Educationists call for reform in exam system

BANGALORE: NCERT has recommended a provision in the school system to enable a student to re-take the examination within a short period to improve upon the unsatisfactory grades.
"The stigma of fail hits students so badly that they take the extreme step of suicide. It is about time we stopped using such terms and replace them with words that will not demoralise them completely," a source told TOI.
Led by eminent educationists including Yashpal, directors from IITs, IIMs, and various education research institutions, the group has asked the examination boards to reform the examination system and remodel the question paper to test creativity and application of mind.
Yet another significant change to de-stress the examination system is to have a flexible time in the examinations.
"Schools can consider extending the time to three-and-a-half hours or even four hours, so that students can write without stress. The three-hour fixation can go," sources said.
Though many CBSE schools have introduced the grading system, instead of marks, a large chunk of schools still follow the traditional system of assessing the students' performance.
Like in the higher education system, the group has recommended a three-year window, within which all subjects have to
be cleared. The group has asked every school to have a counsellor to interact with the students, teachers and parents.
To begin with, one teacher from each school can be given short-term training to deal with stress-related problems. With children as young as two and a half years going to schools, NCERT's group on examination reforms has also suggested that no student should be admitted in a school before the age of five.
It said all admissions should be done through a lottery, and preference be given to students residing close to the school.