Thiruvananthapuram: The Examination Reforms Commission recommended that the weightage for internal assessment for under-graduate and post-graduate programmes should be raised to 40%.
Currently, the internal assessment has a weightage of just 20% for UG courses. Meanwhile, the commission has recommended to scrap moderation.
Higher Minister R Bindu said that the recommendations of the commission would be implemented as soon as possible.
Other suggestions:
50% of the 40% internal assessment should be allotted to written tests. Most of the questions would be short-answer types. The rest of the 50% should cover various assessment criteria. The weightage given for attendance should be stopped. The results of the internal assessment should be published at least two weeks before the final semester exams.
There should be a three-tier compliant redressal cell at the department, college and university levels. Stringent action shouldn’t be taken for mistakes or errors that were committed unintentionally. An efficient system should be set up to check huge difference in the internal and external marks.
The evaluation of all the projects and practical works should be done as part of the internals. The exams for practical works should be avoided. The practical work of each day should be continuously evaluated. The evaluation and the viva voce should be conducted by an external examiner appointed by the college, at the end of each semester.
The 10-point scale grading and the direct grading proposed by the University Grants Commission could be followed for all the programmes. This is applicable for the PhD programmes too.
Supplementary exams have to be conducted for those who fail for up to two subjects in the last semester external exams, even if those students had passed the previous semesters. The exams shouldn’t be postponed unless in the event of natural disasters. All the universities should ensure digital question banks and online question papers transfer.
Exam results must be published within 30 days of the last exam. The provisional degree certificates, mark lists and the grade cards should be made available within 15 days after the results are published.
The admission to UG and PG courses should be completed within June–July. There is no need to make Transfer Certificate mandatory.
The admission to PG programmes should be via the national-level entrance tests. The teachers and students at the university campuses must be given unique IDs. The teachers’ ID must be linked to the Aadhar.
Revaluation should be done on screen. As soon an application for scrutiny is received, the scanned copy of the answer sheet should be given to the students. The result of the revaluation should be published within 30 days from the last date of application. Meanwhile, the evaluation of the doctoral thesis should be completed within 90 days after submission.
All universities should follow ‘Outcome Based Education’ from next academic year onwards. The syllabus must be prepared by the respective universities. The colleges could eventually develop the syllabus and the evaluation criteria.
The universities should ensure that there are student portals on their websites.