High success rate in HSC exams
Sunday, 14 September 2008
Records are galore in this year's results of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations held under seven education boards. The average pass percentage, being all time high of about 75 per cent, is even 4.0 per cent more than that of this year's Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations. Another notable feature of this year's HSC results is that a total of 19108 HSC examinees have secured the highest grade point average (GPA) 5.0. The number of GPA-five getters this year is nearly double of the same last year. All, including students, teachers and guardians, seem to be extremely happily over this unique success rate.
The higher success rate in public examinations, particularly those at secondary and higher secondary levels, for the last few years is being viewed as a welcome development by the authorities as well as the cross sections of people, particularly the guardians. The earlier effort by the government to put the major public examinations such as the SSC and HSC on the right track has borne some positive results. Because of such efforts and growing awareness among the teachers, guardians and students, the public examinations have gone through a remarkable process of improvement in the recent years. The incidents of cheating in examination halls have come down remarkably. The trouble-free environment in educational institutions for about two years, coupled with efforts by the education boards to streamline the entire examination system, has apparently started paying better dividends. It has now dawned on the students that there exists no more the shortcut route to passing examinations. Most guardians are keeping constant watch on the progress in studies of their children. The teachers and educational institutions are under pressure to perform better because of the introduction of punitive actions.
But as far as the public examinations are concerned, there is no way of taking things for granted. The improvement in the situation might take a reverse turn if the education ministry and teachers, for any reason, become less attentive to the tasks that they are doing now. Any slackness would lead to the return to the old days of free-style copying. Such developments had happened in the recent past. Students resorted to massive copying in public examinations in the post-liberation years. Then there were some improvements since the mid-seventies. However, the situation could never be made perfect. There were both improvement and deterioration in the overall environment in examination halls during last 30 years since the governments, political or otherwise, were not equally serious about restoring discipline in public examinations. Though the situation has improved remarkably, questions are, of late, being asked about the quality of education imparted to students at the SSC and HSC levels. The issue is important, no doubt, but it needs to be addressed separately through a national-level consultation involving all the stakeholders.
Meanwhile, as soon as the euphoria over all the feats achieved in this year's HSC examinations is over, the students and their parents would soon find themselves in a difficult phase of securing admissions to universities. Most students and their guardians prefer public universities but there are not enough seats in those to accommodate even all the GPA-5 getters. A good number of them would have to pursue their higher education by taking admission either in colleges under the national university or in expensive private universities. The scope for quality higher education in the country is still very limited despite the fact that the private universities have mushroomed in recent years. The public universities with their limited capacity cannot absorb even a fraction of the admission-seekers while education in most private universities, being too expensive, is beyond the reach of most of their parents and guardians. The government needs to make sincere efforts to establish more public universities and devise out ways and means to ensure quality education in private universities at an affordable cost.
The higher success rate in public examinations, particularly those at secondary and higher secondary levels, for the last few years is being viewed as a welcome development by the authorities as well as the cross sections of people, particularly the guardians. The earlier effort by the government to put the major public examinations such as the SSC and HSC on the right track has borne some positive results. Because of such efforts and growing awareness among the teachers, guardians and students, the public examinations have gone through a remarkable process of improvement in the recent years. The incidents of cheating in examination halls have come down remarkably. The trouble-free environment in educational institutions for about two years, coupled with efforts by the education boards to streamline the entire examination system, has apparently started paying better dividends. It has now dawned on the students that there exists no more the shortcut route to passing examinations. Most guardians are keeping constant watch on the progress in studies of their children. The teachers and educational institutions are under pressure to perform better because of the introduction of punitive actions.
But as far as the public examinations are concerned, there is no way of taking things for granted. The improvement in the situation might take a reverse turn if the education ministry and teachers, for any reason, become less attentive to the tasks that they are doing now. Any slackness would lead to the return to the old days of free-style copying. Such developments had happened in the recent past. Students resorted to massive copying in public examinations in the post-liberation years. Then there were some improvements since the mid-seventies. However, the situation could never be made perfect. There were both improvement and deterioration in the overall environment in examination halls during last 30 years since the governments, political or otherwise, were not equally serious about restoring discipline in public examinations. Though the situation has improved remarkably, questions are, of late, being asked about the quality of education imparted to students at the SSC and HSC levels. The issue is important, no doubt, but it needs to be addressed separately through a national-level consultation involving all the stakeholders.
Meanwhile, as soon as the euphoria over all the feats achieved in this year's HSC examinations is over, the students and their parents would soon find themselves in a difficult phase of securing admissions to universities. Most students and their guardians prefer public universities but there are not enough seats in those to accommodate even all the GPA-5 getters. A good number of them would have to pursue their higher education by taking admission either in colleges under the national university or in expensive private universities. The scope for quality higher education in the country is still very limited despite the fact that the private universities have mushroomed in recent years. The public universities with their limited capacity cannot absorb even a fraction of the admission-seekers while education in most private universities, being too expensive, is beyond the reach of most of their parents and guardians. The government needs to make sincere efforts to establish more public universities and devise out ways and means to ensure quality education in private universities at an affordable cost.