Academic Evaluation

‘Evaluation’ in our academic system seems to be taking its roots from the concept of ‘day of judgment’ in Islam. Evaluation expressed in the form of ‘marks’ is based on just one big day, and that big day is all about jotting down what you have been asked and what you know, and if the student is not physically or mentally well that day or on that great day your thoughts are not co-operating well with words or you can’t turn up in the battle field then its your personal issue  the authorities or the teachers are least concerned and you ‘have’ to fail the course/subject. And the student has to wait for the same great big day next year! And trust me if you’re a chosen one then the same might happen to you the next year too!

Well, getting out of this nightmare, let’s see how to alter our system to correct this problem. A student should be constantly monitored and evaluated this would keep the student in action throughout the session and a lot of involvement from the side of the teachers would be required. This way stronger areas of the student would be explored and weaker areas be addressed. This sort of evaluation would require teachers’ attention towards each and every student and the students would really need to show their efforts.

The effort and focus of the student should be evaluated rather than outcomes in the form of words jotted down.

Methods should be revisited, competitions, quizzes, creative and collaborative work should be promoted. The teacher should impart interest in his subject and teach the student how to explore and learn themselves. Right now teachers impart horror rather than interest; they would tell the students how horrible it would be if they fail. And lets make a note what failure means here: its falling short of marks! Even if you have enough command over the subject, even if you’ve tried to learn.

Evaluation should not be about gauging how well a student can memorize and express himself rather it should be about the command of the student over the subject the knowledge base the student has developed over time. This knowledge base cannot be solely measured with written examinations, because two students having the same level of knowledge might not perform the same in written examinations. Every student does not have the same capabilities. If the same knowledge is input to a number of students(assuming they have absorbed it all) the outcomes would be different from learner to learner. Some might write well, some might come up with practical implications of the knowledge and some may speak very well about it. So writing is not the only faculty to rely upon alone.