The Myths of the Pass-Fail System

THE MYTHS OF A PASS-FAIL SYSTEM

A serious debate is on in several educational platforms – Should we revert to a pass-fail system from class 3? The reason is that in the absence of a  valid benchmarking system, there is a serious compromise with the quality of inputs, quality of learning, quality of assessments – all leading to a single goal of promoting a child from a lower class to a higher one!

And all that a child would need to “pass” is 35% performance in a given discipline which would include – standardization marks, grace marks, special marks because of the performance in sports and other co-curricular activities… All of us know pretty well.. this is a simple admission of a 65% incompetence of the learner.. In this number game, the focus is just on passing (certifying) a learner, rather than empowering or educating! The objective behind introduction of this one-third competency certification was to prepare a set of clerks for an erstwhile governance and not really producing competent and contributing citizens.. We have stayed with this legacy for the last several decades.. ..Because it is politically correct!!

There is an urgent need for a paradigm shift in our thinking to focus on empowerment than certification.. it will be a good idea to define the minimal entral behaviour for each ladder of learning paradigm and to let the learner get fit enough to step into the ladder or stay back till he acquires those competencies.. (Call it by any name.. )

……This would mean the schools in each class would be preparing for the future entral requirement rather than a terminal requirement in the present class .. and all these measurements need to refocus on the assessment of proficiency, skill and thinking. The pattern of questioning needs to be changed which will not be based on rote learning.

The core undivided curriculum in schools presently in force upto the secondary level (which was designed to facilitate better social equity) needs a revisit – can be brought down upto class 8 level, enabling the learners to choose disciplines of learning for future growth depending on aptitudes and interests..

The tools of assessment need serious review and re-positioning, because present day classrooms focus to meet the needs of designed knowledge- based assessment tools rather than critical thinking, intuitive learning or experiential learning… One wonders why primary class question papers be designed in the pattern of a Board examination?  We should move away from linear thinking and exercise the available freedom for innovations in schooling..Innovative and open-ended questioning skills are the need of the classrooms to produce future learners!

The news that many scorers of cent percent in the Board examinations do not even pass in the first year of their professional courses is a sad reflection of the pass-fail system. The number game doesn’t take us anywhere.. it can give the required statistics to blow the trumpets of the political masters.. . 

 And we can continue to pat our back with a high percentage pass…in schools and Boards… and still continuing to produce mediocre learners who struggle with their degrees and absence of employability skills!