Private students lose out in continuous evaluation system

Now,when the final exams are round the corner,experts feel that this system should be dispensed with. Dr Mukesh Arora,Senate member of PU Chandigarh and Head of Department of Hindi,SCD Government College for Boys,Ludhiana said,“I think the former system was much better where each paper was of 100 marks and everyone used to score out of that. The continuous evaluation system should be closed as it encourages favoritism and private tuition classes among teachers,following which many regular candidates also remain at the receiving end.”

He said that as a result of this system,nowadays more than 30 students in a class get first division in Postgraduate courses. “Earlier,there used to be only two-three first divisions in PG,especially in Arts subjects. Many a time,I raised this issue in PU Syndicate meetings,arguing that the older system should be implemented again and internal assessment should be closed down. But it is still going on.”

Dr DV Jindal,Professor (retd) of English from SCD Government College for Boys,Ludhiana said,“The system of internal assessment is a blatant act of discrimination against private candidates (most of them being girls) as regular college students are being given much higher marks than they deserve or get in the final examination. A majority of students are given above or nearly 70 per cent marks which they can never score in the final examination. Also,the internal assessment is a tool in the hands of some irresponsible teachers,who exploit their students through favouritism or undeserving punishment.”

Approving this system,Dr BS Ghumman,PU Syndicate member and Dean Arts Faculty,Punjab University Chandigarh however said,“I find the system of Continuous Evaluation more student friendly for the regular candidates as we give them 4-5 chances to improve their academic performance. As far as PU campus is concerned,I think the students are evaluated on fairly objective basis. With academic performance the overall personality of a regular student is also developed simultaneously. So private students cannot be equated with a regular student.”

While Dr Jasbeer Kaur Makkar,Principal of SCD Government College for Boys,said,“The continuous evaluation of a regular candidate is given on the basis of September and December tests. The teachers should not favour their students during evaluation,one should not act casually. I sympathise with the private candidates who due to one reason or the other cannot opt for regular post graduation and are awarded internal assessment on the basis of the marks they achieved out of 80 marks in each subject. But in my college,I keep telling heads of different departments to assess their colleagues.”