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Promoting students without exams to the next grade due to the COVID19 pandemic. Is it affecting the quality of learning?
Many public schools and Universities in India are promoting the students to next grade due to the COVID 19 pandemic situation. The ministry of education has given directives and permissions to promote students based on their previous performances or overall participation during the online classes.The public has also pressurised in many states to cancel tests as their neighbouring states have canceled their public exams in schools. Few states have fallen for this pressure and were forced to cancel their exam.
The pandemic situation has been very devastating and in few places has been very high due to the lack of precaution and carelessness. And conducting exams in this situation can cause spread and containment can get difficult owing to the fact that it is mostly going to be children below the age of 16. But does this policy actually help the students or could this become a curse to them?
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/covid-19-students-of-classes-10-12-want-board-exams-cancelled/article34270569.ece
In a country like India where the hiring is mostly dependent on the previous educational track record rather than the skill and knowledge of the student, this could become a huge problem for the individual to land up in a dream job or a company. This also gives less scope for a student to show his/ her improvement from last year as these students are going to be graded based on their previous educational record. The online classes have proved to be another challenge as it is hard to keep track of the students and hold their attention for a long time. As a student in School of Education as well as a teacher, I can speak from experience from both ends. The universities and schools are coming up with novel ides like seminars and virtual workshops to keep students engaged and facilitate continuous learning but the number of participants is very less compared to the offline classroom methodology. In this situation, the quality of learning is not as good as what is expected of the student. So based on this fact, one can argue that this could be an unfair way of grading a student based on previous academic record.
This has led to many learner getting lazy as they have a guarantee promotion and are not concentrating on learning. They try to be absent minded in classes and don’t participate in any activities conducted as many of the students just want to pass rather than learn. Cant blame just the students here as mostly the society looks into the grade of the learner than the skill. The cancellation of exams has somewhat made students lazy and careless towards learning. It has definitely led to a decrease in quality of learning. This especially in a developing country like India with a huge population of youth can be really big challenge in future.
https://www.ndtv.com/education/covid-19-exams-all-pass-list-of-states-promoting-students-in-junior-classes-again-rajasthan-odisha-tamil-nadu-chhattisgarh-schools
Here is my suggestions to improve this policy.
- Instead of promoting students based on previous academic year’s performance, conduct an online proctored exam.
- Consider more marks weightage form the internal marks and assignments into the final grade to keep track of continuous development of the student’s knowledge like it was considered last academic year of 2019-2020.
- Encourage exams like viva/oral exams or hands on projects wherever possible so that students are invested in proactive learning.
Promoting students without exam to the next grade can really affect the quality of learning. I am not agree with the statement because there will be no learning in the part of students and I think its a way of encouraging students laziness. On the other hand if students didn't pass some requirements the teacher may give consideration by giving enough time or giving other task instead because sometimes it's difficult to them to attend classes with the absence of Internet or difficulty getting modules when it is distance learning pace. I think teachers in this global pandemic must exert much effort to assess more the learning of students.
I will not join with the opinion that excluded the passing of the test from the exam forms. After all, it is in the context of the current global pandemic that this form of certification should be used as one of the most effective methods
Of course, if at a time when the requirements of modern society require that people do not gather in public places, but, if possible, are in remote communication, you can pass the final certification based on the skills, knowledge, skills that students demonstrated during the school year.of course, I can say that the 2020-2021 academic year was fully organized in Kazakhstan online. In such conditions, students were given a lot of opportunities for independent research, independent creative work. In higher education institutions, we also paid attention to the creative development of students, proof of their own idea
Experts on strategic problems note the distance learning form as an education system of the XXI century. On this day, a lot of attention is paid to him. The fact that the results of social progress, previously focused on technology, are now centralized in the information zone, has increased the importance of distance learning. The era of computer science has begun. The period of its development at the present time can be described as telecommunications. This is the area of communication of information and knowledge. Since vocational education is rapidly becoming obsolete, it needs to be constantly improved. Distance learning today forms and implements a system of continuous general education, mutual exchange of information, regardless of time and spatial zones. In addition, the distance learning system ensures a person's right to receive education and information, regardless of their social status and residence in any area of the country and abroad. Only this system is the most flexible and effective in ensuring the right of a citizen of the country to education and in meeting the needs of society.based on the above factors, distance learning is the most effective system in the XXI century in training specialists and maintaining their high qualification level.
The pandemic disrupted educational practice around the world and in all sectors. If anything, it has revealed points of weakness in systems that should now be addressed. One that you mention is engagement, another is job readiness and what passes as evidence of that. If Indian business is to remain competitive in global market, the Indian workforce must be up to the challenge - which probably does not include sitting batteries of exams. The assumption that good exam scores are a good indicator of job readiness or competence at any task relevant to a professional role stands absolutely without evidence. What good exam results do testify to is membership in a privileged class or category which deserves attention because of it's social or economic status. Although this panders to the interests of elites, it ultimately mitigates against national interests by excluding many - possibly - most high potential individuals because of arbitrary demographic criteria.
So, the pandemic has given us an opportunity to re-evaluate how we do education, and how to make that more equitable. Let's not go back to the old, broken system of exams, and biased ranking and comparison in an effort to keep the great unwashed at bay. That is not the mission of education.
For more on this see #ungrading on Twitter.