Revisiting public examination for quality education

Improving the quality of education is a continues concern for policymakers. Appointment of quality teacher and their training program, development of curriculum, improvement of teaching learning technique, increasing student’s enrollment, distribution of free books to students, finally conducting a full proof examination are considered as hallmarks for ensuring quality education everywhere in the world.

A quality education provides the outcomes needed for individuals, communities, and societies to prosper. The educationists of the UNESCO prescribed that a quality education is supported by three key pillars such as ensuring appointment of quality teachers, providing quality teaching learning methods and the establishment of effective mechanism for examination. Arguments on appointment of quality teachers and quality teaching learning methods were discussed many times in the past. But here in this article, I have given emphasis on effective mechanism for examination as a priority setting for quality education.

Examination process is a basic mechanism for academic quality assurance, continuous assessment of learning outcomes, certification and production of transcripts and convocation. It has been proved over the years that improvement of standard of examination process can reduce student’s mental pressure, parent’s annoyance and supports quality education. Thus, in the 21st century, reform measure for conducting public examination has no alternative to quality education.

Quality education has become a central issue and a matter of urgency to revisit the question of what quality means and how it can be ensured through establishing effective public examination in rapidly changing societies. Over the decades, the UNESCO has been at the center of the intellectual debate on the concept of quality education and its examination systems. Attaining high academic grades without learning the social skills and human qualities does not talk about ‘quality education’. Quality education has a vision that focuses fundamental ethics based human qualities.

It is true that examination plays a significant role in providing the basis for certifying a student as having completed a formal course of studies but this traditional exam system does not focus on human qualities, fundamental ethics and student’s phycological effects.

Conducting SSC and HSC level public examinations need huge involvement of various segment of people from Board staff to school teachers including preparation and moderation of question paper, selection of examination center, changing students from one school to another school, list of examiners, finally preparation and publication of result. In this process, changing total set of students from one school to another school is the most difficult part for the students. They do not know the location and their sit plan of center school. Thus, they before the exam day, visit the center school to see their sit plan. They feel an additional psychological pressure for the new environment of center school in addition to their first burden of public exam in their school life. This is an exceptional arrangement of changing whole students from one school to another school by keeping teachers intact in the same school.

Other most common problem is traffic mismanagement. Student sometimes do not find any transport to go to center school. Extra burden is loaded on the shoulder of parents to hire transport beforehand. A lot of difficulties are faced by the parents during public examinations.

Most of the school teachers may work as invigilators of their own school for their students during public exam. Preparation of question papers, assessment of answer scripts up to publication of result may be continued as before. Teachers do not prepare question papers or assess the answer-script of their own students for public exam. A good checks and balances are already in place. Moreover, if necessary, 10 -20 percent teachers may be changed from their own school to another school to perform duties as invigilators during public examinations. Not the lovely little whole students of a school but the matured certain numbers of teachers, if necessary, may be shifted form one school to another school during public exam. This practice may ease phycological burden of students and the traffic congestions in the city as well.

Memorizing study paper or reading material concept is completely opposite to quality education. Writing down from memory does not give anything that ensures quality education. Application based problem solving question in the public examination is a great solution for the quality education. Questions that enhance ethical based human qualities and enable them to think or analyze critically of a situation can be carefully inserted. For an example, question such as “give an example of a situation in which you saw an opportunity in a potential problem” or “what steps do you take before making a decision on how to solve a problem, and why” instead of “what is a problem and what is an opportunity”. The students will be able to generate critical thinking process of a situation or a problem.

There is an approach of “open book” exam. Some argued ‘open book’ exam cannot ensure the quality of exam. “Open Book” format examination presumably impossible to do well if the students have no good knowledge over the subject. The civil servants appear at the exam of this type departmental test in the Civil Service. But some officers do not pass in this open book exam because of low level of application knowledge and no good command over the subjects. Again, question pattern is completely different for which it is difficult to find answers from the book.

Online examination may need to be tested to find out its effectiveness. How the students in remote or rural areas, those with no access or low-quality access to the internet or to computers can attend the exam needs to be exercised. Online exams are still a new phenomenon at educational institutions without an invigilator present before them.

However, during a pandemic period where in-person contact comes with many risks, online exams are a great way of maintaining momentum in education to ensure the learning process doesn’t ground to a halt.  Before the pandemic hit, the University of Bergen, the University of Oslo, and the University of Agder including some American universities were all in the process of adopting online digital exams with great success. At the University of Oslo, 75 per cent of all exams are now conducted online with the help of a special software.

Examination is not simply a content assessment system rather it is a system designed to help all children to reach their full potential and enter in to the society as full and productive citizens. Conducting efficient public examination can reduce days for taking exam, reduce psychological pressure of the students, cost effective, trust building, and smooth transitions of students to higher classes with less percentage of failed students.

Efforts to bring about reforms of public examinations are likely to prove challenging, because of well-established traditions, imbedded administrative practices and accepted procedures. Even though reform measures in the public examinations are essential for the interest of quality education after Covid 19 pandemic.