For a comprehensive national examination policy

Since examination is supposed to reflect the knowledge acquired by the learners, it should not be limited within the boundaries of technical and infrastructural mechanism

We face good number of polemics and controversies in policy making and even after thrashing out the differences , the implementation process does not become smooth. But most people agree to  the fact that much less is achievable from reactive steps or unplanned actions.  This is more true in regard to education .
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently has made a policy statement as to the goal and purpose  of examination. While receiving the results of HSC and equivalent examinations on 23 July. She said that her government attaches topmost priority to achievement of quality education so that the young learners can keep pace with the international standard. About the percentage of pass in the HSC and equivalent exams, she maintained that  attainment of  competence on the part of the students  to  transform themselves as human resources, is  more important than qualifying in the assessment process.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid who took the pains to explain the lapses in the performance of students in HSC exam this year, while  formally announcing the results to the press at the conference room of his ministry, tried to draw attention to government initiatives to improve the results  and the steps taken for reform in the examination system. He claimed to bring discipline in the system and said that results now are being published within 60 days of the exam. There were complaints  of negligence in examining the answer scripts by examiners and head examiners in the past. For that allegations of tailored good performance by students with poor academic background and its reverse by good students having good academic record were made by many, including students and their guardians along with members of the public and the media as well.

The Minister said that, checking leakage of question papers again was a gigantic task which has been achieved through the joint efforts of the administration, educational institution management and the law enforcing agencies. He tried to console examinees who have failed this year saying that one time such failure should not dishearten the young learners. They can appear in the exam next time and achieve desired success.

Prof. Dr. Syed Anwar Hossain of Dhaka University history department however, in an interview given to a national daily,  has contradicted the views  expressed by the education minister about the newly adopted assessment system in examining the answer scripts. Terming it as faulty, he has said that this is unprecedented and followed no where in world. It may be mentioned  here that prof. Anwar is a critic of some provisions of  the Education Policy 2010 and is of the view that its not a policy, rather compilation of recommendations, one of which violate article 17 of the constitution.    

To me 3 basic questions in particular are very much pertinent in regard to our public examination system. Firstly, the extent of a student’s  learning from the teacher in class room.  Is that properly reflected in the existing public examination .Secondly, why and how a student fares poor in the public examination  after  attending classes regularly ? Thirdly, why  a student performing  well in the internal examination of the institution, can not maintain it in the public examination ? Who is responsible for this ? Is he/she liable personally,  or the institution he/she belongs ?  Or the onus lies on the examination system itself ?

I am personally convinced that our existing examination system particularly public examination has become redundant. Government has tried to address the chronic issue. But those steps are not found effective, nor adequate and consistent. Drop out and proxy participation on the part of the examinees, leakage of question papers in collusion  with a section of ‘teachers’, their complicity in cheating in exam, setting of questions from guide books etc, in addition to their involvement in commercial coaching and private tuition, exorbitant examination fees charged by the institutions and the concerned education boards and National University and above all influx of huge number of examinees have turned the system unworkable. I earnestly believe that the problems  should  be looked into thoroughly  since the deviations are continued for years together and those are not isolated events.

I have been making submission for more than two decades that a comprehensive and ambitious National Examination  Policy is the appropriate answer to the deep-rooted  malaise. My proposition is that a well thought-out national policy on examination  should cover public examinations like SSC and HSC along with Public Service Commission examination, admission test in public universities etc. For that review of all the education policy recommendations ranging from the British era to the present Bangladesh context with emphasis on the 1974 Qudrat-E-Khuda report, due credence to the suggestions and recommendations form the stakeholders including the educators  and the learners, guardians, forward looking ideas of all concerned including the policy makers and the establishment need to be taken into account and coordinated.  

Teaching method and the learning system need to undergo progressive changes in line with the policy statement made by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on examination, as stated in the beginning of this article. I am of the considered opinion that a national level examination policy formulation should include acquisition  of knowledge and development of necessary skills for life for the learners . For that:1. Change in the existing pattern of questions to help students not to rote or memorize. 2. Lessen/reduce the duration of examination hour to two, replacing three hours. 3. Explore feasibility of open book examination system. 4. Establishment of laboratories at upazilla level funded by the government to ensure practical classes of science students. 5. Decentralization of the existing public examination by holding at least two large scale  exams like SSC and HSC at the district level in lieu of present education board managment.

Since examination is supposed to reflect the knowledge acquired by the learners,  it should not be limited within the boundaries of technical and infrastructural  mechanism of the assessment procedures alone. We are to adopt and enrich ourselves with the experiences of other parts of the earth as we now live in a  globalised world which is interlinked and not isolated. We need not to follow any one blindly but make us adoptable to changes which suit our situation considering reality of the ground and the grass-root, not the metropolis only .

We also should get prepared for making interim changes before we can formulate a comprehensive national examination policy. We need to consider the factors which have contributed to the poor performance of the examinees this year in HSC which include absence of grace marks, introduction of new system in evaluation of answer scripts, setting of English  first paper question in conformity with the new curriculum, students’ weakness in English, Mathematics  and Science subjects along with dearth of skilled and qualified teachers in those subjects, lack of proper training for teachers in creative questions and above all, students’ incapacity to get used with the new  system.

We have already experienced much of reactive steps and ad-hoc decisions in assessing the students through the existing public examination system. We could get some sort of temporary relief from some of those endeavors. Now it is high time to plan for far reaching accomplishments. It is very true for overhauling our present  examination  system and opt for a  comprehensive national examination policy.

