What is WRONG with Your Board Exams? | Marks Moderation

Summary

The video discusses the flaws in India's education system, focusing on how inconsistent board exam marking impacts university admissions. Examples include the disproportionate number of students from specific schools and states getting into top colleges like Delhi University due to inflated board marks. The video highlights the proposal for entrance exams to standardize admissions, though it may increase pressure on students. It also touches on the political influence on exam results and the need for increased infrastructure and capacity in educational institutions to address the root causes of these issues.

Takeaways

• 🏫 Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan in Erode has a strong record of sending students to Delhi University's SRCC, with 50 out of 160 B.Com Hons students in 2016 being from this school.
• 📈 In 2016, 99 out of 100 applicants with 100% marks for Hindu College's BA (Hons) Political Science program were from Kerala.
• ⚖️ A DU professor accused Hindu College of favoring students from Kerala due to high marks from the Kerala board.
• 🎓 Delhi University announced that it would conduct entrance exams instead of relying solely on board marks for admissions.
• 🔢 The policy of moderation by CBSE and state boards inflates marks to balance exam difficulty, leading to high cut-off marks.
• 📉 The pass rate in UP high school exams fluctuates based on the political party in power, illustrating political influence on education.
• 📚 Many state boards inflate marks for political reasons, affecting students from stricter boards in university admissions.
• 🏥 The Indian education system faces a supply-demand mismatch, with far more applicants than available seats in colleges and universities.
• 💼 Companies often distrust university degrees due to inconsistent marking standards, leading to reliance on additional skills training.
• 🏢 Solutions include increasing the capacity and quality of educational institutes, but entrance exams alone will not resolve all systemic issues.

Q & A

What is the connection between Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan and Delhi University's Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC)?

In 2016, 50 out of the 160 candidates admitted to SRCC's popular B.Com Hons program were pass outs of Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan.

Why did a professor at Kirori Mal College accuse Hindu College of favoritism?

The professor alleged that Hindu College was favoring students from Kerala because 99 out of 100 students who applied to the BA (Hons) program in Political Science with 100% marks were from Kerala.

What prompted Delhi University (DU) to announce the shift from board marks to an entrance exam for admissions?

The lack of an objective criteria for admission and the issues with inflated board marks led DU to announce that they would conduct an entrance exam instead of relying on board marks.

How did the policy of moderation impact students' marks in the CBSE board exams?

Moderation led to inflated marks, where students' scores were increased significantly. For example, in 2016 and 2017, CBSE increased math scores by 16 and 11 marks respectively, capping the maximum marks at 95.

What challenges did DU face with cut-off marks and admissions due to inflated board marks?

DU faced issues where the cut-off marks for several colleges were almost 100%, resulting in over-admission. For instance, Dyal Singh College had to admit 327 students for the BA(Hons) History program, which had a capacity of 77 seats, because all these students scored above the cut-off marks.

How did political influence affect the pass rates of state board exams in India?

Political influence led to mark inflation, as governments pressured state boards to increase pass rates to gain favor with students and their families, who are valuable vote banks.

What impact did the lack of standardization across different state boards have on university admissions?

The lack of standardization meant that students from boards with more liberal marking systems had an advantage over those from stricter boards, leading to disparities in university admissions based on absolute marks.

What is the potential downside of introducing entrance exams for university admissions?

Entrance exams might increase the mental and financial pressure on students and their families, especially those from poor backgrounds, as they have to prepare for another exam and may need to spend on coaching.

What long-term solutions are suggested to address the issues in the Indian educational system?

To address the issues, there needs to be an increase in both the quantity and quality of educational institutes. This includes building new institutes and increasing the capacity of existing ones.

How has the role of edtech companies like Coding Ninjas evolved in the context of the Indian education system?

Edtech companies like Coding Ninjas have stepped in to fill skill gaps, offering programming-based courses and access to alumni networks, helping students become more job-ready in a competitive market.

Outlines

00:00

🏫 Connection Between Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan and SRCC

Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan in Erode, Tamil Nadu, has a significant link with Delhi University's Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC). In 2016, 50 out of the 160 candidates admitted to SRCC's B.Com Hons program were from Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan. This trend continued in previous years, with 36 students in 2014 and 28 in 2015. Additionally, 99 out of 100 students with 100% marks in Hindu College's BA (Hons) Political Science program were from Kerala, sparking accusations of favoritism and 'marks jihad' by the Kerala education board. Due to such issues, Delhi University plans to conduct entrance exams instead of relying solely on board marks, highlighting the flaws in India's board examination system.

