As govt decides to let schools grade their own SEE students, educationists express concern on impartiality

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Prasun Sangroula

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Kathmandu: The government on Monday decided to issue Secondary Education Examinations (SEE) certificates through internal evaluation conducted by respective schools. The examinations slated to start on May 21 were postponed indefinitely as the pandemic showed no sign of subsiding. This year, a total of 5,15,000 students were ready to appear for the SEE.

Last year, too, the government had issued SEE certificates based on internal evaluation. Education experts had criticized the move arguing that it would give leeway to institutions to inflate the marks of their students. Guardians had reportedly pressured the schools to award better grades to their children. 

The same thing is bound to repeat this year if the monitoring body is not vigilant enough, educationists say.

“The practice of internal evaluation is popular across the world and is proven to be effective. But there are doubts regarding their efficacy and fairness in Nepal since our education system doesn’t have a proper mechanism on how to evaluate the students’ merits.”

To make internal evaluation more effective there must be at least four or five indicators to  assess the overall performance of students, says Bal Chandra Luitel, a professor of education at Kathmandu University.

“The indicators should be cognizant of the students’ performance on project works, presentation and oral interview,” Luitel said. “If these things are done then the internal evaluation will be more successful and effective. Those indicators should be designed by  the concerned authority as soon as possible.”

Similarly, schools and guardians also need to act responsibly, Luitel added. “The schools should avoid providing good grades for the sake of their goodwill. And guardians should not put any kind of pressure on schools.”

The practice of internal evaluation is popular across the world and is proven to be effective. But there are doubts regarding their efficacy and fairness in Nepal since our education system doesn’t have a proper mechanism on how to evaluate the students’ merits, said Bidhya Nath Koirala, former head of department of Education at Tribhuvan University. 

“There is no mechanism with us that verifies the marks awarded by teachers are fair,” said Koirala, adding that there were several instances where schools were “irresponsible” in providing marks to students last year.

Koirala suggests that the government should build a mechanism to cross-check the marks provided by the schools. 

“But so far, there are no signs that such a mechanism would be developed,” said Koirala. “It risks demotivating students towards studies and teachers towards teaching.”