Once again, grade inflation, an unsavoury academic ritual commonly practised by school boards and higher educational institutions in India, has sparked nationwide discussions. The catalyst this time is a viral audio clip featuring Shanavas S, Kerala’s director of general education, who denounced the practice and reprimanded officials responsible for lowering the state’s educational standards.
Simply put, grade inflation involves awarding higher grades than students really deserve through artificially heightened schemes. Take the classic example of what happened during the Covid outbreak when all institutions were practically shut down for nearly two years. Despite the evident learning gaps that were quite perceptible during and immediately after the pandemic and multiple research studies confirming the same, students across the 33 school boards in India received grades that portrayed them as teenage prodigies. Notably, CBSE classes 10 and 12 boards in 2021 showed a pass percentage of 99.04 per cent and 99.37 per cent respectively, and those scoring above 95 per cent jumped to 38 per cent in class 10 and 81 per cent in class 12. In Maharashtra, the higher secondary certificate results saw a 1,000 per cent rise in the 90 per cent category. Not surprisingly, the trend continues unabated, with a significant number of students scoring 100 per cent in almost all subjects, including arts, humanities, and social sciences. Such inflated pass percentages and a surge in high scorers raise serious concerns about the integrity of the evaluation process.
However, we also must understand that this unhealthy practice adopted across school boards is not new and has persisted for decades, affecting not only school boards but also higher educational institutions. Sadly, despite several education commissions recommending a radical shift from a score-based education system, the excessive emphasis on marks and grades remains dominant in the academic landscape as the only indicator of academic excellence. Interestingly, the problem is not exclusive to India. Even reputed Ivy League institutions abroad such as Harvard and Yale have faced allegations of grade inflation. Most boards and universities in India employ moderation or gracing methods, contributing to a continued increase in distinctions and first-class grades and a steady decline in second and pass classes. What was originally meant to compensate for errors in question papers and the near-inevitable subjectivity element in evaluation has backfired and jeopardised the entire system, questioning its authenticity and credibility.
The consequences of this practice are significant, causing a ripple effect. It leads to tougher competition for college seats, with not so many colleges and universities that can stake claim to quality education out of the 40,000 colleges in the country and a little over a thousand universities. As a result, there are unreasonable cutoffs for admissions. When students fail to make it, their faith in the system erodes, giving way to cynicism. The public, too, loses confidence and looks for alternatives. The rise and popularity of international schools affiliated to offshore examination boards may be seen as a response to this lacuna.
More importantly, grade inflation promotes self-deception among students, fostering false perceptions about their capabilities and achievements. When the bitter truth hits them in the face later in life, they are unable to cope with the new reality, with many going into depression and some even choosing to end their lives.
Despite its detrimental effects, why does grade inflation persist? The simple answer is: to keep all stakeholders ‘happy and satisfied’, and benefit everyone to maintain the status quo. Students are happy with the inflated marks, parents with the inflated egos, authorities with the increase in institutional popularity and revenue through admissions, and teachers with better prospects during the appraisal as they will be evaluated on students’ performance in examinations.
What is urgently needed is a radical overhauling of the examination system. Firstly, the practice of gracing or moderation resulting in grade inflation must be discarded entirely. Institutions must reinvent their evaluation and assessment practices. Instead of rote learning that promotes reproduction, the focus should be on developing critical and independent thinking skills. Multiple modes of assessment, including oral examination and collaborative assignments and tests, could help. Devoid of critical and creative thinking skills, we will have students who cannot think and act independently but are quite adept at cracking examinations. In addition, teaching quality must be augmented and a conducive learning atmosphere must be created through a manageable student-teacher ratio, apart from a relevant curriculum in tandem with contemporary requirements and allocating sufficient resources to education.
Two radical changes in our mindset may enable a long-lasting solution. Institutions and all stakeholders should recognise that grades are just one component of the gamut of the evaluation framework. Secondly, all higher educational institutions should have autonomy in admitting students based on their assessment criteria, as seen in various private institutions with their own entrance tests, aptitude tests and personal interviews. Above all, to attain a more balanced and meaningful education system, the societal obsession with ‘marksism’ must be overcome.
John J Kennedy
Professor and Dean, Christ University (Deemed), Bengaluru