Model question bank for term tests

by Manjula FERNANDO

The Examinations Department is to set up a model question bank shortly to maintain uniformity in term tests in government and semi-government schools.

The plan that is to be implemented in the near future has been proposed by Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena, Examinations Commissioner General Anura Edirisinghe said.

"The Education Minister has proposed to set up a question bank for the schools to use as a model for term tests. These questions are to be prepared by the exam panels within the Department," he said adding that the schools can make use of this 'bank' to draft their own papers in the future. The questions are to be based on the general syllabus of GCE O/L subjects.

He said until this arrangement is finalised, his office could make available its expertise to schools to formulate term test papers, which is currently done haphazardly at school level.

Parents have been lamenting that term test papers prepared by certain schools are of poor quality and their children were affected, as a result, at the GCE Ordinary Level examination which is of a high standard.

Some parents claim that teachers purposely make the term test papers easy so that their shortcomings will not be exposed by the grades the children obtain.

Responding to a question by the Sunday Observer the Exams Chief said the Department was unable to take over the conducting of term tests in State schools, numbering over 9,000 islandwide, due to financial and other logistical constraints, but they were ready to assist individual schools to finetune their test papers to elevate standard and maintain uniformity.