Srinagar, July 10: The recently declared results of the Undergraduate (UG) 3rd semester examinations across Kashmir University’s affiliated Degree Colleges has sent shockwaves across the higher education sector, as colleges, including some reputed ones, have failed to achieve a fair pass percentage of the students.
The disturbing figures, as per the result statements indicate a significant decline in academic performance among students.
The Government Degree College (GDC) Handwara in north Kashmir has reported an abysmal pass percentage of merely 10 percent while the GDC Boys Baramulla witnessed only 20.8 percent of students passing the examination, with 202 out of 968 candidates declared as qualified.The GDC Boys Anantnag and GDC Nawakadal have produced 23.7 percent and 21 percent pass percentage while the status of other colleges is no different.The poor performance of the students in these colleges has raised concerns about the standards of education in the higher education sector.
The reaction to the low pass percentage has been mixed among students, faculty, and administration in various colleges. According to college professors, many students who failed in the 3rd semester UG exams were previously regarded as meritorious individuals based on their impressive scores in the 10th and 12th standard examinations. “But their performance in UG exams has left both the students and their well-wishers perplexed and questioning the quality of education being imparted at the college level,” a college teacher said, wishing not to be named.Another academician, while expressing his concern over the distressing results said that the dismal performance of the students can be either attributed to the low standard of education in colleges which led to a lack of academic growth or the grades awarded to the students at secondary and senior secondary level.
“The distinction holders at the school level seemed to struggle in the more challenging college environment. Or the generous evaluation and reliance on rote learning might have inflated the marks of these students,” he said.
The students who passed the senior secondary level exams have failed to cope and retain their high grades at UG level. “Despite impressive scores in the higher secondary school level examinations, many students lacked fundamental knowledge in their subjects,” the college professor said while criticising school education teachers for evaluating answer scripts generously and focusing on predictable note-oriented questions, which hindered students’ critical learning skills. Some college professors said that the Kashmir University authorities allowed students with poor attendance to appear for final examinations, bypassing the college system that should determine eligibility for examination forms. “This leniency, combined with the absence of internal marks for attendance, resulted in a lack of motivation for regular attendance,” the college teacher said.
However, the students who have failed to qualify the exams expressed their frustrations over various issues they encountered during their college journey. “Delays in starting classes due to the unavailability of contractual lecturers, non-issuance of library books upon admission, and delayed scholarship disbursements were among the factors which have impacted our studies in colleges,” said a student of GDC Handwara. The result statistics of several colleges paints a grim picture which has thrown up a major challenge for the government to overcome the issue.
In Gandhi Memorial College Srinagar only 54 students out of 1195 have qualified the exam while 1141 students have backlog subjects, or have failed in all the subjects or were absent in exam.GDC Pulwama has produced 18 percent result as out of 710 students only 128 students have passed the exam while GDC Kulgam has produced 21.5 percent result as out of 1438 students only 310 have passed it.
Meanwhile a top official in the examination department of Kashmir University (KU) said the poor performance of students in their exams was because of the two reasons noting that either the students do not study or they were not taught in the colleges. “It is shocking that the academics have degraded so badly in degree colleges. From our side, there was no contractual evaluator but all the evaluators were permanent faculty members,” the official said, adding that some out of the box solutions need to be implemented to overcome the problem.
Scores of distressed students who have declared as unqualified in the UG 3rd semester exam however blamed the poor quality of evaluation by the Kashmir University. “Most of us have applied for revaluation and we are expecting that maximum students will pass the exam after the revaluation result will be declared. Previously, the KU had to modify the results many a times after the students were declared pass after reevaluating their answer scripts.
Principal Secretary Higher Education Department (HED), Alok Kumar attributed the poor performance of college students to the introduction of the Four Year Undergraduate (FYUG) course from the current session. “Earlier, they (students) were used to curriculum reduction due to Covid-19 and other reasons,” Alok Kumar told Greater Kashmir.
He said the department will not put the blame on teachers only for the poor performance of the students. “We have to also see whether students are concentrating on their studies or not,” he said.