Next education assessment without support

Islamabad

The government will hold the national education assessment survey in the country this year without the financial and technical support of international partners.

This was stated by Minister of State for Federal Education and Professional Training Muhammad Balighur Rehman while chairing the certificate distribution ceremony at the National Education Assessment System (NEAS) here on Thursday.

The minister said in the recent past, the government took measures to give more importance to educational assessments in the country.

“We understand the importance of these assessments in finding the learning enablers and providing evidence-based data for the policy-makers in the shape of their recommendations,” he said.

The minister said after 2008, the NEAS was unable to conduct national education assessment and therefore, it was directed to conduct the national assessment in 2014.

“Now we are going to conduct another cycle of national assessment this year. My ministry is committed to supporting the NEAS to conduct the planned National Achievement Testing 2016,” he said.

The minister said the sample size for national assessment-2016 had been increased to 30,000 students from the previous 12,000 students.

He said he had directed the NEAS to include schools established under the NCHD, BECS, education foundations and private sector in its the next assessment. “This will help us understand the quality of education in these sectors, state the Minister. For this large scale national assessment, necessary budget have already been released from government regular budget. This year we will conduct the assessment without any financial and technical support of our international partners,” he said. The minister said the ministry had constituted National Steering Committee under the chairmanship of federal secretary for federal education to decide upon the subjects and grades which were to be included in this year’s assessment.

He said to compete globally; the government had decided to participate in the forth-coming international TIMSS study (Trends in International Math and Science Study) in 2019.

“This will enable us to see Pakistan’s standing on the international platform among the population of different developed and developing countries,” he added.

The minister said it was heartening to witness such a healthy educational activity where the participation rate is 100 per cent.

“I hope that the skills you have got here will be transformed in the shape of effective training of the 3300 Test Administrators in your own provinces and regions,” he said.  The minister later distributed certificates among participants. He appreciated the efforts of Director of the NEAS Dr. Syed Kamaluddin and his team for organising the event. “We believe that NEAS will continue its periodic assessments to inform policy-makers that would help them in decision making in the field of education,” he said.