The system of public examination that is followed by our universities and Secondary Boards is that old, traditional subjective system that was introduced by the British rulers to produce clerks and copyists. The system calls for a radical change, to suit the demands of the time. In this system, examinees are asked to answer a few essay-type questions. In the assessment of these answers there cannot be full uniformity or impartiality of standard. "Men are we" some subjective factors are bound to intervene, due to divergence of tastes and likes. Even the same answer would secure different marks from the same examiner if the assessment is done before the lunch or after the lunch when the examiner is supposed to be in a good mood.
Besides, the subjective system follows secretive tactics. So malpractices like copying and leaking of questions often take place. Some sort of policing or strict vigilance is required to conduct the examination of a large number of students. So experts think of gradually replacing the subjective system of examination by an objective or a machine-based method. It can be largely computerized in near future. The examinee will have to simply put 'tick' marks or press the key to answer. The method is time-saving and ensures much greater accuracy in assessment. But it is more expensive for a poor and populous country like India. Besides, the subjective factor cannot be eliminated in matters of setting the questions.
A good many days of the academic year is lost in holding University or Board examinations and assessing the papers. So it has been suggested that the entire work of checking up the progress and testing the merit of individual students should be left to the teachers themselves. The authorities would issue certificates of merit on the basis of this internal assessment, provided it has been honestly done. A cumulative semester system may be followed effectively. They argue that students mainly depend on a set of answer on a cleverly picked and chosen questions. Memory work is the only asset or stock-in-trade of such a system of examination. The entire system of education has, as a result become examination-oriented. To pass the examination somehow becomes the only objective of a large number of average or mediocre students. Besides, a regular racket has grown around to foil the effectiveness of the subjective system of examinations. Cram-books are plenty in the market, as also coaching centers or teaching shops are mushrooming to help the examinees to tide over the examination puddle. Corruption has crept in easily at every step. What is needed, before all, is to frame the syllabus carefully and to finish it within the prescribed period scrupulously. Next, the whole business of testing the proficiency of students should be left to the teachers themselves as they know the students directly. Questions should be set sympathetically not to prove their ignorance or to beat them hollow but to gauge their real knowledge. There should be no dodging or playing hide-and-sick game with the examinees. Even text books may be allowed in the examination hall to avoid the elements of luck or surprise. And written examination should have to be backed-up by an efficient viva-voce or oral test, to complete the process. Impartiality should be the guiding principle of teachers.
So it is now admitted on all hands that the old system of examination has to be scrapped and a new method of evaluation of the merits of students should be adopted, based partly on the subjective and partly on the objective systems. Finally the method should have to adhered to with strict honesty.
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