Chamarajanagar: Primary and Secondary Education Minister N. Mahesh did some loud thinking of introducing ‘open book exam’ system where the students will look into the text books and write the exams.
He was speaking at the Pratibha Puraskar function organised by Bahujan Vidyarthi Sangha (BVS) as part of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar’s birth anniversary celebrations to present awards to students belonging to all sections of the society, who have scored more than 80 per cent in SSLC and more than 75 per cent in PUC examinations, here yesterday.
“It is believed that students in the primary and higher secondary schools who write exams without looking at the books and score high marks are considered intelligent and those who score less as dull. This is not the true method of education. This is an unscientific way of testing the intelligence of a student,” he said.
According to Mahesh, this system was implemented by a class which hardly has just two to three in the population and consider itself superior to other communities. However, lot of changes need to be done. The teachers should stop asking the students to write about the subject soon after they finish their classes. Instead of this, the teachers must set questions based on the chapter or lesson they have completed.
The students should be asked write the tests looking into the text books. If they do not know the answers then they must be asked to copy from the student sitting next to him or her. Then students will learn from this exercise over a period of time. They will also become more creative, said the Minister.
“I am not speaking emotionally about all this but I am speaking as the Education Minister. I will discuss this issue with education experts and Department officials. Besides, I plan to conduct a workshop and will weigh all the pros and cons,” he said.
At the first stage of primary and secondary education, the students must be imparted quality education. It is sad to see that a person who had passed out of English medium school scoring high marks and drawing a huge salary of Rs.5 lakh per month, committing suicide jumping from a multi-storeyed building after a failed love affair. Is this the kind of education we want? Instead of this the children should be provided quality education based on skill development, said Mahesh.
The teachers, before they go to schools to teach, must leave all their troubles behind at home. If they carry the problems of home to the school, then it will reflect on their teaching and affect the students. “Teachers, please discharge your duties to the best of your ability,” he urged the teachers.
Backward Classes Welfare Minister C. Puttaranga Shetty, MP R. Dhruvanarayan, MLC Marithibbegowda, IAS trainer Dr. Shivakumar, rank student Venkatesh Nayak, Deputy Commissioner B.B. Cauvery and others were present.
This post was published on June 25, 2018 6:42 pm