For perhaps the first time ever in the country, question papers of the annual Class 10 and 12 examinations in the public education sector in the State will be reviewed by students.
Hitherto, examinations conducted as part of student evaluation were assessed by teachers and education experts. In a major departure, the State Council of Educational Research and Technology (SCERT) is giving students, who are the actual stakeholders in the assessment process, a role in the review.
In the first part of the review, students will assess what questions were asked, if the question paper was easy or not, if they were able to complete it in time, and so on. In the second part, they will be asked specific questions related to the subject. The review will be conducted in select schools in the districts by the District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET) immediately after students sit for the examinations.
The student responses will be consolidated so that question paper workshops organised by the SCERT in the coming years will include the student point of view.
Each year, the question paper workshops last up to a fortnight. Though there is a scientific methodology for preparation of the question papers, they are set from the teachers’ viewpoint; students are never asked what they want to see in the question papers. Not even at the university level is this done. But a start is being made at the school-level by considering the students’ perspective, says SCERT Director Jayaprakash R.K.
It is an experiment to change the current style of evaluation, and hear what students have to say, he adds.
The student feedback will also help in setting of more error-free question papers. It will be expanded in the coming years on the basis of detailed studies.
Minister for General Education said the student review was yet another example of the Kerala model. All education activities were undertaken for the benefit of children. Evaluations that were an integral part of education also needed to change with the times. At a time when curriculum revision was being kicked off, evaluations too needed to undergo a change, he said.
