The
School Leaving Certificate (SLC) is the final examination in the secondary
school system of Nepal which is equivalent to the General Certificate of Education (GCE), the academic qualification
in United Kingdom. SLC examination, popularly known as “Iron Gate” is taken
annually to make students
eligible for obtaining higher education or to join colleges and universities.
Despite several initiatives by the government,
including the School Sector Reform Program, the number of students passing the
exam has continued to decline. This clarifies that the quality of education has
degraded so far. According to the SLC result statistics of 2070 B.S., total
passed students were 43.92% in regular whereas in 2069 B.S. only 41.57%
students were passed. Although the percentage of passed students rises up,
nearly two-third students have not been succeeded which was a shameful
consequence.
Few days earlier, Government of Nepal decided to
introduce a grading system while publishing SLC results. This system has been
prepared by Curriculum Development Center (CDC) and was officially passed by
National Curriculum Development and Evaluation Council that functions under the
Ministry of Education. This is a step adopted by the government to improve the
secondary level exam evaluation process but how can one be sure that this
system will improve the quality of education? What will the large number of
passed students do if government fails to generate employment opportunities for
them? What will be the situation of Nepal if government produces large number
of “unemployed intellectuals”?
No any academic institution, private or community
based neither the government nor the Ministry of Education (MoE), has any
serious planning to bring improved quality education rather than aiming to have
increased number of students in SLC result. Time and again, the major concern
of the government is on the quantity -how many students were passed and how
many were failed-instead of quality.
Now, it is the time to improve the educational
standard especially SLC results of our country. If all of us -government,
educational institutions, teachers, guardians, students and all concerned
authorities -will dedicate to improve the quality of education in our country,
it will take no long time to change but if we put our big eyes on spending
foreign aid only then it will be just the waste of time, money and resources.
Every year, the government and
the private sector have pumped a huge amount of money on education. The budget
that the government allocates to the sector has more than doubled in the last
five years—from Rs 27 billion in 2006-07 to Rs 63.91 billion in 2012-13. However, till now, the expectation has not been
fulfilled. Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat allocated Rs.
86.03 billion for the development of entire education sector in the upcoming
fiscal year 2071-72 B.S. (2014-15 A.D.) but the passiveness of government made
us doubtful. Following the harsh
criticism on government’s failure to improve school education, the Ministry of
Education (MoE) is going to introduce the grading system from the coming year. The
Ministry of Education need to answer few crucial questions before implementing
this system –Will this system make Nepali students competent in the
international level? Does this attempt really help to improve educational
standard of our country?
No doubt, grading system is a good system of
evaluation which helps lessen the number of failed students. Probably, after
implementing this system the suicidal attempts by students every year will also
get diminished. The core concern while implementing grading system should be on
both quality and quantity. With the rise in number of passed students, the
standard of education should also rise. If the situation is contrary, this
system will function only as an “effigy” of popular advertisement of improving
educational standard.
Education experts have pointed out the politicization
in teaching profession as the main reason behind the fall in SLC results.
Irregularity of teachers as well as students in the classroom, lack of
infrastructure, inadequate educational materials, etc. are also the causes
behind the decline in the SLC results. All the concerned authorities should
think about the agenda of education which will affect in nation development.
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