End of Internal Exams: Not Reasonable for Real Students

Almost all +2 and bachelor level colleges in Kathmandu Valley schedule internal examinations for its students; but surprisingly very few students attend them. The students are neither forced to attempt them if the exams do not contribute to their final evaluation/score. Nevertheless, many colleges have never thought of any alternatives which would be more favourable to their students. Disparity between attitude of students toward such exams and the colleges' continuation of them can be taken as an evidence of the fact that we have many problems in education system. Yet, internal exams are beneficial too, thus can not be removed altogether from the system.

In my bachelor class, there were 16 students.  Leaving 3-4 job holder students as exception everyone was regular in classes. But hardly 50 percentage of total student would attempt the exams. Among attendees too, few of them would be just sitting on the bench and looking their watches while waiting the first hour bell to ring so that they can leave the hall.

The worse records were in management stream. In my contemporary management class, there were more than 45 students, but I used to see only 15-20 students attending the internal exams. While our class used to get more than 5 passed students in every exam generally, the management stream would remain satisfied with 2-3 successes. It was not because those students were really poor in academic study, neither am I supposing that management students are comparatively weaker than humanities students. But, the reason behind their failures was negligence toward internal exams; because the failed ones also could score really better in final exams.

Why is this? The first answer is the students are engaged in job that doesn't allow them to prepare for exams in every three months. One of my close friends also began working while he was in his second year of Bachelors in Business Studies (BBS). He used to come under top 10 in his first year internal results. But he partially attempted his internal exams in the second year. In addition, he scored very low in attended papers too. It was, however, no surprise for him. "I was not prepared to attend those exams, thus my expectations were not different from what I later got", he easily comments. Another reason can be the students' deliberate negligence, primarily resulted from the colleges' failure to establish and maintain internal examination requirements. While in the first case, the problem arises due to students' sense of responsibility; in the second case lack of this sense causes trouble. In both kinds of cases, affected students are seen in almost equal quantity.    

But there are some students who are seen regularly taking their internal examinations, even if they don't contribute to their final score. One of such friends said to me, "You know dear, such exams help you progress forward and makes you prepared for the final exams." In fact, the colleges also state the same as the most significant reason behind their intention of scheduling such examinations. Principal of Sagarmatha College (where I did my BA) Chandra Dhakal had once said, "The good students who have understood value of regular examinations have been successful to grasp advantages of such internal examinations. For the rest, some might not have understood value of such, and we can't force them now, because they are all grown up. It's their problem, not ours."   

He also accepts that his students in considerable number have already disapproved such exams. Yet he doesn't want to end them. As said earlier, such exams were proved really beneficial for the students who want to improve themselves. In addition, no one has yet proposed any credible alternative of their regular evaluation that can be practical enough in year system education. (Semester system has internal examinations more frequently, but since they add up to the students' final scores, they are mandatory for students.)

So the students' disapproval internal exams and the colleges' continuation of them seem to continue. Though the fact that many students have disapproved the internal evaluation system is accepted, there are other students almost equal in number who have approved it and have been successful to take its intended advantages; which makes it impossible to shut down the system immediately. Nevertheless, it is wise for colleges to seek an alternative for those students who can not take the exams because of any reason.