,
rooted “the beautiful tree” of India’s ancient gurukul school wealth, ability and virtue”. Unfortunately girls education
education system, although it was not described as such, was relatively neglected.
the CRA system was normative in primary-secondary edu- The huge disruption caused to Indian education by the
cation in the subcontinent. The gurukuls prescribed a set Covid-19 pandemic — schools and all education institutions
of criteria, and attainment of these criteria resulted in the have been shuttered for over 15 months — and cancellation
end of gurukul life. Significantly, the performance of stu- of school-leaving board exams with which anyway there was
dents was unrelated to other students. The system didn’t growing dissatisfaction for unbridled grades inflation and
rank students because the gurukul was not competitive but encouragement of rote-learning, presents an occasion to
designed to prepare children to live their lives according jettison the British imposed norm-referenced school ex-
to the four ashramas of the dharma concept, i.e, develop amination system and revert to the culturally compatible
the physical, spiritual, aesthetic and intellectual capabilities criterion referenced assessment system in K-12 education.
of children combined with high sense of civic duty which The benefits of CRA are self-evident and will present
students would devotedly carry back to their families and the nation with a holistically developed young workforce,
communities. and substantially reduce the stress-load of board exams for
This tried, tested and proven school education system students. This is an exams reform proposal that needs wide
flourished until 1813 when the East India Company was and urgent debate.
forced by London to accept the responsibility for educa- (Dr. Venunadhan B. Pillai is executive principal, Vellore International
tion in its territories as a precondition of renewal of its School, Chennai)

52 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2021