Exams: Questions to ponder

They say that two things cannot be avoided in life; death and taxes. There is another thing that you cannot avoid in modern society - some sort of education. And with education come exams, those dreaded events which send a chill down many a student’s spine.

But examinations are necessary to gauge the progress of students.

There are few other ways for teachers and educationists to know how their students are faring. All over the world, Governments and education authorities conduct examinations to determine whether the students are literally up to the mark and whether they deserve to pursue higher education.

In Sri Lanka, there are three major school examinations which often determine the fate of students, education-wise. They are the Year 5 Scholarship Examination, the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level (Year 10/11) and GCE Advanced Level (Year 12/13). These three examinations have become entrenched in our education system to the extent that most students think of nothing else. Passing exams has become the primary goal of education for most students and parents, because each exam ladder represents, in today’s scenario, an entry ticket to the next step in education.

Statistics

We pen these words in the light of the recent release of the GCE O/L results by the Examinations Department. The media also highlighted several revealing facts and statistics with regard to the examination. Nearly 60 per cent of the (school) candidates have qualified to enter GCE A/L classes; nearly 900 students have obtained A passes for all subjects; the failure rate for mathematics has decreased; around 12,000 students have failed all subjects; results of 463 students have been withheld for various reasons; among the students with best results islandwide are those from outstation schools.

These statistics should be considered in the context of the entire education system which is gradually seeing reforms in line with the latest educational trends in other countries.

It is commendable that 60 percent of students have qualified to enter GCE A/L classes, but our focus should also be on the 40 per cent who did not. Granted, some of them will repeat the exam this year and get through, but the vast majority will have to look elsewhere.

This story is repeated at the A/Ls, where only around 20,000 students with good results can actually enter universities each year.

It is too drastic to term this situation as a failure of the education system per se, but other avenues have to be found for the rest of the students. The re-introduction of job-oriented vocational subjects can help. Some schools regularly conduct career guidance fairs for the benefit of students which point the way towards future prospects.

There is a tendency among some teachers and parents to propel students towards particular educational streams, although the students’ real talents may lie elsewhere.

If a child loves music, it could be better to nurture that instinct instead of pushing him or her to study science. If he or she fails in that stream, two chances are generally lost - it could be too late to pursue a career in music as well.

Schools should address the failure rate for subjects such as English, vernacular languages and mathematics, in addition to tackling the vast numbers of students who fail all subjects. Are there new ways to make some of these subjects more enticing and exciting? Can they be more aligned with, and relevant to, life skills? What are the alternative avenues that can be opened for students who fail all or some subjects at the two major exams? These are questions that deserve attention.

Another news item related to the GCE A/L examination shocked us to the core. A girl had taken her life apparently because she failed the exam.

Incident

This is a very tragic incident that should not be viewed in isolation as a one-off. Similar events have happened earlier. Due to the ‘rat-race’ nature of the education system, our students are under intense pressure to perform even beyond their expectations and abilities at exams.

Parents and teachers unduly pressure all students to gain top marks at exams, because that is the gateway to more educational opportunities. But as we have seen, not all can get through.

As this tragic episode illustrates rather well, some students are ill equipped to deal with the aftermath of failure.

They think that parents and teachers will shun them and the society will have no use for them. But this need not be the case.

Parents and teachers must clearly show that life means more than passing an examination. If we analyse the lives of some of the greatest individuals in world history, a common streak is that they have not been all that brilliant on the education front. The message is that you can shine even if you fail an exam. It is up to the society and authorities to provide such students with more opportunities.

The tuition trap is another hallmark of our education system. Incredibly, there are tuition classes even for students in Year One! It is baffling as to what extra material they could learn from a tuition class. Parents should assess whether it is worthwhile sending such young children to so-called tuition classes.

The idea of extra classes only makes sense in the upper classes and even then, students must ask themselves whether their school learning experience for a particular subject is inadequate before opting for tuition.

The authorities are keen on addressing one other problem which has perhaps given rise to the tuition system in the first place: Not all schools are equal. Many schools, especially in rural areas still lack various facilities and teachers. In fact, this is why there is a scramble for ‘good’ schools at Year One and Year Six (following the Scholarship Exam) among parents.

The simplest solution is to have equally good schools all over the island, which will obviate the need to hunt for leading schools.

The fact that some rural schools have reported very good results at the GCE O/L points to a future where every school will be a ‘good’ school.