The results of the Higher Secondary School Certificate Examination (HSSCE) throw up a number of questions.
The pass percentage this year is 84.99, which though a reasonably high figure, is 10.47 per cent less than that of the previous year. The results of the HSSC exams of 2023 had a pass percentage of 95.46.
The questions that most would be asking are: Why the drop in percentage? What could have gone so wrong?
There are certain answers to the questions. The chairman of the Goa Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, is reported to have proffered two reasons for the drop in percentage.
The first was a change in the pattern of the previous years, and the second that ‘focussing is also an issue with students’.
In 2021, during the devastating second wave of the Covid-19pandemic, the pass percentage was 99.40, a figure that we can now say that, in normal times, would not have been achievable.
They appear to be reasonable answers, and we will attempt an analysis of both.
Taking the first reason of change in pattern, it has to be noted that the previous five years saw an unbelievably high – some may even say abnormally high – pass percentage that was mainly driven by change in the exam pattern that the Goa Board followed due to the truncated academic years following the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2021, during the devastating second wave of the Covid-19pandemic, the pass percentage was 99.40, a figure that we can now say that, in normal times, would not have been achievable.
That year, 75 students were categorised in the 'need improvement' category, and the results of another 35 students were held back over non-submission of eligible documents.
That year, the results had been declared on the basis of internal assessment, besides the syllabus had been cut by about 28 to 30 per cent and due to the Pandemic, students attended classes online, sometimes struggling with poor network connectivity.
Under those circumstances, was the result a true reflection of the students’ performance?
The pass percentage remained in the high 90s in the years following 2021, while in the years preceding that, the pass percentage had crossed 90 just once in 2016 when it had stood at 90.10.
The pass percentage remained in the high 90s in the years following 2021, while in the years preceding that, the pass percentage had crossed 90 just once in 2016 when it had stood at 90.10.
Normally, pass percentages vary by one or two percentage points between years, so the past years had definitely seen abnormally high percentages.
This year, the pass percentage has actually returned to what it used to be in the pre-Covid times. So, would it be reasonable to say that the pass percentage this year is the correct reflection of the students and their abilities?
If that is so, then it signifies that the percentages of the last few years were not the result of a true assessment of the students.
The high percentages had been questioned as it appeared almost impossible to believe that there could be an almost 100 per cent pass percentage in the HSSC.
Definitely, something was wrong in the past years, and not in the current year.
The high percentages had been questioned as it appeared almost impossible to believe that there could be an almost 100 per cent pass percentage in the HSSC.
Goa Board definitely requires to introspect on this aspect, and it could actually hold true that the change in exam pattern led to the fall. But, this should lead to finding an answer to the question above, of whether the results of the past years reflected the quality of the students.
The second reason for the drop in percentage is that students struggle to focus. Now, that’s something that the education system has to correct and on an urgent level.
Not every student in the class will have the same ability to focus, and so it is the teachers, who will have to amend their teaching process to have the attention of every child in the class.
The average attention span is calculated as Age x 2 to 5 minutes. So, a 10-year-old will have an attention span of 20 to 50 minutes.
So, the task before the teacher is to keep the child, with a 20 minute attention span, focused on what is being taught for a longer period.
Times change, and we have moved into the digital age. Schools that are affiliated to other education boards have changed the focus to projects and continuous evaluation.
For decades, the Class X and Class XII results have been the main indicator of a child’s success.
To get a more correct assessment, it may also be time to review the exam system, as in Goa, we follow a system of exams at the end of the year that grades students on what they are able to recall from the subject matter they have studied during the academic year.
But, times change, and we have moved into the digital age. Schools that are affiliated to other education boards have changed the focus to projects and continuous evaluation.
The end of the year exam system of evaluation is definitely turning outdated, though it will need to remain, but with less stress on it.
Goa Board has to move to other methods of evaluation and assessment.
