New Examination System and Challenges
English Essay on "New Examination System and Challenges"
The Punjab Department of Education has decided to introduce a revolutionary system of examination with effect from the academic year 2003 for classes I to XII. The objectives are sound, the concepts clear, and I have no reason to doubt the intentions honesty. I hope the department has examined all the pros and cons and has done its homework diligently. If it does succeed, it will bring a major change in the quality of education in the province.
But the ground realities are harsh, rather stupefying. Things look good on paper only. Compiling a question paper with objective-type questions, for example, requires a lot of skill, understanding and experience. Where will the experts tome from? Most of our schools and colleges are understaffed. There are no teachers for important subjects like English, mathematics and science. Most of the ones that they have release motivated; they lack initiative and the will to work.educationsight.blogspot.com They resist any change that demands hard work. How will the teachers in institutions located in remote rural areas and small towns handle this challenge? Does the department have means and resources to train them all and so soon?
Fears are that the system will fall hostage to commercial interests. Private publishers will rush to exploit this weakness of the department and mint money like they always do in such situations. Books with batteries of objective questions, on all subjects, mostly of inferior quality, will flood the market and teachers will make use of them, year after year. Thus creativity and innovation will be a victim of the avarice of the publishers and lethargy and inertia of the teachers in government schools and colleges.
Under the new system, the questions will be printed on the answer sheets. How will secrecy be assured in bulk printing of Board papers? Who will pay for the cost of printing and stationery used by schools and colleges, in their home examinations, all over the province? As things are, most f these institutions lack furthered, labs and other basic amenities due to financial constraints. Where will the funds come from?
The Textbook Board has yet to bring out books to match the new system. It is still printing old textbooks with obsolete material. The textbooks for English prescribed for the HSSC classes, for example, were introduced in early 1960s. With no experienced teachers and no textbooks answering the demands of the new system, how will the department run the show? Plunging into a system without raising proper infrastructure is doomed to fail.
The no-fail policy means absence of the ‘fear’ of failing and being dropped from the rolls. The truants, lazy and careless students will remain a constant source of headache and indiscipline for the teachers in classes and for the administration. Hardworking students will suffer and the efforts and honest intentions of the sponsors of this good scheme will go’ down the drain. The department suggests and expects the schools and colleges to hold special classes for weaker students, after school hours? Will the teachers-lecturers accept this without any financial remuneration? How will the understaffed institutions manage to maintain full academic record of all students on their rolls (some have more than a thousand students)? What about the cost of postage if they have to maul the reports-results of their wards?
But the ground realities are harsh, rather stupefying. Things look good on paper only. Compiling a question paper with objective-type questions, for example, requires a lot of skill, understanding and experience. Where will the experts tome from? Most of our schools and colleges are understaffed. There are no teachers for important subjects like English, mathematics and science. Most of the ones that they have release motivated; they lack initiative and the will to work.educationsight.blogspot.com They resist any change that demands hard work. How will the teachers in institutions located in remote rural areas and small towns handle this challenge? Does the department have means and resources to train them all and so soon?
Fears are that the system will fall hostage to commercial interests. Private publishers will rush to exploit this weakness of the department and mint money like they always do in such situations. Books with batteries of objective questions, on all subjects, mostly of inferior quality, will flood the market and teachers will make use of them, year after year. Thus creativity and innovation will be a victim of the avarice of the publishers and lethargy and inertia of the teachers in government schools and colleges.
Under the new system, the questions will be printed on the answer sheets. How will secrecy be assured in bulk printing of Board papers? Who will pay for the cost of printing and stationery used by schools and colleges, in their home examinations, all over the province? As things are, most f these institutions lack furthered, labs and other basic amenities due to financial constraints. Where will the funds come from?
The Textbook Board has yet to bring out books to match the new system. It is still printing old textbooks with obsolete material. The textbooks for English prescribed for the HSSC classes, for example, were introduced in early 1960s. With no experienced teachers and no textbooks answering the demands of the new system, how will the department run the show? Plunging into a system without raising proper infrastructure is doomed to fail.
The no-fail policy means absence of the ‘fear’ of failing and being dropped from the rolls. The truants, lazy and careless students will remain a constant source of headache and indiscipline for the teachers in classes and for the administration. Hardworking students will suffer and the efforts and honest intentions of the sponsors of this good scheme will go’ down the drain. The department suggests and expects the schools and colleges to hold special classes for weaker students, after school hours? Will the teachers-lecturers accept this without any financial remuneration? How will the understaffed institutions manage to maintain full academic record of all students on their rolls (some have more than a thousand students)? What about the cost of postage if they have to maul the reports-results of their wards?
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