The recent University Grants Commission Report called the standard academic system ‘flawed’ and along with that many recommendations were made that included suggestions to change the way Indian Higher Education Institutes assess the students, which led to major recommendations saying there is a need to change the academic system and the formation of national question bank for setting up of question papers.
The Committee that released the report was headed under vice-chancellor, Bharati Vidyapeeth, Pune MM Salunkhe that suggested various ways to assess students. They suggested different models for a different level of education saying “no size fits all”.
The Committee also suggested the way question papers were constructed for Higher Educational Institutions. They recommended guidelines should be framed for proper setting up of the question paper. they suggested question papers should be made from the question bank where all types of questions are present both easy and difficult and even intermediate. The ratio of easy to difficult should be decided beforehand.
They also suggested that the question paper should be audited at regular intervals. The committee also declared the Indian Education system ‘flawed’ stating that “exams are (reduced to a) moment of anxiety”. It has recommended ‘Interpretive Structural model (ISM)’ for assessment.
The Committee proposed two levels of examination be conducted internal and external. The external should involve conduction of examination in a stress-free manner. The Committee suggested various other changes into the academic system which included teaching children multiple languages of India such as Telugu, Tamil, Oriya, Bengali or even foreign languages such as Russian, French etc.
Also, they suggested subjects carrying 50% weightage, and a provision for lateral entry allowing to move from one level of education to another for better qualification.