The system of fixing minimum marks for internal assessment could soon be a thing of the past. The government has initiated steps to scrap the prevalent system in arts and science colleges from next academic year.
The move comes a few months after the reform was introduced by APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University.
Directives
Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel, responding to a question raised by CPI(M) legislator T.V. Rajesh in the Assembly on Monday, said the universities concerned had been issued directives to implement the decision across arts and science colleges.
Opining that the reform must be ideally replicated in all other State universities, Dr. Jaleel said he had taken up the issue with Health Minister K.K. Shylaja to implement it in the Kerala University of Health Sciences.
“The State has witnessed numerous incidents of students being traumatised in the name of internal assessment. Students must not be made to plead for the benevolence of teachers for marks,” he said.
Accreditation
Dr. Jaleel said the government had adopted steps to ensure that all higher education institutions obtained accreditation from either the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) or the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) within two years. At present, 34 of the 66 government arts and science colleges had been accredited by the NAAC. Among the 191 aided arts and science colleges, 144 had been accredited with 11 colleges graded A++.
He said steps were under way to establish specialised laboratories that could be used by clusters of 10-15 colleges across the State.