Introduction

India is a diverse country. Languages are a core part of people’s art and culture. People are connected by their languages with emotions. And conducting online exams in their languages results in connecting more and more candidates to the examination process.

“With Languages, you are at home anywhere.” Edmund De Waal

According to Schedule 7 of the Constitution of India, There are a total of 22 languages spoken in the country. While, indeed, there are more languages than are written in the constitution, Every state has a different language. India has 28 states, and among them, most northern states speak the same language, Hindi. While some states have two different languages in an area of 500 km.

Whatever the case, let’s get back to the topic of why we need to conduct the online examination in the regional languages and what the benefits of it are.

Why do we need to conduct online exams in regional languages?

First, let’s talk about how traditional pen-and-paper exams are taken in India. Most of our nation’s offline exams are conducted in regional languages. And this process has been working for many years. So, people are aware of and have adopted this assessment process in their lives. If you suddenly change the examination process, then it might be difficult for everyone. Even for educators and teachers.

So, that’s how online exams suddenly come into the picture, and people are unaware of it. During the pandemic, online exams gained immense popularity in India. And at that time, online exams were mostly taken in the English language. So, for a non-English state like UP or Bihar, it isn’t easy to adopt that technology. For that main reason, you can say we need to conduct online exams in their regional languages.

Of course, there are other factors to consider. However, some government or competitive exams are taken in a bilingual manner. And students are happy to give exams in that pattern. Ex. UPSC takes exams in the bilingual pattern, including English and Hindi. It helps the student who does not just rely on the English language. And also, UPSC gives candidates the option to give their main examination in their regional languages. There is some online exam software that has features so that institutes or any organisation can conduct exams in their regional languages.

Benefits of conducting online exams in regional languages

Conducting online exams in regional languages offers several important purposes and can be beneficial for various reasons.

1) Inclusiveness in the examination

Many students are not proficient in the English language. By offering exams in regional languages, educational institutes and organisations can include a more diverse range of students. It shows that languages are not going to be a barrier to showcasing their knowledge and skills.

2) It promotes Fairness and equity.

However, in the traditional assessment process, all the students have the same power to showcase their skills. Without any different languages, it feels like some students might not be as impactful as others. Language proficiency can significantly impact a student’s performance in exams.

Online exam software supports different types of question formats. And the descriptive format helps the organisation conduct exams with more difficulty. Also, it helps students understand the core purpose of the question and will help them express themselves in their native language. That’s how the evaluation process becomes based on subject matter knowledge rather than language proficiency.

3) Help students maintain their culture and identity.

The regional language of any person is their cultural identity. And conducting exams in their languages helps preserve and promote the use of local languages.

Nowadays, online learning in your state language also plays a crucial role. It helps local students understand world events in the simplest way possible. Platforms like Unacademy, Byjus, and Vedantu Learn are important parts of this revolution. Also, now every coaching institute has an online learning platform to educate their students. And they consider online exams part of their platform.

4) Better Understanding of questions

When students read questions, they can easily understand the concepts and respond to questions in their native language. This improves the overall performance of the candidate.

5) Supports government initiatives.

The central government’s main initiative is to increase the literacy ratio in the poor regional areas and reduce school dropouts. You have a question in mind: how does a language affect that? But Yes! It would affect the psychology of the students.

Ex. If a boy wants to prepare for UPSC and lives in the village area, For many purposes, he cannot go to big cities and do preparation. And nowadays, there are many online learning platforms available for them. But it would foster his confidence if the learning and assessment were available in their languages.

However, conducting online exams in regional languages also comes with challenges. Challenges like the need for accurate translations and the standardisation of books or content. It also requires the technical infrastructure to support multiple languages.

Conclusion

Conducting online exams in regional languages is a progressive step towards making education more inclusive and accessible to all students.

Conduct Exam’s online exam software supports the different regional languages to conduct online exams for schools, colleges, coaching institutes, and even different organisations in the use of virtual hiring. Also, with the in-built feature of a question paper generator, educators can create and import different types of question formats in any language.