February 27, 2007	Tuesday	Safar 9, 1428

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

LAHORE, Feb 26: Entrance test for admission to medical and engineering institutions cannot be abolished before introducing a uniform and transparent examination system across the country.

This was stated by Federal Education Minister Javed Ashraf Qazi while talking to reporters after the convocation of Allama Iqbal Open University at Aiwan-i-Iqbal on Monday.

He said all examination boards in the country had been directed to introduce uniform question-papers for all subjects to begin with.

“This will eventually lead to uniformity in exam system through a National Testing System (NTS) besides checking complaints of easy question-papers by some boards. This system will also help test the real capability of students.”

He said the pattern of question-papers had also been changed with more emphasis on multiple choice questions (MCQs) and short answers to discourage rote learning.

Qazi claimed that the secondary boards had been established under political influence during previous regimes that created disparity in the exam system. He said all the four provinces were now working to rectify wrongs within the parameters of broader guidelines.

Answering a question about change in academic session, he said, the new session would give additional 40 working days to students. He said the new session would also require that the teachers should mark answer-sheets after the termination of academic session in summer.

The education minister, however, conceded that matriculation annual exam in Punjab had been scheduled in such a way that it would give only seven-month preparation time to students and promised to speak to the quarters concerned in this regard.

Commenting on the proposal of reverting back to part-wise matric examination system, he said, no such plan was under consideration as yet but the Inter-Provincial Ministers Committee (IPMC) was open to discuss on the subject.

He said the decision to introduce the composite examination system was taken with consensus by all provincial ministers for the benefit of students. However, a powerful lobby of private schools association in Sindh resisted it because reduction in the number of exams meant loss of one year’s revenue for them.

“The private schools owners have managed to convince the Sindh governor, who heads all education boards in the province, against this change and demanded a year’s waiver.”

He said the Sindh government had again demanded extension in waiver duration despite the fact that there were many long-term disadvantages of part-wise system for students.

He said that the Punjab government should enhance the duration of teachers training and added that the federal government had decided to divert 400 million Canadian dollars debt swap to teachers training.

He said the prime minister had also approved a summary for raising the pay scale of teachers from BPS-7 to BPS-11 that would enhance their salaries from Rs4,500 to Rs7,500 per month.

“We are employing teachers at Rs10,000 per month in federal government and ensuring quality education.”

The minister said the federal board was working on the new pattern of papers and seeking expertise from UK’s Edexcel London Examinations. He said the ideal exam system was yet to be reached, because it would need computerisation and other modern techniques.

Qazi said the draft of new National Education Policy would hopefully be ready before the commencement of next academic year. He said the head of review team, Javed Hasan Aly, had resigned because of differences with other team members. He also added that Mr Aly’s contract had also expired.

Answering a question about the appointment of new principal at National College of Arts, the minister said an independent committee had short-listed the potential candidates after interview and the prime minister would notify the final appointment.

He said the incumbent principal had stayed in the job for 12 years and did not apply for the post because she considered it an `insult.’ He said the NCA, however, was still far from attaining the varsity status as it did not fulfill the HEC criteria.

Regarding the recognition of private universities, he said it was a matter between provincial governments and the HEC. He also dispelled the impression that the federal government had withheld the share of Punjab from the President’s Education Sector Reforms (ESR) programme.

“It was written in the PC-1 of the project that technical support will be provided by the Army Corps of Engineers, while a joint committee of district government, provincial government and Army Engineering Corps will supervise the execution of development work in each district of respective provinces,” he observed.

However, he said, the Punjab chief secretary had written to the federal education secretary that they did not need this money because the provincial government had signed an independent agreement with the NLC. Only then, he said, the federal government had informed that their share could be distributed amongst other provinces.

At this point, he said, the Punjab chief minister intervened and stressed that the money should be given to the province.