DO WE REALLY NEED TO WRITE EXAMS?

By Aishat Bello
As we're all painfully aware, the academic weeks in the University of Ibadan continue to run out rapidly while examinations loom menacingly. Behind the tease amongst students, you might just sense an aura of anxiety afterall this is UI and only the strongest of the strong can withstand its academic blows and remain standing; bent perhaps but not broken. The repeated cycle of panic reading, anxiety, sleepless nights and restless days begs the question; do we really need to write exams?

The culture of high-stakes testing has left a negative legacy on students’ mental health and learning outcomes. However, it is important to understand the wider implications this issue has on overall student development and the preparation of future leaders beyond just a quest for grades.

Educational advancement is challenged by one of the most dreaded problems that students experience before exams – the examination anxiety, with its incapacitating signs such as stress, panic, and self-doubt. A classroom, once a place students (ages ago) scramble to be in, is now a theatre of torture, where children’s creative instincts are killed and curiosity doused by pressure to succeed. Critical thinking is often times not measured by examinations, therefore, emphasis on exams has overshadowed cultivating critical thinking skills and love for learning.

Therefore, it is important for the educational institutions to put in place robust mental health support program for learners. Students can be equipped with the required knowledge to handle academic stress by offering them counseling services, stress management workshops, and mindfulness program. To reduce the pressure, different assessment methods including project-based learning and open-ended assignments can be included.

In addition, there should be the development of a culture of empathy and understanding among the students and lecturers as well. By ensuring that they have healthy balance of academic aspirations alongside their personal well-being then they would be able to have healthy generation of resilient well-rounded people. We should go into this endeavour together, where we strive to reshape educational success while the pursuit of knowledge becomes dearer than just passing exams.

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