The assessment protocol of the State’s higher education sector is in for a revamp that will bring about fundamental changes to the examination and evaluation system.
The examinations reforms commission, chaired by Mahatma Gandhi University Pro Vice Chancellor C.T. Aravindakumar, has recommended major changes, including a continuous evaluation system, discontinuing the practice of awarding marks for attendance, and entrusting colleges with holding examinations of certain semesters.
Its interim report observes that the universities are bogged down by a large number of external examinations. It also laments the ill-designed evaluation system of programmes run under the choice-based credit and semester system (CBCSS). They are not synchronised with the methodologies of outcome-based education (OBE).
The commission has recommended modifying the proportion of marks received through internal and external assessment to 40:60 for both undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) courses (from the existing 20:80). Internal assessment will comprise written tests as well as other methodologies evolved by the respective teaching department and the board of studies of the respective university. It also calls for excluding classroom attendance from the assessment criteria.
The government is also mulling easing the examination burden on universities. As part of such efforts, external examinations of the first and second semesters for the UG programmes and odd semesters for the PG programmes could be conducted and valued at the colleges, while the question papers for these will be provided by the universities.
To minimise the possibility of malpractice, 10-20% of the valued papers will be revalued randomly by the chairpersons of the boards of examination appointed by the universities. A mechanism to check large variance in internal and external marks will also be in place.
While practical examinations could also be discontinued, the commission has recommended continuous assessment for practical and project works. A three-tier grievances redressal mechanism will also be introduced to resolve complaints related to internal assessment.
