We are in a time when the virus of rote learning, the pathology of MCQ-centric standardised tests, the “success manuals” sold by coaching factories and the psychology of fear associated with board examinations have polluted the entire culture of school education.
In this context, the fact that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is experimenting with the possibility of “open-book” examinations (OBE) in order to resist this rot, and encourage “higher-order thinking” among students is welcome. It is a refreshing idea, particularly in an environment in which board examinations in many parts of the country cannot be imagined without the use of the surveillance machinery amid the all-pervading fear of mass copying, or leaked question papers. Reports suggest that the CBSE, to begin with, intends to experiment with open-book examinations in select schools for classes 9 to 12, particularly for subjects like English, Science, Mathematics and Biology. Although there is no immediate plan to adopt the OBE format for the Board examination, the experiment is a step forward.
We can orient young minds for open-book examinations only if we succeed in revolutionising the ethos of the classroom — from the pedagogic practice to the mode of teacher-student engagement. In this context, I wish to stress three points.
First, we need to take the spirit of critical pedagogy with absolute seriousness. This is possible only when our children are encouraged to realise and trust their hidden potential, and teachers, far from just “completing” the official syllabus, engage in a meaningful dialogue with young students. This is like walking together, seeing beyond the burden of bookish knowledge, overcoming the dead weight of ready-made “facts, definitions and theories”, problematising the taken-for-granted understanding of the world, asking new questions, and thinking creatively.
An important reason behind rote learning, or the desire to copy from “notes” and “guide books” in examinations is that students are hardly encouraged or trained to see beyond textbooks, study the literature outside the syllabus, relate the classroom to the larger world, and think differently and creatively. The fact is that the prevalent pattern of school examinations demands nothing more than the capacity to memorise, say, 10 reasons for the downfall of the Mughal Empire, or, for that matter, a mathematical formula to solve a typical linear equation.
Second, open-book examinations demand qualitatively different kinds of questions and riddles to arouse and activate the critical faculty and creative imagination of young students. What teachers ought to realise is that if the answers to the questions they formulate are already available in the textbooks, the idea of open-book exams will be reduced to a joke. Hence, those who design the question papers have to work hard, learn and unlearn simultaneously, and transform the task of framing questions into a delicate art.
Let me give a couple of illustrations. If you ask Class 12 students to write the exact date and time of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, the answer is already available in the textbook. But then, if you ask them to write a paragraph on the implications of Gandhi’s assassination in contemporary Indian politics, no guidebook, no coaching centre manual will help them. They need to think. And this is possible only when the spirit of dialogue and critical pedagogy in the classroom encourages “higher order” or innovative thinking — something beyond dates of wars, pacts and treaties. Or, for that matter, is it possible to ask these students to write a note on the state of farmers’ protest in the context of the constitutional ideal of “fundamental rights”?
In other words, we need to educate educators, encourage them to evolve and grow every day, and teach freely and creatively without any fear. Yes, creative and critical thinking requires the spirit of freedom — the freedom to see beyond the officially sanctioned textbook, and accept that there can be multiple ways of seeing a phenomenon.
Third, we need to realise that the most challenging examination is the open-book examination. Yes, it is challenging for the teachers — you cannot ask the same questions year after year; you must constantly activate your mind and experiment with ideas. This task cannot be accomplished by the machinery called the National Testing Agency. Likewise, it is challenging for young students. As there is no ready-made answer in textbooks or other “success manuals”, they need to sharpen their analytical thinking, creative imagination and style of writing.
In fact, I love the idea of open-book exams because in my teaching career of more than three decades, I have always asked my students to bring their books, or any other reading material, and celebrate their exams with the ecstasy of learning and unlearning. And yes, in this process many of them evolved truly creatively, and emerged as good teachers and researchers. Let examinations be a celebration of creative learning, not a toxic moment of doubt, cheating, fear and surveillance.
Good luck to the CBSE!
The writer taught sociology at JNU for more than three decades
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