Dr. Rajesh Kashyap
Professor of Medicine, MMU, Solan Senior Leader, BJP Solan
 
In the recent past, there have been many scams in the recruitment of people to various jobs in the state and central services. These scams are given widespread publication in newspapers. For a few months it remains the talk of the town and then finally fades out over a period of time. Government responds just by CBI and police inquiries and finally, the cases are forgotten and closed. However, the pain and anguish of the young aspirants remain unanswered. No one has gone into the depth of the matter as to why these scams occur and reoccur. We have moved from machines to computers in the past few decades and from press-printed subjective papers to MCQs. Earlier when subjective papers were in use, there were fewer incidences of paper leakage.

To answer in subjective form, the entrant or examinee still has to use his brain to write down the answers. It takes time and effort on the part of the aspirant. However, in the ’80s the format of the examination changed to MCQs. It was easy to evaluate and a large number of people could beexamined in one go. It is here that the corruption began in entrance and other examinations. People were given OMR sheets and now the total frisking is done to the extent that in one of the examinations, the entrants were asked to take down their jackets and boots in the height of winter. Still, the malpractice is continuing and new methods of cheating are being invented. It was shocking to know that a lady superintendent of the secrecy branch was involved in these malpractices herself.
Is it justifiable to continue with the MCQ pattern or do we need to restructure our entrance examination into an examination for a university, school, or a salaried employment exam?
In medical teaching just before entrance into medical college, dissection of frogs, cockroaches, and earthworms was carried out, and only those students could pursue medicine who generated interest in such types of practical activities. In the non-medical field, calculus, and trigonometry were the exposing parameters.  The field of art demanded a flair for poetry and precise writing. Only those students who worked hard and were close to perfection in their subjects were selected for further courses. Similarly, entrance into the government services was based on university merit and this was no question of MCQ only viva. In some cases, the written paper was there since the number of seats are less and applicants are in lakhs MCQ became the method of choice for the selection of candidates to universities and services. This brought with it all an aorta of corruption. Though it is still preferred as a method of selection and screening of the candidates but cannot be a method for the final approval of the candidates. As there is no psychological testing, it only tests the cramming ability, not memory, intellect, and other cognitive functions of the brain in the real sense. To prevent corruption in appointments, clubbing of both methods should be done in government services. This can be time-consuming and costly but the pain of those aspirants will be reduced as it will be a better method by many parameters.Based on the pedagogy, both the above-mentioned methods have their advantages and disadvantages but the subjective form of answering has been found to be relatively better in the present scenario of a corrupt and mechanized society.

Definitely, the written, subjective assessment assesses the thinking and articulation of that thought. The scientific superstition that anything passing through a computer is superior to the “volatile” human intellect is no more acceptable. The MCQ exam has really weakened India’s ability to think critically and creatively. Educationists and administrators must come forward to develop a practical solution to weed out corruption in all its forms from the entrance examinations.

Note : The opinions expressed in the article are of the writer.