CBSE Class XII exams: Anxiety and uncertainty

Sanjeev Rai

The Ministry of Education will be holding a crucial meeting tomorrow to decide about Class XII board exams. But any decision in this regard will be difficult to make. Amidst the second wave of Covid-19, students, parents, teachers want to hear from the board officials to end the uncertainty, causing anxiety. Some people are in favour of conducting an online exam, while some others stress on school-based assessment. Every method of exam and assessments have some flaws that’s why different countries have separate assessment systems for their students.

 In the given circumstances, I would say no to online board exams! I am aware that the market for education technology is expanding enormously specially during the pandemic. From schools to universities, from the government to privately-owned education institutions, all of them vouch in favour of education technology. The National Education Policy-2020 also emphasizes on making use of technologies in education.

 Some countries opted for alternative ways of assessing students learning during the pandemic. Italy decided to conduct an oral examination for its senior school students. Britain, France, Ireland have already cancelled school examinations. France works on improving the school examination system and they may adopt a liberal assessment method for school students.

 Parents demanding an online exam may agree that the access to the use of technology creates a new power relationship and hierarchy among the learners, making a majority of the students ‘digitally excluded’.

Neil Selwyn, in his book Distrusting Educational Technology, estimates this global digital market to be more than  $5 trillion annually.  With the rise of education technology, the digital divide has emerged as a new challenge for an inclusive mode of education. Is it  not true that a huge number of students in the country are out of the realm of online learning? Schools having students with resources required for an online learning continued with the schedule shared by the schools but what about others who do not have access to such resources? In a country having socio-economic-cultural and linguistic diversities, do we expect a ‘one size fit for all’ ?

 Countries having traditional mode of education, often fall into the trap without having a blueprint of adopting the technology in their own context and learning needs. Getting one or two projects as a pilot, often opens the door for big business opportunities. The marketing executives propagate education technology, an indicator of modernisation, not a mechanism for mass education and advance learning. What happened to the computer labs and other technology-based education interventions established earlier in the rural areas? 

 Technology has an edge in education and should be utilised to facilitate learning of the underprivileged students too, but at the same time we should also understand the new emerging model of  digital economy. This demand for online exams in the schools will bring a big economic burden on the students who come from  humble backgrounds. The case of Aishwariya Reddy, a student of LSR College, Delhi University,  is worth mentioning here. She committed suicide as she could not afford to join long hours of online classes after the closure of the schools and colleges in 2020.

The students of Class XII do not know yet, when and how they will be finally assessed.  School based assessment may not be a best option but considering the pandemic, this may be a feasible option, reducing the risk of infection.