05:01

📚 Issues with Board Marks and DU Admissions

Delhi University (DU) has faced problems due to high cut-off marks influenced by inflated board exam scores. In 2021, DU had to admit many more students than its capacity due to high marks from internal exams during the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation arose because board marks are inflated under the policy of moderation, which aims to equalize scores across different sets of question papers and maintain pass percentages. However, this has led to unreasonable score increases, such as CBSE's addition of up to 16 marks to students' maths scores. Such practices have driven cut-offs near 100%, complicating the admission process.

10:03

📈 Political Influence on Exam Passing Rates

Exam passing rates in India often change dramatically with shifts in government. Researchers Prashant Bhattacharji and Geeta Kingdon showed that political pressure leads to mark inflation, as seen when the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh deployed police to deter cheating, drastically lowering passing rates. Conversely, passing rates increased under the SP government. This politicization of marks creates an uneven playing field, disadvantaging states like Punjab and Bihar that implemented strict grading policies, leading to dramatic drops in passing percentages and subsequent political backlash.

📝 Impact of Board Marking Standards on University Admissions

The inconsistency in marking standards across different state boards in India has led to a situation where students and schools prefer boards with more lenient grading to secure university admissions. For instance, a 96% score in Andhra Pradesh's board is equivalent to 60% in Bihar's board. This disparity drives schools to switch affiliations to boards with more favorable marking. Consequently, university degrees have lost credibility, with many employers doubting their quality. This issue is exacerbated by political influences on education boards, leading to inflated marks and distorted academic assessments.

💼 Challenges in the Indian Education System

India's education system faces significant challenges, including the need for better infrastructure and increased capacity in educational institutes. Entrance exams might level the playing field between students from different states but also add to the mental and financial pressure on students and their families. The mismatch between the number of applicants and available seats in institutions like medical colleges and IIMs highlights the urgent need for more educational facilities. Initiatives like Coding Ninjas offer skill-based learning to bridge gaps, but comprehensive solutions require substantial investments in infrastructure and systemic reforms.

Keywords

💡Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan

A residential school in Erode, Tamil Nadu, known for its significant number of graduates admitted to prestigious programs like SRCC's B.Com Hons at Delhi University. It exemplifies the disparities in educational outcomes across different schools.

💡Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC)

A renowned college under Delhi University, famous for its competitive B.Com Hons program. The script highlights how a large number of students from a single school, Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, were admitted to SRCC, illustrating the influence of specific schools on admissions.

💡Delhi University (DU)

A major public university in India facing challenges due to its high cut-off marks and issues with board exam marks inflation. The script discusses DU's proposal to conduct entrance exams to address these issues.

💡Moderation

A policy by which exam boards inflate marks to account for variations in exam difficulty and maintain consistent pass rates. The script critiques this practice, explaining how it leads to inflated cut-off marks at universities like DU.

💡Kerala Education Board

A state board in India accused of inflating marks, leading to a disproportionately high number of students from Kerala being admitted to DU's programs. The script uses this example to discuss the inconsistencies in board exam marking standards across states.

💡Entrance Exams

Proposed by DU to create a more objective criterion for admissions, bypassing the inconsistencies of board exam marks. The script discusses the potential benefits and drawbacks of this approach, including increased pressure on students.

💡Pass Percentage

The rate at which students pass their exams, which can vary dramatically due to political pressures and policies like moderation. The script uses the example of UP's high school exams to illustrate how government influence can alter pass rates.

💡Inflation of Marks

The practice of artificially increasing students' exam scores, often due to political pressure or policies like moderation. This leads to inflated university cut-off marks and discrepancies in student performance evaluation.

💡Supply and Demand in Education

The imbalance between the number of students seeking admission and the available seats in prestigious institutions. The script highlights how this mismatch exacerbates the competition and pressures on students.

💡Coaching Institutes

Private institutions that prepare students for competitive exams, becoming essential due to the high demand for limited seats in top universities and professional courses. The script discusses how these institutes proliferate in response to entrance exams and the associated financial burden on families.

Highlights

Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan in Erode has a notable connection with Delhi University's SRCC, sending a significant number of students each year.

In 2016, 50 out of 160 candidates admitted to SRCC's B.Com Hons program were from Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan.

Similar patterns were seen in previous years, with 36 students from Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan admitted in 2014 and 28 in 2015.

A DU professor accused Hindu College of favoring students from Kerala, with 99 out of 100 applicants with 100% marks coming from the state.

The issue is attributed to the lack of objective admission criteria at DU, leading to reliance on board marks.

DU announced it would no longer depend on board marks for admissions, opting instead for an entrance exam.

CBSE's policy of moderation has led to significant inflation of marks, impacting university admissions.

In 2016 and 2017, CBSE increased math scores by 16 and 11 marks, respectively, affecting overall student performance.

Moderation was introduced for various reasons, including misinterpretation of questions and equalizing marks across different question papers.

Political pressure has influenced state boards to inflate marks, affecting the integrity of the education system.

