The ‘iron gate’ of Nepali education system, the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exam, is again around the corner. Form March 13-23, more than half a million students will take part in the yearly exams at one of the nearly 2,000 centers around the country. As always, there is a lot of hype surrounding the exams, still deemed the most important in the academic career of a Nepali. But that is far from the case.
Those who clear SLC exams soon discover that far bigger hurdles lie ahead, both in their private and professional lives. Instead, what the needless hype does is turn otherwise perfectly calm and reasonable students into nervous Nellies, as they come to equate good marks with personal competence, and poor performance as an indelible mark of shame they will have to carry around for the rest of their lives. This is the reason many young pupils who fail the exams, or perform below expectations, take their lives every year. Last year alone, seven girls committed suicide after failing the exams.
Besides being overhyped, there are other serious flaws in SLC exams. First, the term ‘SLC examinations’ is bit of a misnomer. The exams which are conducted at the end of grade 10 don’t signal the end of formal schooling, which is completed only at the end of grade 12. This anachronism from the time when schooling was completed at the end of grade 10 needs to be set right. For this, the government proposal to shift SLC exams to the end of grade 12 needs to be dusted off and urgently implemented.
The scoring method is also in need of an overhaul, with a switch from the unscientific scoring system (which leaves a lot at the discretion of the answer-sheet markers) to a more scientific grading system. A grading system would make students focus on ‘doing well’ rather than ‘scoring more’, relieving them of a lot of exam stress. Then there is the need to redesign the whole SLC curriculum and examination system, with added focus on hands-on learning to equip students with the skills to navigate the treacherous waters of modern workplace.
It is unjust to assess a student’s competence on the basis of a stressful three-hour examination.
There have been some welcome reforms over the years. For instance, now students can ask to see the answer sheets (and far more cheaply) if they are not satisfied with their marks. This is important, since there is a lot of room for error in human scoring. Strict punishments that have been announced for students, teachers, guardians or anybody found violating the exam rules, with provisions for hefty fines and jail terms, should help restore some credibility to SLC exams.
But again, ultimately, the whole system is in need of an overhaul. It is unjust to assess a student’s competence on the basis of a three-hour exam, which he/she is forced to undertake under a lot of stress. Loading the dice against the young minds cannot in any way be justified. If Nepal is to have a more credible system for assessment of student competence in school, removing the unjustified aura around the annual SLC exams would be the first step in the right direction.
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