Are standardised exams a raw deal to rural students?
Jan 22, 2006
THE Senior One selection exercise begins today. As usual, the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results released a week ago showed that urban schools outperformed their rural counterparts. While the Uganda national Examinations Board sets standardised exams, the facilities in the schools are not the
By Christine Kintu
THE Senior One selection exercise begins today. As usual, the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results released a week ago showed that urban schools outperformed their rural counterparts. While the Uganda national Examinations Board sets standardised exams, the facilities in the schools are not the same. Therefore, are standardised exams fair?
Prof. Samuel Owolabi, a senior lecturer at the Makerere University School of Education, criticises standardised exams as unfair.
“Some schools in rural areas are poor, with no laboratory equipment for students to carry out experiments. Some of these students see the laboratory equipment for the first time in the examination room whereas schools in urban areas are well-equipped,†says Owolabi.
“The assessment of exams should be based on locality,†argues the professor.
He suggests that scholarships be given to rural areas as a motivation in the short term as government strives to improve the facilities and make rural schools more attractive to teachers.
David Onen, also of Makerere University School of Education, said standardised examinations were unfair as long as school facilities were not uniform. “Urban schools tend to have the best teachers, library facilities, electricity to aid student’s reading at night, but these opportunities are not available to children in rural areas,†he adds.
Onen says experience at the university has shown that all students can perform well given the same facilities. “Some students from rural settings have come to the university with weak grades and excelled more than students who came in with higher points from good schools because they study under the same conditions,†Onen says.
Difase Munywa, a teacher at Kiswa Primary School, says standardised examinations do not cater for individual differences. “Children have different learning abilities. We have slow and fast learners, those who are handicapped or those who sit examinations while sick. The exams also do not cater for the children in war-torn areas, most of whom are traumatised,†he argues.
The majority of the teachers interviewed including James Okia of Shimoni Demonstration School, John Bosco Ssonko of Greenhill Academy, Mary Frances Nammazzi of namagunga Primary Boarding School, Mukono and Godfrey Were, the deputy head teacher, Kiswa Primary School, said the solution to the unfair examination system would be continuous assessment and making school facilities uniform.
However, UNEB spokesperson Eva Konde says standardised examinations were fair because they were based on the syllabus, which is supposed to be taught in all schools. “We consider the syllabus,†says Konde. “So, if the teaching is based on the syllabus then they are fair. We look at the performance as a whole and not whether a school is rural or urban,†she adds.
Konde said the assessment process would be jeopardised and there would be problems comparing our standards internationally if different examinations were set for rural and urban schools.
“standardised exams are quality exams and have uniformity. In case one is to study abroad you present the standard qualification without queries of whether you studied in a rural or urban area,†Konde said.
Konde, however, says they appreciate the challenges in schools and assess them accordingly. She also says extra-time is usually added to candidates with special needs to ensure they are not disadvantaged. While rural schools face a number of challenges including the students being subjected to household chores, trekking long distances, low morale of teachers to lack of learning facilities, most teachers believe standardised examinations are unfair until facilities, particularly in upcountry government schools are improved and incentives put in place to attract good teachers.
Ends
THE Senior One selection exercise begins today. As usual, the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results released a week ago showed that urban schools outperformed their rural counterparts. While the Uganda national Examinations Board sets standardised exams, the facilities in the schools are not the same. Therefore, are standardised exams fair?
Prof. Samuel Owolabi, a senior lecturer at the Makerere University School of Education, criticises standardised exams as unfair.
“Some schools in rural areas are poor, with no laboratory equipment for students to carry out experiments. Some of these students see the laboratory equipment for the first time in the examination room whereas schools in urban areas are well-equipped,†says Owolabi.
“The assessment of exams should be based on locality,†argues the professor.
He suggests that scholarships be given to rural areas as a motivation in the short term as government strives to improve the facilities and make rural schools more attractive to teachers.
David Onen, also of Makerere University School of Education, said standardised examinations were unfair as long as school facilities were not uniform. “Urban schools tend to have the best teachers, library facilities, electricity to aid student’s reading at night, but these opportunities are not available to children in rural areas,†he adds.
Onen says experience at the university has shown that all students can perform well given the same facilities. “Some students from rural settings have come to the university with weak grades and excelled more than students who came in with higher points from good schools because they study under the same conditions,†Onen says.
Difase Munywa, a teacher at Kiswa Primary School, says standardised examinations do not cater for individual differences. “Children have different learning abilities. We have slow and fast learners, those who are handicapped or those who sit examinations while sick. The exams also do not cater for the children in war-torn areas, most of whom are traumatised,†he argues.
The majority of the teachers interviewed including James Okia of Shimoni Demonstration School, John Bosco Ssonko of Greenhill Academy, Mary Frances Nammazzi of namagunga Primary Boarding School, Mukono and Godfrey Were, the deputy head teacher, Kiswa Primary School, said the solution to the unfair examination system would be continuous assessment and making school facilities uniform.
However, UNEB spokesperson Eva Konde says standardised examinations were fair because they were based on the syllabus, which is supposed to be taught in all schools. “We consider the syllabus,†says Konde. “So, if the teaching is based on the syllabus then they are fair. We look at the performance as a whole and not whether a school is rural or urban,†she adds.
Konde said the assessment process would be jeopardised and there would be problems comparing our standards internationally if different examinations were set for rural and urban schools.
“standardised exams are quality exams and have uniformity. In case one is to study abroad you present the standard qualification without queries of whether you studied in a rural or urban area,†Konde said.
Konde, however, says they appreciate the challenges in schools and assess them accordingly. She also says extra-time is usually added to candidates with special needs to ensure they are not disadvantaged. While rural schools face a number of challenges including the students being subjected to household chores, trekking long distances, low morale of teachers to lack of learning facilities, most teachers believe standardised examinations are unfair until facilities, particularly in upcountry government schools are improved and incentives put in place to attract good teachers.
Ends