The Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) has decided to hold two annual examinations at the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) levels from 2022.
This practice will help to release the burden on students as they can choose the subjects for which they want to appear in exams in the first and second years.
This was decided in a meeting of the FBISE Board of Governors (BoG) held on Wednesday wherein the BoG approved a number of features to make the board consistent with international practices.
According to a notification released, it was stated that board exams will be held twice a year in May and September from 2022. This will provide unlimited chances for students to attempt their failed papers and will save precious academic time.
It was further decided that more combinations of subject choices shall be offered to students such as Biology with Mathematics or Economics and Environmental Studies with Chemistry. It was also noted that subjects such as Mechatronics and Bio-Informatics will also be introduced under a new programme.
The meeting also discussed reframing exams to align with the curriculum. Instead of testing for rote memorisation, the board members agreed that they should be thinking and skill-based, which needs to be encouraged through designing better question papers.
It is important to have a competency-based exam at the grade eight level to guide students towards education pathways, they stated, adding that only key subjects or skills should be tested while the board will issue certificates to students of grade 10 and 12 only.
It was further decided that relative marking is more appropriate as it allows for flexibility since a baseline is set by the highest and lowest scores and the rest of the students will be graded accordingly.
A day ago, the All Pakistan Private Schools and Colleges Association (APPSCA) has announced continuing the examinations in private educational institutions across the country under standard operating procedures (SOPs) devised to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 infection.
He categorically rejected the statement of Punjab Education Minister Murad Rass on completing examinations by March 19 and said that the schools and colleges would complete their sessions by April. He suggested the government should avoid interrupting educational activities and focus on the implementation of precautionary measures in schools and colleges.
Hussain added that the academic year had already been severely affected while the matric and intermediate exams were also near.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 18th, 2021.
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