ARE ONLINE EXAMS BETTER THAN OFFLINE EXAMS?

Impact of covid 19 on the educational sector can`t be ignored. Initially, during this pandemic mostly all schools and colleges were closed and students were attending online classes from their homes. The education sector has completely digitalised. Though a normal notion in the minds of the public to access a student`s knowledge is through a pen-paper test. Although too many consider, online exams a bliss but in my opinion. There are many drawbacks of online examinations and some of them are cited them below. Although there are many advantages of online exams.

The online exams are created especially for home-based education which is not restricted to any particular location. Students can appear for their exams from their smartphones, laptops, and even computers. Students can apply for any institute located anywhere in the world, even in foreign universities. Students apply for any courses of their choice and attend the classes and exams as per their convenience from smart devices from their homes. Online classes and exams help the institutions to cut down the costs spent on infrastructure such as classrooms, question papers, answer sheets, exam invigilators, etc. not only infrastructure cost but also management cost and evaluating costs of the answer sheets. Answers once marked can be reviewed and edited. The costs spent on logistics such as storage of answer sheets, carrying of question paper and answer sheets to and from from the exam center, etc. are also saved, so online exams are cost-effective. Here are some limitations of online exams:

1. Limitation associated with internet access The internet can not be afforded by all students because the students who are inhabitants of rural and remote villages cannot afford broadband and wi-fi services. If we take look in urban areas, there are frequent power cuts, due to which stable network cant be ensured. Most of the students face connectivity issues while joining online classes. Some of the students face slow internet speed. Students face issue while delivering presentations, even after having 4g network, the voice of the speaker cracks most of the times. Nearly 4% of rural households and 23% of urban households possessed computers and 24% of the households in the country had internet access.1

2. Problem with affordability Most of the internet services providers have expensive data packages, the WLAN and WI-FI packages, even just for 2GB data per day cast heavy pressure on pockets of the middle-class families. Poor families who hardly make their ends meet for daily necessities can not afford this. According to the NSS Report on Education (2017-18), only 24% of Indian households have access to the internet. Digital technology access is also limited. Only 11% of families have any form of computer (including desktops, laptops, notebooks, and other devices). Only around a quarter of Indians own smartphones, according to estimates.

3 . No exam security It is seen that most of the students cheat during their exams. Mostly copy-paste it from reference or coursebook. Whereas in offline exams, students used to rely on their hard work and on class notes. In many of the universities, there are no security features neither audio-based nor videobased for supervising students during exams. Even if some of the colleges and universities opt for certain features like audio-video assessments or audit logging or secured browser, students opt for various malpractices and tactics to cheat during exams.

4. Technical problems, during online exams Many students in the present time face technical glitches, due to which question paper disappears and their exams terminate. Due to technical glitches in software, many students are unable to submit their exams on time. Many software systems get hanged, when students are giving MCQ tests or even marking answers on OMR sheets. What is worse than losing marks for the question, which you have prepared. In one of the landmark case, The Gujarat High Court allowed a 'failed student' (as declared by the University) to take the next phase of exams, even when the student could not clear 1st phase. The Single Bench of Justice Sangeeta K. Vishen further observed that "when working with the technology, technical glitches cannot be ruled”.

5, Lack of discipline and efforts from students In present times, students can hardly concentrate on online classes, where teachers are putting their efforts, they simply open a new window and get on binge-watching shows on Netflix. many attend classes on desktop and start playing games or other social networking websites like Instagram or Facebook on their phones.

6. Limitation associated with drawing diagrams and maps. While giving exams associated with subjects like mathematics, physics, geography, etc. the candidates ought to draw diagrams, maps, or figures to answer. This becomes a troublesome task for the students.

7. Less reliable merit record – After every semester or annual exams, schools, colleges need to analyse the performance of every student by making a merit list or grade list. But the sort of performance analysis based on answers which are cheated and copied is less reliable. An average scoring child even gets marks equal to toppers, which lowers the morale of hardworking students, who always put in their efforts.

8. Issues related to identity verification of students. In the event of offline exams, the identifying process is done manually. Every day, candidates must bring their hall ticket and identification to the exam center, supervisors check id cards and if the candidate forgets to bring it he or she is not allowed to take the exam. Whereas in online examinations, it is not every time feasible to detect, who actually is giving exams, a student or his clon and even if there is an identity checker in the software of the institute, It's not difficult to change the identity evidence. Due to technological advancements, changing names, pictures, and signatures, as well as manufacturing bogus papers, has become simple.

9. Limitation with typing ability of the student Typing is a skill that may be acquired with experience. Not all of the candidates taking the online exam are proficient at typing. Candidates must type extensive replies in the case of subjective answers or theory papers. This is a time-consuming technique that will undoubtedly have an impact on candidates' performance during time-limited online exams. A student's slow typing ability in time-bound exams creates a lot of difficulties.

CONCLUSION Since the outbreak of the pandemic, education has moved online, and to a great extent, in both schools and colleges around the world. The term "online teaching and examinations" has now become common. Information Technology has emerged as a hero throughout this crisis. Though there are many disadvantages of an online examination but this is the only way by which we can stop the spreading of this deadly virus, otherwise with mass gatherings at such a large extent in colleges and schools, it will increase the death rate in the country. Lastly, students shall stay motivated throughout their online classes, as "All our dreams can come true if we dare to pursue them.". To my opinion, the life of every human is precious, and during the pandemic, where the death toll is maximum especially after delta and omicron variant coming into the world, online classes have emerged as a good alternative to offline exams., though not the best option, but something is better than nothing!.