Semester minus credit?

The B. Hridayakumari committee suggests indirect grading, doing away with credit and fewer examinations.

The credit-and-semester system for degree courses in the universities of Kerala may soon shift to an indirect grading system on a seven-point scale if the B. Hridayakumari committee has its way.

The committee has reportedly finalised its recommendations, including those for doing away with the concept of credit, holding examinations for core papers once a year and overhauling the indices for internal evaluation. The committee is expected to submit its recommendations shortly to the Kerala State Higher Education Council. Sources in the committee say the prime reason for the recommendation to switch to indirect grading was the feedback from the teachers.

“Teacher after teacher at many of our sittings told us that they will prefer to award marks rather than letter grades. This way, they can mark a paper as in the olden days and this can later be converted to letter grades based on a defined scale. Many teachers told us that giving marks will be a more accurate way of assessing a candidate,” a committee member told

The Hindu-Education Plus .

Many teachers who interacted with the committee were of the view that the scale of grading should be widened — from the present five-point to a seven-point system. This, a committee member says, will give teachers scope to be more nuanced in their evaluation of answer scripts. “The committee felt that the teachers were justified in asking for these changes,” the member says.

The additional examinations that the semester system brought in and the perceived load on the academic system were issues that the committee set out to tackle.

Professor Hridayakumari, during conversations with

The Hindu- EducationPlus , had repeatedly expressed her concern about the “overwhelming burden” of sequential examinations on students, teachers and the university system as a whole. The committee is understood to have concluded that holding core paper examinations at the end of “even semesters” will be a reasonable way out.

The committee is reported to have decided to recommend a comprehensive overhaul of the syllabi.