The bright side of having public examination for Class 11

Algorithms (a sequence of logical computational steps that transform any input into output or solve a certain task) are playing a fundamental role in every one of our lives today. The signal from the server reaches your mobile or computer screen using this transformation algorithm. 

Credit card companies define your card’s minimum balance using algorithms; or behind a biologist determines the exact growth of a bacterial culture when temperature or chemical are changed, by using calculus. 

An engineer uses integration to determine the exact length of power cable needed to connect two substations especially when cables curve in between poles. Architects, space flight engineers, statisticians, or a graphics artist who wants to know how different three-dimensional models will behave in rapidly changing conditions as he creates a video game – all use fundamental concepts in mathematics and physics. An oft repeated complaint – almost entirely true – is that a majority of matriculation schools in Tamil Nadu skip the Class 11 part of the science curriculum in their mindless race to create “rankers” in State Board Class 12 examinations. But these very rankers tend to fail miserably in engineering or medicine first year at college. Simple reason: they have not been taught the basic foundational blocks in Mathematics, Physics or Chemistry that are required to understand higher concepts. 

“If someone does not know that differentiation can be expressed as a mathematical function or a physical concept of rate of change, he or she cannot understand Fourier transformation, graph theory, integer factorization or the level of signal processing required to control automation in hydraulic systems in III year of engineering,” says Prof. Muthukrishnan, a computer science professor. 

“Today’s computational tools power domains like Big Data, Cyber security, social media, insurance premia calculation, all require students to understand the fundamental concepts in calculus and algebra. Our students need that kind of a conceptual clarity. But whether this can be achieved merely by a public examination in Class 11 is something we need to see. The teaching-learning methods have to simultaneously improve so that students get their basics right and thorough, early on,” says Prof. Nadarajan, another expert in applied mathematics. 

Academics in fields such as biotechnology and bio-chemistry note that if a student skips lessons on cell biology at basic level, he or she will not be able to successfully answer higher level concepts in Genetics or how a solute can pass through a cell membrane. 

The bright side of the decision to have public examination to test the learning of students in Class 11 is simple – a more informed and better equipped student who will take class 12 with more confidence and enter higher education with a deeper understanding of basics.