With the entire country on a lockdown, Tribhuvan University (TU) has postponed all its exams until further notice. With regular and partial exams being put off, students are in a dilemma. TU has taken an immediate crisis measure, but has failed to adopt a solid opt-out strategy for the long run.
Laxmi Bahadur Pachhai, an MBS fourth semester student at Shankar Dev Campus in Kathmandu, says it feels like being chained in one spot, from where you can neither go forward nor backward. Two of his three exams were postponed. “Half a year of hard work seems to be going to waste,” he says. He hopes TU will soon make another decision on exams.
Different countries are starting to roll back school lockdowns. In Denmark, young children are already in their schools, and Germany intends to partially open its from May 4. At higher levels, many countries have resorted to online classes and exams. However, for TU, Nepal’s oldest and largest public university with nearly 400,000 students, going online is not easy.
Bidya Nath Koirala, an educationist, suggests that the university should think of alternatives to traditional exams. “It is futile to wait for the situation to normalize. It would be wise to come up with innovative ways on our own,” he says.
The university can take the help of technology, he suggests. “But, first, the university should assess student access to technology, either by going through its records, or by directly checking with them,” he says.
“As per an estimate, only five percent of the students enrolled in TU come from ‘poor’ backgrounds. That implies the TU cannot make an excuse that ‘the students don’t have access to technology’,” Koirala adds.
Despite repeated attempts to contact them, TU officials were not available for comment on the university’s plan to restart stalled classes and exams.
Online exams are not exempt from complications though. Students can ‘cheat’ and plagiarize due to lack of proper supervision. Koirala acknowledges such a possibility, and suggests preventive measures. “To prevent cheating, we can have more critical and research-oriented questions. Oral examination is also an option.”
There may be some students with no access to technology and devices whatsoever. In that case, “written exams can be conducted or assignments given to a few students who are called to class each day. Later, there can be an oral assessment,” argues Alok Lamsal, a lecturer at Kathmandu-based Ratnarajya Laxmi Campus. “Also, the questions should test comprehension, not student’s memory.”
Lamsal thinks much time has already been wasted. So “rather than halting studies indefinitely, we should be trying to find solutions, however time-consuming the quest maybe,” Lamsal adds.
Online exams aren’t as easy to conduct as online classes. Given our limited broadband connectivity, online exams may be beset with problems. Due to Nepal’s traditional education system, too, regular written exams are still the most suitable to test student competence. According to educationist Koirala, for students in remote villages, taking an online examination may even be impossible.
“Internet is just a small tool to help with our education. We shouldn’t completely rely on it,” argues Lamsal. And yet in the case the university decides to conduct exams with tech support, going online could an option, if not for everyone. For others, Koirala adds, other means of communication like telephone and radio could be handy.
Uncertainty about exams and studies will have a negative impact on student minds. Koirala fears more about their social and personal impacts in the days ahead. Students get older by the day, and that puts them in a difficult situation. As he puts it, “Girls’ parents start pressing them to marry as they grow older. And for boys, they are under pressure to get a job. When the exams are stalled, they may feel pretty helpless.”
In Koirala's view, as education is the foundation of development, delaying studies and exams could be counterproductive for the country. “The TU should realize the gravity of the matter,” he advises.