The passing rate in UP's high school exams fluctuated significantly with changes in government, highlighting political interference.

Moderation has led to a disparity in marks between different state boards, with some boards being more liberal and others stricter.

Universities like DU admit students based on absolute marks, creating inequalities among students from different boards.

Entrance exams like DU's proposed test aim to create a level playing field but may increase pressure on students and financial burdens on families.

The key problem is the mismatch between supply and demand in educational institutes, necessitating infrastructure investments to increase capacity.

Transcripts

This is the Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, a residential school in Erode, a city in Tamil Nadu.

And this is Delhi University's Shri Ram College of Commerce, popularly known as SRCC.

Both the educational institutes have a connection that you may not be aware about

In 2016, 50 out of the 160 candidates admitted to SRCC's popular B.Com Hons programme,

were pass outs of Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan.

And this wasn't a one-off situation.

In 2014, 36 students of Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan got admitted in SRCC

and in 2015, the number of such students was 28.

It seems strange that out of the 14 lakh schools in India,

one school sent a third of the admitted students to the SRCC B Com Honors programme in 2016

The same happened with the BA (Hons)- programme in Political Science at Hindu College

This programme received applications from 100 students all of whom had 100% marks

and 99 of them were from Kerala!

So a DU professor had accused Hindu college of favoring students from Kerala

"The professor of Physics at the Kirori Mal College alleged

that marks jihad is being done by the Kerala education Board.

He claims that certain colleges are forced to over admit students in particular courses

because they all have 100% marks from the Kerala board."

Now it's not as if DU was favouring students from Kerala

The issue is that there is no objective criteria for admission in the DU

This is why the DU recently announced that they would no longer depend on the board marks

Rather, they would conduct an entrance exam.

The proposal of DU highlights how terrible the system of board examinations in our country is

In this video, we will discuss about this system

"..prestigious Delhi university. We've now got 9 courses in Delhi University which want a 100% cutoff."

"More than 70,000 students scored above 95% in CBSE this year.

There are those that have scored even higher."

"If you wish to study in Delhi University's St. Stephens, LSR or Hindu College,

then this time, you'll have to appear for an entrance test. "

This year, because of the COVID second wave, external board exams couldn't be conducted.

This means that while the earlier CBSE board exams were conducted in other schools-

(I too had appeared for such an exam)

This year, they were unable to do that

So, the CBSE board marks were decided on the basis on internal exams

Since there were no external exams at all, obviously all the schools wanted their students to score better

This led to a lot of problems for the DU as the cut off marks for a lot of colleges were almost 100%

Let us take the exam of DU's Dyal Singh College.

They had 77 seats for the BA(Hons) History Programme,

The cutoff for the unreserved seats was 94%.

But this year, 327 students had to be admitted in this programme

because the marks of all these students were more than the cut off marks

And DU's rule states that if a student has secured more than the cut off marks,

then they will have to be admitted- no matter what the capacity is.

And so a college with a capacity of 77 had to admit more than 300 students!

Also, do not think that the inflation of marks was due to COVID

This is an age old problem which is called "Moderation".

Now let's first try to understand why the policy of moderation was introduced in the first place.

CBSE lists 5 reasons on its website reasons why it undertakes the policy of moderation

Misinterpretation of questions, removing the subjectivity in exam evaluation,

equalizing the marks of the different sets of question papers,

and maintaining the pass percentage relative to the previous years

These are some of the reasons why the policy of moderation exists

But often, under the garb of moderation, CBSE board inflates the marks in a way that sometimes don't make sense.

Like in 2016 and 2017, the CBSE board increased the maths score of students by 16 marks and 11 marks

But the maximum marks a student would get was also capped at 95

This means that a student who had scored 79 marks, got 95 after moderation.

But even the student who secured 94 before moderation, would be awarded 95 marks after moderation

CBSE said that this was done to compensate for the variation in the difficulty of papers.

But do think about it- Does this moderation make any sense?

*CBSE be like- we thought it made sense at that time.*

This is why the cut off marks of DU had reached almost 100 per cent for a lot of programmes

Since, 2016, the number of students securing more than 95% marks in CBSE is rapidly increasing.

CBSE maintains that they undertake moderation to equalize the marks

But CBSE is not the sole entity to do this. A lot of state boards do this as well.

And more often than not, they do it because of political reasons!

Now, I will show you very interesting examples. Stay tuned!

Take a look at the graph of the pass rates in UP's high school exams.

You can see how the the passing rate keeps changing.

We know that the passing rates of an exam should remain almost the same every year

It could vary slightly. But on average, there should not be a vast difference.

Two researchers Prashant Bhattacharji and Geeta Kingdon did something interesting with this analysis

They added the government that was in power in the state at that time in the same graph.

