THE result of grade nine in Punjab seems ‘alarmingly’ good. Some students in different boards have secured amazingly high marks. It is time a long hard look was given to the issue to understand what lies behind these marks.

Technically, marks in examination are considered as a numeric representation of the achievement of Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) provided by the National Curriculum of Pakistan.

Unfortunately, many researchers agree that our question papers do not have the ability to judge the curriculum SLOs. The question papers in our exams are neither valid nor reliable. Consequently, these question papers invite the producers of sub-standard lecture notes to sell their below par material in the market with a promise of earning high marks if it is memorised.

It is a simple formula: if you want good marks, acquire examination papers of the past five years, rote memorise their answers, take a test session at a tuition centre and succeed with flying colours.

The weak alignment between our curriculum SLOs and question papers is actually smothering the talent of our youth and making the marks they score less meaningful.

The education authorities and people responsible for social sector development should look into the issue. The urgent need is to enhance the quality and depth of examination papers as well as improve their alignment with the national curriculum.

Muhammad Saqib Zafar

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2016