PESHAWAR: Educationists on Tuesday called for the replacement of the current traditional examination system with modern and international examination practices.

They said the schoolchildren couldn’t be assessed and evaluated properly through the traditional examination system of resolution of question papers practiced in the country for long.

The educationists said the existing examination system was worrisome for students, teachers and parents as it promoted rote learning among students instead of creativity.

Say current system promoting rote learning instead of creativity

They expressed these views at a workshop on ‘reforming secondary school examinations with a focus on KP’ on the Peshawar Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education premises here.

The workshop was organised with the support of the Society for the Advancement of Education (SAHE) in collaboration with Open Society Foundations (OSF).

Noted among those in attendance were BISE chairman Dr Mihammad Shafi Afridi, BISE Hyderabad chairman Mohammad Memon, Shahzad Jeeva of the Aga Khan University Examination Board, Unaeza Alvi of the IBA Sukkur and Technical Board chairman Qasim Khan Marwat.

Dr Mohammad Shafi said the efforts had been taken in the last couple of years to modernise the BISE Peshawar secondary examination system.

He highlighted the use of optical mark recognition being applied on the multiple choice questions, which was 20 per cent in each paper of the secondary school certificate examination conducted recently.

Mohammad Memon said he faced pressure from inside and outside of the Hyderabad board when he initiated reforms recently.

“There was variation in terms of quality in the seven education boards of Sindh,” he said.

The board chairman stressed the need for the establishment of a body in each province to oversee the efficiency of education boards.

“No one has bothered to introduce a system for analysis of the results of examinations conducted by boards,” he said.

Unaeza Alvi said called for the use of modern technology in the evaluation of students instead of traditional manual system.

She said only the changing of the exam pattern was not enough and instead, standardisation of textbooks and provision of quality training to teachers were also necessary for improvement of education system.

“It’s strange that every education board prepares own paper different from other boards’ while in the developed countries, the papers are the same for entire country,” she said.

Qasim Khan Marwat said the existing examination system was 200 years old and that it had lost its importance over failure to assess students.

He said teachers, students and parents focused their attentions on examinations instead of learning activities.

“Evaluation of students should be aligned with curricula and activities in classrooms,” he said.

Mr. Marat said the education boards dealt only with external examinations, while there was no concept of internal examination inside classrooms.

“Attitude is an important part of learning but we are unable to assess the attitude of students,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2016