The making of a rote nation…..Anurag Behar
Our examinations reflect our notion of learning. We tend to equate mechanical procedural skills and memorization to learning
Our examinations reflect our notion of learning. We tend to equate mechanical procedural skills and memorization to learning
What we want from our children is better marks in exams. Thats the wish of an overwhelming majority in this country. In reality we have an examination, not an education, system. In Hindi, the resonance of the two words makes this reality more emphatic, we have a pareeksha tantra, not a shiksha tantra.
The objects of our national obsession examinationsprimarily assess memory and procedural skills. This is true across grades, schools and boards in varying degree. Its equally true for our higher education system.
Our examinations reflect our notion of learning. We tend to equate mechanical procedural skills and memorization to learning. Rote practice, rigorous rote and more-of-the-same becomes the path to learning, cracking exams and, therefore, marks.
While most dont give it a second thought, some teachers, principals or parents readily agree in a conversation that this examination obsession is not education. Even if they dont articulate it lucidly, they want children to gain conceptual understanding, to learn to think critically and to analyse, to develop the ability to learn and to learn to apply knowledge; to actually learn. But even this minority forgets or ignores this real learning, in real life.
In part, that is because even this minority is acutely conscious of the social function of marks and exams. That of sorting out: selecting or rejecting for further education, for jobs and social status. The majority is anyhow fixated with this social function. This fixation with the social function completely eliminates the real purpose of examinations, which actually is to assess in order to help further (real) learning.
Many of those involved in education are acutely conscious of this deep flaw in our system. Parts of the government system and many private schools have been continually trying to work on thiswith only very slow effect. The effect is slow because real improvement is possible only with sustained synergistic work on the fundamentals, i.e., when all the intertwined complex elements of education build towards facilitating genuine learning and not rote. This includes: capacity of teachers and school leaders, curriculum, books, classroom environment, pedagogical methods, among others.
As work continues on all this, whats surprising is the inadequate attention paid to improving and changing examinations themselves. Examinations are in a sense a significant point-of-leverage in the education system. The changes in examinations have multiplier effect, going well beyond individual-by-individual or school-by-school effect. This is because examinations are in large measure designed and governed centrally, for example, by a board or by a district authority. Therefore, changes at the central level can impact a very large number of schoolsgiving that change a substantial leverage.
Improving examinations does not require magic. Its about changing what the exams assess: moving them from assessing mere memorization and procedural knowledge to assessing understanding, thinking and application.
In collaboration with the Karnataka government the Azim Premji Foundation did this across 9,000 of (largely) rural government schools for three years 2003-06. While that three-year experience emphasized to us how only changing examinations will not improve education, it also equally emphasized that changing examinations gets the schools to start focusing on what they should focus on instead of rote memorization. There was indeed a substantial leverage effect.
This leverage effect would be even higher, if we were to change the key high stake exams, for example, the class X and XII exams and various entrance tests.
The Right to Education Act has got it directionally right: focusing on comprehensive continuous assessment (CCA), appropriate assessment for development and the elimination of high stakes from assessment. This is a better approach to assessment compared with examinations only. However, it will take years, if not decades, before we will be able to implement CCA across the nation. It requires a level of skill and ability on the part of the teachers and schools something that even our most privileged schools struggle with, let alone the large majority of our ordinary (both government and private) schools among the 1.6 million.
In the meanwhile, we can certainly change examinations to reflect real learning. Given the social function of exams, it is one area where industry and general population can play a clear role and dont. Instead we look at the marks of our children and feel happy or sad, and also look at the marks of potential employees for hiring. We mouth a homily once in a while, but go back to the comfortable, simplifying tyranny of marks in our real lives.
We, the demand side, are silently accepting this hollow education, in many ways, and visibly through the acceptance of the current examination system. We also think of a dynamic and innovative India. We think of economic prosperity of our country through high skill and value added jobs. We dream of India returning to its rightful place in the world order. These are all castles in the sand: The sand of rote. We are actually building a rote nation.
Anurag Behar is chief executive officer of Azim Premji Foundation and also leads sustainability initiatives for Wipro Ltd. He writes every fortnight on issues of ecology and education. Comments are welcome at othersphere@livemint.com