Sri Lanka’s education system is facing unprecedented challenges due to the economic crisis and the authorities remain determined to hold the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level (A/L) exam as scheduled. Minister of Education Dr. Susil Premajayantha was reported to have stated that he is looking into ridding students of the burden of having to memorise years of academic knowledge in order to pass exams. He has further emphasised the importance of making the education system a more innovative one instead.
The Minister of Education paying attention to this long-drawn-out issue, which has become a burden on students, is commendable, especially given the public perception and allegations that the country’s education system is purely exam-centric and has not paid adequate attention to practical aspects of education, including making school education and also crucial exams more focused on the actual development of children.
One of the main concerns in this regard is the long period of time between exams, which has made exams more of a test of the students’ ability to memorise what they were taught during the said interval, rather than a test aimed at measuring their ability to comprehend and apply what they studied. The GCE A/L Exam, for example, has long been criticised for requiring students to repeat what they had studied over a period of two years. This has, according to those advocating for reforms in regard to the A/L exam, put an additional pressure on the students. The fact that this pressure plays a decisive role in the A/L students’ performance at the exam, which is the penultimate exam that decides tertiary education prospects for A/L students at State universities, is concerning.
One of the main allegations surrounding this situation is that the education authorities have created unnecessary competition at the A/L exam in a bid to curtail the number of students qualifying for entrance into State universities due to the lack of capacity at said universities. Allegations have also been levelled that the education authorities have made the A/L exam, as well as other exams, such as the GCE Ordinary Level (O/L) and the Grade Five Scholarship, more competitive than they are required to be, as a way of showcasing that Sri Lanka’s school education system is of high quality, instead of looking into other reforms such as increasing the diversity and improving the practical aspects of the education provided by schools.
For over a decade, proposals have been put forward to hold the GCE O/L and A/L exams annually or semi-annually, and to abolish the concept of the Grade Five Scholarship exam, in order to reduce the unnecessary pressure on students. However, most such propositions have received inadequate attention in the authorities’ efforts to reform the education system. At the same time, even if such reforms were considered, given the speed at which the education authorities implement reforms, there is a question as to how long such reforms would take.
For an unreasonable period of time, the success of Sri Lanka’s education system depended largely on how many students passed or gained university entrance through exams. Even though exams are a widely recognised method of evaluating a student’s level of understanding of academic education, Sri Lanka’s issue is that this system did not evolve as it should. Although Sri Lanka is behind when compared with other countries’ situation and these reforms are likely to take some time, progressive reforms are better late than never.
A less exam-centric education system
04 Oct 2022
A less exam-centric education system
04 Oct 2022