For most of the 3.4 lakh students who took the Class XII CBSE examination this year, the end of May is time to contemplate the end of the world. One three-hour exam will make or break their futures, determining the college they will go to, making nonsense of their work through 12 years of schooling.

Now there is a rapidly growing movement to deliver students from this nightmare. A recent seminar in Delhi organised by Learn Today, a division of the India Today Group, saw the setting up of a coordination committee comprising members from the Union Government, key boards of secondary education, representatives of schools and colleges, students and parents to suggest reforms. Its agenda: radical changes within three years in the examination system, including admissions to colleges on the basis of grades. As Arun Kapur, executive director, Learn Today, puts it, "These steps to make the students' school experience a more fruitful one are long overdue."

On the face of it, even the Human Resource Development Ministry seems to think it's time for change. But the recommendations of a task force it had appointed in 1997 for "remodelling of boards of school education" under the chairmanship of educationist Professor Amrik Singh are yet to be implemented.

Yet there is no dearth of problems.

In 1966, the 10+2 system was made mandatory in all states, a process that took 15 years to be fully implemented. Its avowed goal, of absorbing 25 per cent students in the vocational stream, hasn't been fulfilled. In fact, pressure on higher education has grown, with 30 per cent of all Class XII students moving on to colleges and professional institutions.

There is no weightage for internal evaluation. Some children are unable to cope with the pressure of performing only within the straitjacket of the three-hour examination. Children need a better platform which is inclusive of the exam rather than entirely dependent on it.

Then there is a multiplicity of authorities, with the child at the receiving end of all. Thirty-four boards of education conduct examinations all over India for 270 lakh students, a number expected to grow to 390 lakh by 2020.

The HRD Ministry's National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 and its subsequent Plan of Action 1992 provide the framework, while the NCERT and its state offshoots (scerts) prepare the curriculum and textbooks. Neither the NPE nor the NCERT's curriculum is mandatory in theory but in practice, most boards treat them as sacrosanct. The result: children are denied flexibility even when it is available. For instance, when the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) wanted to offer students the chance to drop science and maths in 1994, it had to fight the HRD Ministry tooth and nail. In the first year, 100 of its students were not admitted into Class XII, till the board made a special effort to accommodate them. Even then, only 5 per cent of all students exercise the option every year.

As if that were not enough, there's no linkage with the tertiary sector. Apart from the joint entrance exams for IITs and pre-medical tests, even liberal arts colleges have started conducting their own admission tests.

"Everyone is mad about marks ... parents, schools and students themselves are the biggest obstacles to introduction of grades." Ashok Ganguly, Chairman, CBSE

"The ministry has been trying to introduce a grading system in school boards. Universities should accept it." M.M. Jha, Joint Secretary, human resource development ministry

And though the boards of education have primarily become only examining bodies, that is not in keeping with global trends. CBSE is still grappling with grades, having spent two years in devising a model. While the CISCE gives grades, it also gives the marks alongside, playing entirely safe.

CBSE Chairman Ashok Ganguly says the stake-holders-parents, schools and students-are the biggest obstacles to the introduction of grades. "Everyone is mad about marks,'' is his refrain. Joint Secretary M.M. Jha in the HRD Ministry chooses to blame the higher education system for the stagnation: "The ministry has been trying to introduce a grading system in the school boards. The implication is that universities should accept it. But it hasn't happened yet.'' Added to this is the abysmally low pass percentage, the national average being 40 per cent. In CBSE alone, only 60 per cent clear the Class X board exams and 75 per cent pass the Class XII board exam.

So what's the solution, especially now that international qualifications such as GCSE and International Baccalaureate are being freely offered?

R. Govinda, head, School & Non-Formal Education, National Institute of Education Planning and Administration (NIEPA), thinks the answer is more diversity, not less. There's no reason why boards should vary so vastly in size. He says, "The Uttar Pradesh board examines 34 lakh children while the Goa board evaluates one lakh. Where's the logic?''

As Amrik Singh says, boards have to do more than just examine. Ganguly says they do. "We have brought in a communicative approach in English at Class X and deleted 10 per cent of the obsolete syllabus in economics and biology for the 2002 Class XII exam. This time we plan to do the same for physics and business studies.''

As for importance being given to internal evaluation and restoring to teachers the right to evaluate, CISCE Chief Executive Francis Fanthome says his board offers a school leaving certificate where rating on a multiple platform is provided but "believe me, no school or college sees it''.

Ganguly is equally dismissive of autonomy being given to schools. "We've tried it for 10 years for two schools, one in Bangalore and one in Pilani, but the reports have not been favourable. The curriculum load has actually increased.''

But proactive educationists such as Kabir Mustafi, headmaster of Bishop Cotton School, Shimla, are hopeful that the clamour for change will become more resounding. "Even government education officials seem to want a child-centric examination system now.''

There are those who believe that criticism of the exam system is only a periodic exercise. Govinda advocates that a group of progressive schools break away from the boards and establish their own examining body. To which Kapur retorts: "But will the UGC recognise the qualification we offer?"

That is the problem with the third national board, the National Open School (NOS), which was set up in 1989. Though six lakh children are enrolled with NOS, Singh's report points out that universities have problems regarding the equivalence of NOS with similar boards. In fact, the HRD Ministry had to issue a circular to state governments and UGC recently directing colleges not to discriminate against students with NOS qualifications. As Jha says, "Many students opt for NOS as a matter of choice."

And choice is what the emerging revolution is about.