Testing knowledge: Consensus reached on revamping exam system

Education boards, AIOU, IBCC propose assessment should reflect creative abilities of students

ISLAMABAD: In a first, the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), the Inter-Board Committee of chairmen (IBCC) and the Education Boards (EB) have reached consensus over reforming the existing examination system.

The consensus was reached during the concluding session of a three-day national conference on improving the secondary school and higher secondary school systems.

During the session, the representatives for the three major institutions recommended that the assessment systems should reflect the creative abilities of students.

Earlier, Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal called for inculcating creativity, innovation and critical thinking among students through an effective examination system.

Iqbal was of the view that exams from primary to higher education should be productive to meet national objectives. Moreover, he noted that the prevailing examination system in the country was based on testing the children's memory instead of judging them by the knowledge and skills which they had acquired as a result of the education.

The minister observed that the current education and examination system only disseminates information rather than encouraging students to find new avenues of knowledge by using research methods.

In this regard, Iqbal called for an in-depth analysis of the current examination system and stressed the need to point out its weaknesses and bring forward proposals for its improvement.

He added that the existing examination system must be reformed to ensure standardisation in education and called for making continuous improvement in examination system by learning from the experiences of modern world and to make it more practical.

To help with this, Iqbal announced that a model teaching institute would be set up in Islamabad which would enable teachers to acquaint themselves with the latest learning trends in the field of educational.

Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada hoped that the conference would now be an annual feature to help improve education.

AIOU Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Shahid Siddiqui assured that the AIOU will provide logistic support for this purpose.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2017.