DU must have semesters for under-grads PUBLIC REPORTER
Semester system provides opportunity to students for continuous learning and assessment
| New Delhi | June 02 2010
I, a first-year student of Economics Honors at the Delhi University, strongly feel that the semester system should be introduced at the under-graduate level. I would like to mention a few reasons to support my stand. When compared with the annual system, the semester system would keep the students busy all year round with the same level of burden instead of piling up all the work at the end of the year. Thus, it would reduce the study load on the students and, in addition, inculcate in them the habit of regular study. Moreover, the students will be aware that procrastination with regard to assignments and projects will have a negative effect on their grades.
I also personally feel that under the annual scheme it was just a test of memory and information distilled which was never translated into knowledge or for practical application and the semester system would encourage these. Under this system, examinations would be taken at the end of every semester. This has the advantage that the comprehension of the course contents and the evaluation period are closely linked to each other and that the examinations are spread out in a balanced manner over the academic year. In this manner, one would get a clear view of one’s academic achievements very early. Where can one make improvements? What are one’s shortcomings? This early feedback at the end of the first semester gives one the opportunity to adjust one’s study method and attitude towards work in the second semester. Moreover, students can clear the backlog in one or many subjects even after moving to the next semester.
Thus, in nutshell, the distinct advantage of the semester system is that it provides an opportunity to students for continuous learning, assessment and deep understanding of the subjects, better examination and greater involvement of teachers and students throughout the year. I wish this system was introduced earlier.
As an ex-student of DU, currently pursuing an MA in JNU, let me tell you what a blessing the yearly system is. Having come in contact with students of other universities who had the semester system, it is clear to see that studying one course exclusively over a year offers a much greater depth of understanding, analysis and knowledge. This is even more relevant considering the fact that at the under-graduate level, students are coming in from the CBSE/ISC schooling system which as you would know well, has absolutely no connection to the kind of education that an honours course in DU implies. The big advantage DU students hold over others is this careful, deep and sustained induction into the Bachelor's education. The semesters, which are small and over before you know it, are simply not as effective in laying strong fundamentals to academics.
The semester system, especially the one being implemented in DU, offers
I don't know which college in DU you're from, but the college I was in had a pretty rigorous system of internal examination, which was taken very seriously by both teachers and students. The semester system, which would simply intensify and institutionalise this, stands in danger of turning DU bachelor's education into an endless runaround of tests, tests and more tests. Perhaps these bite-sized evaluations would be easier to digest for students, but whether they would lead to better learning and understanding? Personally, I doubt it.
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