The faculty members of degree colleges have opposed the recent guidelines issued by the Department of Collegiate Education for the internal assessment of undergraduate students. The government has recently increased the internal assessment marks for undergraduate students to 40 marks, while theory papers will only be for 60 marks.
Teaching faculty have to evaluate students based on the recent guidelines and award them internal assessment marks from this academic year of 2023-24.
“Following these guidelines creates a lot of pressure on both faculty members and students. There are also infrastructure challenges in implementing these guidelines. The department must consult teachers and reframe the guidelines or retract the guidelines altogether,” said a senior faculty member of a first-grade college who wished to remain anonymous.
What guidelines say
As per the guidelines, in an apparent attempt to promote continuous assessment, faculty members are to give seven assignments and seven tests of Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) format through a Learning Management System (LMS) every semester to each student. While 20 marks are reserved for assignments, which include seminars, case study/field visit/ projects, another 20 marks will be based on the student’s performance in the tests.
Given students have nearly eight subjects including an elective, this means 56 assignments and 56 tests for every student. “This will put a lot of pressure on students and it is not advisable,” a faculty member said.
For assignments, each individual student should be given a different topic and seminars have to be held as a group exercise, for a group of five students. Each group needs to make at least five seminars in a semester. “Assigning unique topics to all these assignments and seminars is a tough task,” a faculty member said. Government first grade colleges are already suffering from shortage of teaching staff, forcing teachers to teach extra hours, the faculty members said.
Further the guidelines say that faculty members should administer MCQ format tests to students on the LMS system, which is online. However, most of the students right now do not have access to internet and digital devices, especially since the State government has also stopped distributing laptops or tablets to UG students for the past two years and yet to restart. “In such a situation how do we administer tests on the LMS system?” questioned a teacher.