You can see how the passing rate changes when a new government comes to power.

Like you might notice that in 1992 the passing percentage dropped dramatically.

Why? The answer to this is very interesting.

Because In 1992, the BJP government of Kalyan Singh had decided

To install the police at all the exam centers to deter cheating.

We can also see in the graph, how the passing rate increases when SP comes into power

This means that the governments pressurize the state boards to inflate the marks of the students

But why do the governments do this?

Because the high school students serve as a very valuable vote bank for these parties.

And not just students, their families are vote banks as well.

The governments believe that if by chance, they fail a lot of students, they'd lose out on the votes

And since such a system has developed in India,

those state that don't inflate the marks of their students actually have to suffer

For example, a joint decision was taken in April 2017 by all the 40 major exam boards of India

to do away with excessive marks inflation

Only two state boards actually implemented this: Punjab and Bihar.

And as soon as they did this, the passing percentage in the two states fell dramatically

What happened after that?

The head of the Punjab school exam board was pressurized by the chief minister to resign

Moderation is basically a statistical technique but it has unfortunately been politicized in India

This has wrecked the our school systems

The marking in Kerala board is quite liberal but that in Bihar board is stricter.

In fact, according to an analysis, the score of 96% in Andhra Board

was equal to a score of 60% in Bihar Board!

But many universities like the DU take admission on the basis of absolute marks of grade 12th

This is why there have been several schools, like in the state of West Bengal,

where schools decided to make a switch from the local state board to all-India boards,

as they were of the opinion that the marking of the state boards was extremely strict

Because every school wants their students to get higher marks and get admitted to universities like DU

Why would they choose to stay affiliated with the local school boards?

Many of us would also know about students also switch schools

to come under a board whose marking is more liberal

That's why the board marks students get are no longer a good indicator of their performance

And this issue is not only with school marks but also university degrees.

Companies no longer trust the university degrees because they don't really trust the quality

For instance a 2019 report showed that 80% engineers of India are not fit for jobs

To address this problem, many Indian edtech companies have stepped to fill the skill gaps

One of such companies is Coding Ninjas who have supported me in making this video

Coding Ninjas is one of India’s biggest Learning platform for Coding Education

with their teaching faculties from different top tier educational institutes, including IIT

You can explore more than 17 programming based courses from their website

on subjects like web development or machine learning

Apart from the courses, students also get access to the Alumni network of people

who've worked at top-notch tech companies like Amazon and Google.

Coding Ninjas also offers you an Assistance where a student can instantly clear all their doubts

so that they don't have to waste a lot of time on a single question

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Because you can get access to more than 17 courses absolutely free for 7 days

Would an entrance exams be the solution to this problem?

Depends upon the problem you want to solve

If the problem you want to solve is that

you want to be able to compare a student from Kerala State Boards with a student from Bihar state Board,

then yes a standardized entrance test solves that problem

But don't assume that entrance exams would solve the problems of the Indian school/education system-

for instance, the pressure on students.

In fact, it may only increase it as students have to prepare for another exam now

The key problem in our educational institutes is the mismatch between supply and demand

For instance in 2019, more than15 lakh students registered for NEET.

But do you know the number of medical colleges in India?

2060.

And how many students study in these colleges?

Around 35,000

So, more than15 lakh students compete for around 35,000 seats

Or nearly 42 students for one seats

Talking about IIMs, in 2018, nearly 20 applicants were competing for 1 seat.

And it is a great possibility that the same would happen for the DU exams

what had happened with the NEET/JEE exams

That is- a proliferation of coaching institutes.

According to National Sample Survey Office’s survey in 2014,

around 12% of a family's expenses go towards private coaching.

A report of 2021 found out that

99% of the students who have cracked the NEET medical entrance exam in Tamil Nadu

had taken coaching.

The DU exam does create a level playing field between different states

but we should not forget that these exams might exert mental pressure on students

and financial pressure on their families

This pressure would be even more on students who come from poor backgrounds

The solutions to such problems are not easy

In simple terms, we will have to bolster both quantity as well as quality of our educational institutes

For that, we will have to build new institutes and increase the capacity of existing ones

For instance, in 2018 IIM-A and IIM-B proposed to add a total of 805 seats to increase the intake capacity.

IIM-B director Professor G Raghuram told TOI, "IIM-B has applied for a loan of about Rs 200 crore."

The planned additional infrastructure would enable them to provide accommodation

and make the programmes more attractive.

For a lot of us, entrance exams can be a better solution to compare the students

But we should recognize that firstly, it will not solve all the problems of our educational institutes

And secondly, we need to make more infrastructure investments to solve this problem

because as long as 20-40 students keep competing for 1 seat,

it would mean that a lot of students would have to face disappointment.