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Friday March 29, 2024

Much-trumpeted Grade-V exam suffers 6-month results delay

By Yousaf Ali
August 13, 2017

PESHAWAR: The difference between assessment and examination is the only excuse that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Department is relying on to hide its failure in notifying the results of grade-V examination that was conducted in March this year.

This has strengthened the perception that the results are not being declared owning to the poor performance of the educational institutions as well as students.

According to sources, the overall results of the examination/assessment were below 10 percent. Such poor results if declared would cause huge embarrassment to the provincial government, which has been making tall claims of bringing about a revolution in the education sector. The government has already faced serious criticism over the public sector schools’ poor performance in the recently declared results of secondary school certificate examinations.

Some reports suggested that the grade-V results of government schools were poor compared to those of the private schools. A top official in the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Peshawar confirmed that the results of both the government and private schools were very poor.

The examination/assessment was conducted at a cost of Rs320 million allegedly provided by a leading international non-governmental organisation (INGO) working in the education sector in the province.

However, an official of the education department categorically rejected the reports that the INGO provided funds for conducting the examination. “Let me tell you with full responsibility that not a single penny was taken from any NGO for the exam. The amount spent was provided by the government from its own resources,” he claimed. However, he did not deny that a huge amount of money was spent on the examination.

Hakeemullah, director Provincial Institute for Teachers Education (PITE) who served as controller of the grade-V examination, said that some 80,000 students appeared in the examination in Peshawar district alone. He claimed that Rs425 was spent on each student taking the examination.

However, Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Peshawar, Chairman Dr Fazlur Rahman Qureshi made it clear that Rs550 was spent on each student. “The board had demanded Rs640 per student from the government but it agreed to provide only Rs550 for each student,” he said.

Dr Fazlur Rahman Qureshi joined the board much later when all the necessary decisions about the examinations had been taken.

The amount spent by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Peshawar only if counted would be Rs44 million. More or less a similar amount was spent by the other eight examination boards in the province. Some reports suggested that those responsible for conducting the examinations whether in the boards or the education department earned a handsome amount under the head of different allowances, the purchase of stationary, and other material.

As far as the results are concerned, every circle tried to shift the responsibility on the other. The controller of the examination told this reporter that the result had been compiled much earlier and submitted to the board. He added it was the Peshawar board’s responsibility to declare the result.

Chairman of the Peshawar Board said they have submitted the result to the education department and it was its responsibility to notify it at least to the schools concerned if it didn’t want to declare it to the public.

He said a thorough result has been prepared. “Item-wise and subject-wise result has been made and forwarded to the education department. It is true that the result was not good,” he remarked.

Bilal Ahmad, who heads the teachers learning programme at the education department, said that they have not received the results officially from the examination boards. “We have been informed about the results in bits and pieces, but officially we have not received the results in total,” he said.

He was hopeful that they would get the results from all the examination boards in a week or two and would then decide what to do with it.

All the officials contacted by this correspondent were of the opinion that it was a mere assessment not an examination and notifying or declaring its results was not necessary. However, they were unable to explain that if the results are not notified how the schools would come to know about their strengths and weaknesses. Also, notifying the results was necessary for rewarding and punishing the educational institutions and the teachers.

Qaiser Alam, special secretary education, said that the difference between an assessment and examination was very much clear. He argued that the assessment is made only to know about deficiencies in the system and own a mechanism to overcome them.

He said that there was greater need to create awareness about the system. He pointed out that they were fast switching to Student Learning Outcome (SLO) – conceptual system – from the traditional ratta system. The assessment at grade-V and grade-VIII were major steps in this direction, he added. “Look, this is certainly a great change. It would require enough time to bear laudable results,” he remarked.

On the other hand, the private educational institutions have been opposing the examination/assessment at grade-V and grade-VIII level. The courts have already granted them a stay order. The government though is committed to make the assessment at both the levels a regular feature to have a check over the educational institutions – both government and private – and improve the quality of education and encourage enrolment.