Assessing our future

Time to make demands

Assessment is neither a game to play nor is it a bureaucratic task. The connection between it and the quality of education a child receives is eternal and absolute.

At primary and elementary levels, a systematic approach to collecting, reviewing and analysing data to improve learning is extremely important. Many researchers have concluded that an effective primary education offers a more significant impact on our children’s academic progress than anything else.

A 2015 University College London’s Institute of Education study found that the best quality of teaching in an academically effective primary school gave those children’s development a substantial boost.

But in Pakistan, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), one of the largest citizen-led household initiatives in 2015, revealed a strong link between wealth and school enrolment at primary level. It not only unearthed trends of enrolment in government and private schools, but it also indirectly emphasised the need for standard assessment in government schools at primary and secondary level.

Results from the 2015 data of ASER revealed that among school-age children, the poorest quartile are enrolled in government schools (87 per cent) whereas the remaining nine per cent of the children are enrolled in private schools. The richest quartile had the highest number of children enrolled in private schools (38 per cent) with the lowest percentage of the children in government schools (61 per cent).

Yes, this seems to paint a bleak picture, but consider this.

While acknowledging the income disparity, a majority of students still study in government/public schools; not only the 87 per cent poorest, but 61 per cent of the richest. They depend upon the government for the primary and elementary education. This obviously creates the dire need for a solid Assessment system at this level.

But the same survey has identified that children’s learning abilities — in terms of reading Urdu or regional languages, English or doing basic level of arithmetic — is alarmingly poor. Almost 69 per cent of Class-III-level students are unable to read a Class-II-level story in Urdu or regional languages like Sindhi and Pashto, while almost 43 per cent students cannot read Class-II-level sentences. Almost 73 per cent of Class-III students and 39 per cent of Class-V students cannot read Class-II English sentences. Similarly, 44 per cent of Class-V, 32 per cent of Class-VI and 24 per cent of Class-VII students cannot perform Class-III-level triple-digit division.

The Punjab Examination Commission (PEC) was formed in 2005 as an autonomous body to help enhance the performance of teachers and students in the government schools through multi-dimensional Assessment, analysis, research, observations and interviews. However, 11 years hence, this organisation has failed miserably when it comes to addressing any of these issues.

For your consideration:

Primary and elementary standard papers conducted by the PEC have been poorly managed. Examination centres received subjective portions of the paper as late as 2:40pm though the paper was scheduled to being at 2:00pm. Interestingly, the objective portion of the paper was received by the exam centres around 3:30pm, while timing was scheduled to take place from 2:00pm to 4:30pm.

Additionally, roll number slips of many students were missing. Subsequently, they were advised to sit in exams without them. Even many of those with these slips in hand complained that the wrong particulars were printed on them. In centres across Punjab, including Kasur, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Rahim Yar Khan and Multan, answers to objective-type questions were SMSed before the papers even arrived at the centre. For more than a decade such sloppy, unexplained and apparently accepted excuses have been the rule rather than the exception.

Such blatant inattention to detail, by its very essence, should cast major doubt on who actually is taking these Assessment tests.

And the news is not any better when it comes to the results of such “examinations.”

Last year, by heralded announcement, we learned that a few lucky ones had miraculously passed even though they had not appeared for the examinations. There also were complaints about substandard marking, differences in names and roll numbers. When complaints were lodged, the PEC quickly declared that all students had passed and instructed the Education Department to promote everyone to the next level.

This year, 1.2 million students of grade V and 1.6 million in grade VIII appeared for their board exams. But PEC had outsourced the paper printing and delivery process and the papers were leaked, their delivery was late. It was a colossal failure all around, especially for the children.

With such an important role to fill, and armed with a heavy annual budget to do so, Punjab Examination Commission’s failure to conduct primary and middle examinations in a professional manner casts serious doubts about its ability to ever perform capably.

There is a dire need of Assessment experts in the core team of the PEC. Ironically, there is no PhD in assessment present on its core team.

There is a dire need to decentralise the examinations at district level or setting-up of Elementary Education Boards to make primary and middle standard examinations more transparent because in this much centralisation, mostly all those involved in holding the examination do not take it seriously and commit unforgiveable blunders.

Assessment systems are not designed to promote the students to next grade; they are devised to identify lapses in students’ learning and teaching methodologies, which are their very essence.

According to scope and functions defined in the charter, PEC had to train teachers and examine students’ learning achievements particularly of grade V and VIII on district, tehsil and union council level which has been completely skipped by the organisation. It also was supposed to compile an annual report highlighting weaknesses of students of every school on union council level, PEC then was supposed to train teachers in a specific subject and appoint them in a given school. But, unfortunately for our youth and those willing teachers among us, after 11 years the commission has neither prepared a report nor trained teachers.

During PEC examinations, I have witnessed teachers using every means at their disposal to help their students cheat. Without doing so, the negative results would bring show-cause notices upon the teachers. To escape such departmental consequences, teachers routinely change results in their favour. Hence data collected by PEC has no authenticity or legitimacy, and it certainly cannot be used to establish provincial indicators.

The time has come to make demands.

We must rid ourselves of DMG bureaucrats in PEC. Professional management and assessment professionals must be hired to make this a truly credible and effective body. Otherwise, it will continue to devolve into an abyss.

We also must set up elementary boards based on the design of our secondary boards to assure that our new system for which we advocate can operate with maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

Spending Rs700 million a year in Punjab on Assessment at primary and elementary level for such ill-gotten results – repeated for so many years — is shameful for what should have become by now a trusted and affirming system of educational evaluation. It has been reported that again this year the PEC has decided to promote “everyone” to the next level.

Here, too, the future of our great country is at stake.

We cannot – and must not — promote unprepared students to the next class. Instead, they’ve actually been demoted year after year to a life of illiteracy and darkness.

In your Assessment, aren’t we better than this? We should be!