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Why Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 and NEET are in news?
IMPORTANT LINKS
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Importance of Topic |
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Analysis Based on |
The Indian Express titled ‘Collapse of trust in examination system amounts to a collapse in trust in system as a whole’ written by Pratap Bhanu Mehta. |
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Prelims Topics |
New Education Policy 2020, Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, UGC, NTA. |
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Mains Topics |
Education System in India, policies for better implementation of education, Rethinking Indian Education System |
Why Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 and NEET are in news?
Recently, the Ministry of Education cancelled the June 2024 edition of the UGC-NET exam. Additionally, there were allegations regarding the fairness of the NEET-UG exam too, citing a potential compromise of its integrity and fairness. However, this is not the first or second such case. An investigation by Indian Express paper in February this year found more than 40 instances of paper leaks in 15 states over the last five years, which derailed the schedules of nearly 1.5 crore candidates who had applied for positions in various fields — education, engineering and public works, healthcare and police. After NEET and UGC NET, this figure has increased even more... In view of these, a high-level committee has been formed by education ministry under the chairmanship of Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations. In addition to these the Central Government has also notified the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 . In view of all these the question arises-
What are the problems in our examination system?
Lack of trust: Due to the continuous exam scandals, people no longer have trust in the exam conducting agency and the government. Also, due to lack of exam consistency, the youth’s year wasted year after year, which also breaks youth’s trust. Even after passing these various exams, there is no guarantee of a job and the precious time of the youth is wasted. At the same time, they do not get jobs in private jobs on the basis of these exams or marks, this also breaks the morale of the youth. a collapse in trust in the exam system is tantamount to a collapse in trust in the system as a whole which is
Low Educational Standards: The entire weight of fairness in our system is borne by the examination system: Not by equal access to schools, pedagogical quality or prospects for employment after exams. Exams function as a legitimating ideology in a system marked by extreme scarcity which in result also deteriorate the education quality. Since our examination system focuses heavily on theoretical knowledge and memorisation of facts through textbooks not on our smartness and on intelligence.
Lack of Quality: Often Question papers often have errors, ambiguous questions have been asked, test irrelevant content, etc. This shows a lack of quality control in setting papers and checking them.
Partial Assessments: Evaluation of answer sheets is also not standardized and differences in student learning are not properly reflected in grades awarded. In addition to these language barriers in subjective copy evaluation has also been an hot issue from many years.
No space for creativity: Indian Exams are too strict or marks obsessed which are based compeletely on subjectivity, leaving no space for creativity. In this pressure student’s are unable to use their imagination. Getting good grades becomes more important than coming up with new and creative ideas.
Unhealthy Competition: The focus on exams should be team build up not to compete against each other. But Instead of working together, here everyone is focused on getting the best grades. This turns healthy competition into a stressful race, leaving no room for shared success and growth which in long run deteriorate one’s personality for future growth.
Ignoring Critical Thinking: Another major issue with Indian examination system is Studying for exams often involves memorizing without really understanding.This kills the development of critical thinking skills. Students memorize facts but don’t learn to analyze, question, or put information together parts of what they are thinking. May be this is the reason that Indian are on big position on many MNC’s but has been unable to create such.
Ignoring Real-Life Problem Solving: Doing well in exams doesn’t mean being good at solving real-life problems. The gap between exam-focused learning and practical problem-solving can leave students unprepared for challenges outside the classroom. As well as our examination system is based on short time memorization not on long term learning. May be that’s the reason that youth suicides are increasing year to year.
Secrecy and Lack of Transparency: The entire exam process from setting papers to evaluating answer sheets is highly confidential. Due to this lack of transparency many people found loophole to barge in this system. It also allows mediocre practices to continue and facilitates exam malpractices.
De-centralisation: In one way our education system is highly centralized on syllabus and rules-regulations but on the other way there is not a single centralized authority for standardization in learning assessments across institutions and for examination.
Initiatives taken by government till now
- Implementation of Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024
- New Education Policy, 2020
- Right To Education Act of 2009
- Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)
- Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan.
- Rashtriya Uchhattar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA)
- National Curriculum Framework
- Releasing of NIRF ranking
What Steps can be taken / Way forward-
- Can Change the question paper quality: Question Paper should assess students' comprehension and analytical skills. So it should be full of various form of questions which can test the ability of candidate not his memory skills.
- Education should be focus on understanding and learning not on memorizing. New Education Policy is a good step towards this direction. State govt should start implementing it after accessing it thorough.
- Strict measures such as installing CCTV cameras, appointing vigilant invigilators, and providing adequate guidance to students on avoiding unfair means should be implemented to curb cheating. Examination centers that fail to prevent cheating should be penalised or cancelled aftermath.
- Utilise technology in assessments to enhance credibility, standardising question papers and evaluations. Explore market-available software solutions for both centralized and distributed assessment systems.
- Can learn from other countries examination system like USA.
- External audit of exam boards can be a better step towards this.
- Ensuring transparency in the exam process through external oversight can help in trust building among candidates.
What is Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 ?
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Highlights |
Details |
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Notified by |
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions |
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Objective |
Enhance transparency, fairness, and credibility in public exams. It will encourage state governments too to take such initiative. |
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Applicability |
Covers central recruitment and entrance exams conducted by UPSC, SSC, RRBs, IBPS, and NTA. Also covered exams conducted by central ministries or agencies. Do not cover state exams. |
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Definition of Public examination |
Section 2(k) of the Act defines a public examination as any exam conducted by a public examination authority listed in the Act’s Schedule or designated by the Central Government through notification. |
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Punishment |
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Unfair Means |
Defined in Section 3 lists 20 offences, including impersonation, tampering, Leakage of question papers or answer keys etc. |
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Nature of Offences |
Can be Cognizable, non-bailable, and non-compoundable according to nature of crime |
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Investigation |
Led by officers of rank, not below Deputy Superintendent of Police or Assistant Commissioner of Police. |
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National Technical Committee |
NTC was formed to enhance security in computerized exams. |
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What is NTA? The Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India (GOI) established the National Testing Agency (NTA) in 2017, as an independent, autonomous, and self-sustained testing organization under the Societies Registration Act (1860) for conducting efficient, transparent and international standards tests.
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What is UGC?
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