Number of words: 339

Despite certain obvious advantages, competitive examinations, like competitive sport, have destroyed so much that is potentially good and the return to the individual and to society for this loss has been questionable and meagre. If this principle is accepted then the present curriculum will need radical restructuring. The present vocational biased education will continue to coexist with the system that also aims at developing the mind into flexibility and freedom. An excellent example is the East India company, where men were recruited from the best English public schools and were found to deal fairly adequately with the complex problems of India. The examination, with a variety of pressures that follows in its wake, imposes a dull and uniform mediocrity in school. And that is therefore what education needs so badly today. A philosophy that prevents the school from being so rudderless and constantly changing its direction. The story of two monks in the desert who tried to bring some variety into their lives by provoking a quarrel and its sequel when the second monk could only reply, ‘Well, if you say so” every time, thus quelching any disagreement, might find fresher pastures in our educational system.

Only a limited number of children are allowed to pass some exams each year because pupils are measured against one another. In future, anyone reaching the agreed national standards should be rewarded with the grade, regardless of the number of other people, a matter of simple justice. Examinations should begin to focus on the skills of a subject. For instance, students will be asked in history to deduce thoughts and insights from the reading of original documents to write a piece drawing upon several sources with the research, to summarise together information and to put it into an order, produce logical and causal connections. As long as a student remains pitted against himself, the interest in acquiring knowledge will grow and examinations will merely bear out the fruit of this interest.

Excerpted from pages 147-150 of ‘Examinations: An Informative Update’ by M Mascarenhas.