The writer  is a member of National Education Policy and Chairman, Initiative for Human Development (IHD). [email protected]

For a comprehensive national examination policy

Since examination is supposed to reflect the knowledge acquired by the learners, it should not be limited within the boundaries of technical and infrastructural mechanism

We face good number of polemics and controversies in policy making and even after thrashing out the differences , the implementation process does not become smooth. But most people agree to the fact that much less is achievable from reactive steps or unplanned actions. This is more true in regard to education . Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently has made a policy statement as to the goal and purpose of examination. While receiving the results of HSC and equivalent examinations on 23 July. She said that her government attaches topmost priority to achievement of quality education so that the young learners can keep pace with the international standard. About the percentage of pass in the HSC and equivalent exams, she maintained that attainment of competence on the part of the students to transform themselves as human resources, is more important than qualifying in the assessment process. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid who took the pains to explain the lapses in the performance of students in HSC exam this year, while formally announcing the results to the press at the conference room of his ministry, tried to draw attention to government initiatives to improve the results and the steps taken for reform in the examination system. He claimed to bring discipline in the system and said that results now are being published within 60 days of the exam. There were complaints of negligence in examining the answer scripts by examiners and head examiners in the past. For that allegations of tailored good performance by students with poor academic background and its reverse by good students having good academic record were made by many, including students and their guardians along with members of the public and the media as well. The Minister said that, checking leakage of question papers again was a gigantic task which has been achieved through the joint efforts of the administration, educational institution management and the law enforcing agencies. He tried to console examinees who have failed this year saying that one time such failure should not dishearten the young learners. They can appear in the exam next time and achieve desired success. Prof. Dr. Syed Anwar Hossain of Dhaka University history department however, in an interview given to a national daily, has contradicted the views expressed by the education minister about the newly adopted assessment system in examining the answer scripts. Terming it as faulty, he has said that this is unprecedented and followed no where in world. It may be mentioned here that prof. Anwar is a critic of some provisions of the Education Policy 2010 and is of the view that its not a policy, rather compilation of recommendations, one of which violate article 17 of the constitution. To me 3 basic questions in particular are very much pertinent in regard to our public examination system. Firstly, the extent of a students learning from the teacher in class room. Is that properly reflected in the existing public examination .Secondly, why and how a student fares poor in the public examination after attending classes regularly ? Thirdly, why a student performing well in the internal examination of the institution, can not maintain it in the public examination ? Who is responsible for this ? Is he/she liable personally, or the institution he/she belongs ? Or the onus lies on the examination system itself ? I am personally convinced that our existing examination system particularly public examination has become redundant. Government has tried to address the chronic issue. But those steps are not found effective, nor adequate and consistent. Drop out and proxy participation on the part of the examinees, leakage of question papers in collusion with a section of teachers, their complicity in cheating in exam, setting of questions from guide books etc, in addition to their involvement in commercial coaching and private tuition, exorbitant examination fees charged by the institutions and the concerned education boards and National University and above all influx of huge number of examinees have turned the system unworkable. I earnestly believe that the problems should be looked into thoroughly since the deviations are continued for years together and those are not isolated events. I have been making submission for more than two decades that a comprehensive and ambitious National Examination Policy is the appropriate answer to the deep-rooted malaise. My proposition is that a well thought-out national policy on examination should cover public examinations like SSC and HSC along with Public Service Commission examination, admission test in public universities etc. For that review of all the education policy recommendations ranging from the British era to the present Bangladesh context with emphasis on the 1974 Qudrat-E-Khuda report, due credence to the suggestions and recommendations form the stakeholders including the educators and the learners, guardians, forward looking ideas of all concerned including the policy makers and the establishment need to be taken into account and coordinated. Teaching method and the learning system need to undergo progressive changes in line with the policy statement made by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on examination, as stated in the beginning of this article. I am of the considered opinion that a national level examination policy formulation should include acquisition of knowledge and development of necessary skills for life for the learners . For that:1. Change in the existing pattern of questions to help students not to rote or memorize. 2. Lessen/reduce the duration of examination hour to two, replacing three hours. 3. Explore feasibility of open book examination system. 4. Establishment of laboratories at upazilla level funded by the government to ensure practical classes of science students. 5. Decentralization of the existing public examination by holding at least two large scale exams like SSC and HSC at the district level in lieu of present education board managment. Since examination is supposed to reflect the knowledge acquired by the learners, it should not be limited within the boundaries of technical and infrastructural mechanism of the assessment procedures alone. We are to adopt and enrich ourselves with the experiences of other parts of the earth as we now live in a globalised world which is interlinked and not isolated. We need not to follow any one blindly but make us adoptable to changes which suit our situation considering reality of the ground and the grass-root, not the metropolis only . We also should get prepared for making interim changes before we can formulate a comprehensive national examination policy. We need to consider the factors which have contributed to the poor performance of the examinees this year in HSC which include absence of grace marks, introduction of new system in evaluation of answer scripts, setting of English first paper question in conformity with the new curriculum, students weakness in English, Mathematics and Science subjects along with dearth of skilled and qualified teachers in those subjects, lack of proper training for teachers in creative questions and above all, students incapacity to get used with the new system. We have already experienced much of reactive steps and ad-hoc decisions in assessing the students through the existing public examination system. We could get some sort of temporary relief from some of those endeavors. Now it is high time to plan for far reaching accomplishments. It is very true for overhauling our present examination system and opt for a comprehensive national examination policy. The writer is a member of National Education Policy and Chairman, Initiative for Human Development (IHD). [email protected]