KARACHI: Education circles plan resistance movement: Composite exam
By Mukhtar Alam
KARACHI, March 31: School management associations, which are concerned over the prevailing unrest among students and parents in the wake of the arbitrary decision of composite examination at Secondary School Certificate (SSC) level, have decided to stage demonstrations and launch an opinion mobilization campaign, said education circles here on Friday.
Academics and experts are of the view that it was the utter failure of the Sindh education department that some high-ups in Islamabad were now publicly threatening to bulldoze the aspirations of over 300,000 class IX students of the province.
The students’ contention had been strengthened, though late, by a resolution of the Sindh cabinet that composite examination system was not suitable for the province and that arrangements be made for holding of SSC Part-I examination in 2006 as well.
The federal government a few months back had announced scrapping of class IX annual examination under educational boards and giving a test at the SSC level after a study of two years, which was nothing but a bolt from the blue and as such drew criticism from the very beginning, said an observer, adding that the present state of egotism on the part of the federal government was there only because the top hierarchy in the provincial education department lacked the required vision and continued to play as an ardent advocate of the proposed composite examinations.
Experts feared that the composite examination system would discourage a number of students from continuing education after middle class and, as such, they would be unable to raise their lifestyle and would continue reeking below the poverty line.
They said that the students from low-income groups, both in urban and rural areas, who had been taking education simultaneously with their bread-earning activities to help out their families, would have to abandon education as clearing the whole course of two years in one examination would be an extremely difficult task for them.
It was further viewed that composite examinations would be extra burden on students in general as they would be made to take 10-14 subjects at a time. On the other hand, there is a likelihood of an increase in the copy culture.
“We are very much disgusted over the attitude of the bureaucracy in the federal and provincial governments which are playing all out against the will of several hundred thousand students, their parents and the Sindh cabinet, as well as other stake-holders. That is why we have started approaching the major political parties of the province on the issue,” said Sharfuzzaman, Senior Vice-President of the Private Schools Management on Friday. Mr Zaman further said that time had come that all concerned quarters should make a combine effort to get the federal government’s decision reversed as it was against the interest of students and education in Sindh.
The system of by-parts examinations at SSC level has been effective for 30 years now and has lately been adopted by the educational boards of other provinces as well, according to him. “It is unfortunate that at a limited level, the idea of composite examination is pushed in for the sake of uniformity without knowing the stake-holders’ views or evolving a consensus,” he added.
Chairman of the All Private Schools Management Association, Sindh, Syed Khalid Shah, said that all political figures and parties should use their influence for the restoration of old system of examination in the country.
He appealed to the president and prime minister to look into the matter as, according to him, vested interests are out to create a big trouble by imposing the system of composite examination. He said that the views of the Sindh cabinet governor and chief minister must be acknowledged, and the sheer injustice with the hundreds of thousands of students must be avoided.
He said that the current standoff between the provincial and federal education authorities was agonizing teachers, students and parents. Students, who are future of any nation, are being made to undergo a mental trauma. He described the whole episode as ‘a horrible joke’.
He pointed out that teachers and students did not know about the books and syllabus, while teachers were also unaware of the number of subjects and practical examinations under the proposed system as yet.
While internationally and nationally many of the institutions appreciated the semester system of teaching and examinations, it was ridiculous that the system of “examination after two years of teaching” was being imposed, he added, and suggested that the new system should be deferred till the time parliament and other quarters concerned held a debate and reached understanding on the merits and demerits of the scheme.
