Online Schooling and Assessment Tests
The pandemic has turned life upside down. Educational institutions have been compelled to not only deliver academic instruction online but also conduct examinations and assessment tests. In such a scenario, we must ask ourselves a very important question. Is online testing fair?
An honest answer would be an absolute no, for a variety of reasons. First of all, there is the easy availability of material online. During an examination or test in the normal setup, invigilators and supervisors keep a strict check on the students taking the examination. This makes it virtually impossible to use unfair means. Of course, this depends on the center and the people involved.
The scene is very different in the case of online exams. While parents are present at home, they are also individuals with work responsibilities and cannot be expected to constantly monitor the child during an online examination. There are also individuals who want their child to score high marks at any cost. Apart from this, a child being a child, will be tempted to resort to the textbook or multiple browsers to find answers. This of course varies, depending upon the upbringing and value system of a student.
The obliging classmate is another source of help. Teachers find identical answers in multiple scripts. Not only is this extremely distressing to the teacher; it…
