Page 54 - EducationWorld September 2020
P. 54
Teacher-2-Teacher
Reforms required for
democratic certification
BHUVANA ANAND TARINI SUDHAKAR
OR THE FIRST TIME IN 58 YEARS OF ITS history, India needs a system that certifies
the Delhi-based Central Board of Secondary
Education (CBSE) has scrapped its school-leaving learning and skills attainments
Fclasses X and XII national exams. Thousands of students without procedural
of students from schools affiliated with this and several
state boards are grappling with the challenge of limited qualifications with private candidates
exit certification options. The shutdown of all academic and independent learners provided equal
institutions countrywide because of the Covid-19 pandemic, access to higher education institutions
provides an opportunity to re-examine the possibility
of multiplying exit options, to think beyond traditional
school examination board certificates and democratise examinees are required to perform practicals. In 2018, the
certification. Delhi high court dismissed MCI’s disqualification order
Students who opt for traditional brick-and-mortar as unconstitutional and awarded parity to NIOS and open
schooling in India usually write exams conducted by CBSE, schools’ certification.
Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations Cambridge International (UK) — now known as
(CISCE), state boards or offshore examination boards Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE)
such as International Baccalaureate and Cambridge — has run into problems with the Association of Indian
International (UK). These boards provide ‘exit-certification’ Universities (AIU), a professional body that assesses the
to students, signalling their readiness for higher education equivalence of certification awarded by foreign examination
and the jobs market. boards “to help people with foreign degrees pursue higher
However, traditional especially CBSE and CISCE studies in Indian universities”. Although AIU recognises
certification, is not available for children who opt out of school-leaving certificates of Cambridge International,
the conventional brick-and-mortar school system, e.g, it does not recognise certification of students who have
homeschoolers or drop-outs. For instance, a teen who “completed their education through home studies/
fails board examinations as a ‘regular candidate’ is eligible private candidate”. This means homeschooled and private
to write the CBSE examination as a private candidate. A candidates who write Cambridge International’s A-level
regular candidate is “a student enrolled in a school, who exam won’t be issued certificates of equivalence for
has pursued a regular course of study in a school and admission into AIU member universities.
seeks admission as such to the All India/Delhi Senior ikewise, although some state examination boards
School Certificate/Secondary School Examination of the Laccommodate private candidates, they impose
Board.” Private candidates are not permitted to write curricular restrictions on them. For instance, the Tamil
CISCE examinations. The only option they have is to write Nadu State Board allows private candidates to write its
school-leaving exams of the National Institute of Open examinations only in subjects that don’t involve practicals.
Schooling (NIOS), state open school boards, or Cambridge The Maharashtra state board also allows private candidates,
International (UK). But these options provide limited, but requires them to have studied three languages. Such
rather than clear, pathways to undergrad colleges. diktats disincentivise even gifted students to opt out of
In a society that celebrates CBSE and CISCE toppers, conventional schooling and choose their own curriculums.
NIOS and open school board certificates don’t carry much The NEP draft of the Kasturirangan Committee
weight with parents or employers. They are perceived recommended that examination boards should not have
as an option for children unable to cope with traditional any regulatory role over affiliated schools and confine
school curriculums. This adversely affects the credibility themselves to assessing and certifying school-leavers. This
of certificates awarded by NIOS and open school boards. is a step in the right direction, but India needs a system
Indeed until 2015, the Pharmacy Council of India didn’t that certifies learning and skills attainments of students
accept NIOS certification for admission into approved without procedural qualifications with ‘private’ candidates
pharmacy study programmes provided by colleges and and independent learners having equal unqualified access
universities. Similarly in 2017, the Medical Council of to higher education institutions. To begin with, NIOS needs
India issued a notification disallowing students with NIOS to be reformed so that its assessment is not perceived as
and state open school certification to write the National less rigorous than of other examination boards. Addressing
Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) for admission into these issues is necessary to attain the broader socially
medical colleges. MCI cited lack of practical education in beneficial objective of democratisation of education.
open schooling syllabuses as justification. Responding, the
NIOS management argued that NIOS offers its courses (Bhuvana Anand is director of research at the Centre for Civil Society,
through schools equipped with laboratories and its Delhi. Tarini Sudhakar is a research fellow at CCS)
54 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2020