Whether it is parents, teachers or students, all academic and educational activity which involves all these people is ‘examination’ oriented. Parents send their children to school so that they do well in the exams. Teachers work hard through the year to help the students in doing well in the examinations. And for the same cause, the students are expected to work hard, take tuitions, do anything but score above 90% in their examinations!
The role of examinations in the educational system cannot be devalued. Examinations have their functions. They inspire, motivate and fix up a goal and thus direct the efforts of the assessing the progress of the students in concrete terms. In order to achieve success in exams a student’s study becomes book centric. Short cuts like cramming, consulting cheap notes etc. are adopted by the students to sail through the examinations.
No wonder, the examinations have become a ‘terror’ that starts haunting the students a few months before examinations. As the doomsday gets closer, the student loses his peace of mind, his appetite, his sleep and he tries to burn mid-night oil to be prepared for the examinations. The fear of not doing well makes them tense, nervous and worried. At times, they get so confused that they forget all that they have learnt and thus in spite of their hard work they end up doing badly in the exams.
After all, examinations do not get to measure what they claim to measure. Marks are no indication to one’s knowledge, intelligence or ability. But is there any better method available? A few steps to improve the system may be a hopeful sign. Whatever be the ill-effects, examinations have come to stay as a necessary evil.
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