DU proposes 3-pronged plan to fix exam system
Shreya Roychowdhury
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New Delhi:
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Delhi University's examination system may soon undergo another overhaul. Three sets of draft proposals suggesting changes for entrance tests, semester-end exams and exams of School of Open Learning (SOL) and Non-Collegiate Women's Education Board have been posted for comment.The proposals suggest holding entrance tests in MarchApril, allowing SOL to conduct its exams, increasing use of technology and moving evaluation online.
If implemented, many of the suggested reforms will streamline the process for students, teachers as well as the examination branch. “We'll study the responses over the next couple of weeks and hope to finalise it within a month.The aim is to have some reforms in place by the next session,“ said dean (exams) Vinay Gupta.
Introduction of semesters in 2009-10 had doubled the examination branch's burden, which has also seen several major reforms since. DU has proposed to change the way answer scripts are identified.
“The roll numbers and invigilator's name written directly on the answer scripts compromised secrecy as one could identify the college easily . Restoring the use of random numbers is a good step,“ said Abha Dev Habib, Miranda House teacher and executive council member.
However, Habib is less com fortable with the idea of a question bank. There's considerable repetition in the questions framed each year due to DU's numbers and diversity , but a question bank institutionalises that practice.
The drafts also address logistical issues in handling the numbers involved. The exam wing handles over 1.5 lakh undergraduate examinees in a year, in addition to post-graduate and MPhil ones and coordinates with referees for research.DU has suggested making it mandatory for a teacher to evaluate a minimum number of papers. Habib said an upper limit must be set too and teachers should be allowed to carry scripts home.
However, the examination branch struggles most with SOL whose rolls have crossed 4.5 lakh students and it's still in annual exam mode. Their results are delayed practically every year, frequently leaving SOL graduates unable to claim post-graduate seats.
The draft, citing an academic council meeting from July , says, “The conduct of undergraduate examinations and processing of results will be delegated to SOL.“ But facultymember Janmejoy Khuntia is against it.“No college conducts its own exams. If we must conduct exams, grant us complete autonomy . The DU administration has failed to address our problems and now wants to shift responsibility . We don't have the manpower to conduct exams as our faculty strength is 28,“ Khuntia said.
If implemented, many of the suggested reforms will streamline the process for students, teachers as well as the examination branch. “We'll study the responses over the next couple of weeks and hope to finalise it within a month.The aim is to have some reforms in place by the next session,“ said dean (exams) Vinay Gupta.
Introduction of semesters in 2009-10 had doubled the examination branch's burden, which has also seen several major reforms since. DU has proposed to change the way answer scripts are identified.
“The roll numbers and invigilator's name written directly on the answer scripts compromised secrecy as one could identify the college easily . Restoring the use of random numbers is a good step,“ said Abha Dev Habib, Miranda House teacher and executive council member.
However, Habib is less com fortable with the idea of a question bank. There's considerable repetition in the questions framed each year due to DU's numbers and diversity , but a question bank institutionalises that practice.
The drafts also address logistical issues in handling the numbers involved. The exam wing handles over 1.5 lakh undergraduate examinees in a year, in addition to post-graduate and MPhil ones and coordinates with referees for research.DU has suggested making it mandatory for a teacher to evaluate a minimum number of papers. Habib said an upper limit must be set too and teachers should be allowed to carry scripts home.
However, the examination branch struggles most with SOL whose rolls have crossed 4.5 lakh students and it's still in annual exam mode. Their results are delayed practically every year, frequently leaving SOL graduates unable to claim post-graduate seats.
The draft, citing an academic council meeting from July , says, “The conduct of undergraduate examinations and processing of results will be delegated to SOL.“ But facultymember Janmejoy Khuntia is against it.“No college conducts its own exams. If we must conduct exams, grant us complete autonomy . The DU administration has failed to address our problems and now wants to shift responsibility . We don't have the manpower to conduct exams as our faculty strength is 28,“ Khuntia said.
SOL is neither equipped to handle exams on this scale, nor does it have the authority to “co-opt“ evaluators from outside. “The exam branch is in the best position to do these,“ he added.
The draft suggests making SOL evaluation a “priority“ for college teachers, but Habib doubts that will happen. “Teachers get involved in the admission process immediately after checking college papers. The semester system doesn't allow free time,“ she said.
Separate units within the examination wing to deal with different exams -entrance tests and SOL -will be welcome, so will internal assessment scores printed separately on choice-based credit system marksheets. Till the second semester of CBCS, introduced in 2015, marksheets bore just relative grades, often unintelligible to examinees. “This restores faith in the system and errors are detected too,“ explained Habib.
There are plans of moving the processes involved in obtaining various documents online and keeping marksheet links live for six months. DU is even considering moving the evaluation process online in the future. Habib, however, wondered how DU plans to pay for it.
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