A teacher's view

Lifting her eyes from the newspaper the septuagenarian teacher sighed and remarked 'What has the world come to? Teachers leaking questions?' It would have been useless to point out that times, attitudes and morals have changed possibly irrevocably. Useless, because at that age she had insulated herself from a world to which she could no longer have made a difference. The spirit was there but the body and aching joints didn't allow it. Her mind wasn't as sharp as it used to be but she clearly recalled her days as a teacher, about the extra classes taken in the evenings to help the children lagging behind, prepare for the first major examination of their lives. There were no allowances, just whatever the families could chip in to cover the rickshaw fares and a little more.

Compromise had been a part of life and profession. The sword of ex-communication from Secondary School Exams, schools that couldn't ensure a certain percentage passed, hung in a shadow that was following the wrong path. Thirty years ago, the general focus of education was on results, slightly better than today's penchant for certificates - but almost as reprehensible. It wasn't about 'what' had been learnt; it was about 'marks'. She had cringed when the head examiner instructed script examining teachers that spelling mistakes be penalised only for those getting first division grades and those getting 28 just had to be dragged across the 33 pass mark line. And lest the reader be bemused, similar if not the same instructions apply today.

Opinion is divided about the object of question paper leakage. There are some who believe it assists those who wouldn't have studied. Others believe it helps in getting higher marks - thereby increasing prospects for admission to 'better' institutions for the next stage. The helplessness of the state was best enunciated by the Chancellor of Universities, President Abdul Hamid. It's always a pleasure to hear him speak but when his frustration gets to a stage where he suggests those leaking questions should go to the 'firing squads', something somewhere needs to happen.

The changes to the education system has to be radical, beyond the scope of examinations and marks and a true test of knowledge. From the days of memorisation to multiple choice, clever minds have found ways around the system and there are no simple answers. Till questions are designed to probe knowledge acquired, rather than specifics of a subject nothing will be achieved. Exams, introduced by the British, doesn't figure in their elementary education. Individuals are assessed on their abilities and knacks, thereby allowing for their education to be steered accordingly, be it vocational skills or specialisation. Singapore calls it 'Applied education'. The west suggests 'relevance' and the first test of the approach is being introduced in Scandinavia where they are mulling over the prospects of adapting science, technology and liberal arts education to 'everyday experience', thereby making it more relevant.

There will have to be some hard choices to make. Given the existing system doesn't have the teaching and qualifying resources required new systems will fail just as surely, if not properly staffed and resourced. The digital journey is more than just equipment and internet bandwidth. That provides tools. Teaching is about guidance and that's a better investment than some others that will spring readily to the mind. Resourcing is not just the numbers of teachers; it's about equipping them with requirements of today and tomorrow's world. It's also about ensuring they have the relative peace of mind to concentrate on teaching and not have to worry about how to run their families.

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