-Reshma Ravishanker

The incredibly high number of students passing with distinction in the recently announced second PUC (Pre-university College) exam results has raised questions over the credibility of the assessment process. With undergraduate admissions into Bengaluru top undergrad degree colleges underway, college managements are calling for the final exam system to be replaced by a process of continuous assessment.

With second PU exams in Karnataka canceled because of devastating second wave of the Covid 19 pandemic, students’ scores were calculated based on performance in the class X SSLC, First PU, and Second PU internal assessment. All 5.9 lakh students enrolled in second PU were declared as passed and 1.47 lakh students got distinction score raising eyebrows over the quality of assessment.

Prof. D Kiran Jeevan, assistant professor, department of social work, St Joseph’s College says, “One final exam should not decide the quality of a student. We need to switch to a continuous assessment pattern. It will not only help assess students better, but also enable us to be prepared for future pandemic disruptions.”

Dr. Suma Singh, Dean of Humanities, Mount Carmel College says that given the high numbers of students passing with distinction, the assessment seems to be have done liberally. “These incredibly high numbers are a reflection of poor evaluation and assessment. We cannot judge children based on their marks. We know that the boards have been over-liberal when it comes to awarding children marks. We know that this is not a fair assessment. We should not have a system that is driven by examinations and marks as the only basis for evaluation. There are better ways to assess children. Having project-based learning, getting children to work in groups or even a question paper with multiple-choice questions that are application-based would have been better. We knew that the pandemic is not going away in a hurry. We could have started continuous assessments early on.”