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Thesis 10

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Chapter 1: Introduction The topic of study is the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination of Nepal. The SLC The SLC examination The SLC examination is a centralised examination for the whole of Nepal. It is managed by the Office of Controller of Examinations, a government office. The SLC examination is taken by students at the end of class 10. The examination offers a range of subjects of which some are compulsory and others optional. The SLC curriculum The SLC curriculum is designed by the Curriculum Development Centre and taught over two years in classes 9 and 10. Students who complete lower secondary school (classes 6-8) are able to study in secondary school (classes 9-10) and take the SLC examination. Those who pass the SLC examination can go on to higher secondary school (classes 11-12) which is also known as 10+2. The 1
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Page 1: Thesis 10

Chapter 1: Introduction

The topic of study is the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination of Nepal.

The SLC

The SLC examination

The SLC examination is a centralised examination for the whole of Nepal. It is

managed by the Office of Controller of Examinations, a government office. The SLC

examination is taken by students at the end of class 10. The examination offers a

range of subjects of which some are compulsory and others optional.

The SLC curriculum

The SLC curriculum is designed by the Curriculum Development Centre and taught

over two years in classes 9 and 10. Students who complete lower secondary school

(classes 6-8) are able to study in secondary school (classes 9-10) and take the SLC

examination. Those who pass the SLC examination can go on to higher secondary

school (classes 11-12) which is also known as 10+2. The conduct of classes 9 and 10

culminating in the sitting of SLC examinations will be referred to as the SLC system.

At present, secondary school students take six compulsory subjects – Nepali, English,

Mathematics, Science, Social studies and Health Population and Environment – and

two optional subjects. All subjects have year-end exams. Last year the number of

students taking the SLC examinations was just over 170,0001.

1 www.doe.gov.np/SLC_result_main.htm (1/1/2004)

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Background

The system of education prevailing in Nepal today is to some extent a prototype of

the Indian system.2 The first English High School, Durbar School was established in

1853 as part of a modernisation programme initiated by Jung Bahadur Rana following

his visit to France and England.3 The school followed the British Model of India.4 The

SLC examination was first conducted in Nepal in 1929 in Kathmandu Valley.5 In the

initial years the examination was conducted by universities from outside of Nepal.

They were firstly conducted by Calcutta University and later by Patna University. In

1934 the Board of School Leaving Certificate was established in Nepal.6 During these

initial years, classroom instruction and examinations were conducted through the

medium of English.7

From the beginning there was an awareness of the potential of the educational

system as an instrument of change.8 The wary attitude of the Rana regime towards

education was illustrated through exiling of more liberal Rana Prime Ministers who

attempted to promote education nationwide.9 In reality, school was open only to those

in the Rana family and upper class close to them. Following the overthrow of the

Ranas, the lower classes began to access education. These newly educated people

have tended to equate themselves with the upper classes.10 In the words of Bista

(1991),

2 CERID (1996) p.33 Bista (1991) p.1194 CERID (1996) p.35 CERID (1996) p.36 CERID (1996) p.37 CERID (1996) p.38 Bista (1991) p.1189 see Bista (1991) p.119-12010 Bista (1991) p.12-129

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“Traditionally, education was designed solely for the high caste and highly placed

people, the newly educated people tend to equate themselves with these classes. That

is why we have so many educated people who do not want to work”.11

The SLC examination thereby becomes a point of interest in all this given its

nickname ‘Iron Gate’. The SLC according to Dixit (2002) is ‘where all the modern-

day desire for education among the Nepali population comes to rest’.12 During a visit

to Kathmandu I was able to meet a few people who were presumed to be well

acquainted with the SLC. I hoped to get them to share their views during half hour

conversations with them. Education experts, researchers, school principals,

government officials; what did they feel strongly about? Why? What do they think

that secondary education is for?

The context of Nepal

Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world with an annual income per capita

of $250.13 It is also the 40th most populous country in the world.14 The country is

largely composed of a mountainous terrain. Infrastructure and communications are

particularly scarce in the rural hill and mountain regions. At the same time the country

has a wealth of diversity – geographically, culturally and linguistically.

The SLC examination is centralised. It is conducted in two languages - English and

Nepali. Officially the development objective of Secondary Education is “to expand

quality secondary education for the needs of national development”.15 What is

intriguing to consider is whether the SLC examination is serving the needs of national

11 Bista (1991) p.128-12912 Dixit (2002) p.19313 World Bank (2003) p.23514 http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004391.html15 Ministry of Education (2002) p.3

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development. Though what are the needs of national development? What should the

SLC examination do in response to these needs? Would the people I talked with have

answers?

Rationale

Learning outcomes for meaningful development

According to the Article 4 of the World Declaration on Education for All…

“whether or not expanded educational opportunities will translate into meaningful

development – for an individual or for society – depends ultimately on whether people

actually learn as a result of those opportunities, i.e., whether they incorporate useful

knowledge, reasoning ability, skills and values.16”

Learning outcomes from education provision are therefore seen to be important for

achieving meaningful development from education provision. The government’s

provision of secondary education has expanded in the past decade.17 Are these

expanded educational opportunities translating into meaningful development?

According to Article 4 it would depend upon the learning outcomes that have resulted.

The importance of the SLC in learning outcomes

The SLC examination comes into the fray when one considers its part in

determining learning outcomes. It is said to guide teachers on what to teach, and the

students on what to learn.18 According to the World Bank, the official curriculum is

16 UNESCO (1990) p.517 Ministry of Education (2002) p.318 CERID (1997) Preface

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swept aside by the syllabus for the SLC examination.19 This is probably because the

SLC examination is the sole determinant of success or failure for schools, teachers

and students.20 It is a turnstile whereby the social, economic and political importance

exceeds the educational value and technical quality.21

Concerns

A cause for concern is the immense criticism the SLC examination has received.

A study of the SLC examination by the University of Cambridge Local Examination

Syndicate stated that “examination papers are seriously restricted in the range of skills

tested, concentrating mainly on the factual recall of textbook information and

sometimes encouraging the repetition of learned model answers based on the textbook

exercises”.22

Others have voiced the following about the SLC examination:

“SLC examination has only promoted rote learning. This is an undeniable

fact”.23

“The evaluation is not based on work done or the capability to do work, but

on the ability to regurgitate on the answer sheet what has been memorised”.24

“The capabilities tested overemphasise recall, to the neglect of items

requiring candidates to exhibit comprehension and problem-solving skills.

Theoretical items predominate over items requiring practical application.”25

“The examination provides very rare opportunity to the students to imagine,

interpret, opine and think creatively”.26

19 World Bank (1994) p.1920 CERID (1997) p.5421 Ministry of Education (2002) p.4522 World Bank (1994) p.1923 CERID (1997) p.5324 Dixit (2002) p.20225 World Bank (1994) p.2026 CERID (1997) p.5

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From the standpoint of Article 4, if the examination that dominates secondary

education in Nepal is imparting a narrow range of learning outcomes, there is concern

that the efforts made in providing education for that level are not translating into

meaningful development because what people are learning is limited. This possible

state of affairs in the SLC is recapped in figure 1.1. The worrying scenario put

forward in figure 1.1 is one whereby an examination of dubious technical quality is

steering a whole country’s learning at secondary level.

Figure 1.1

Yet such dominance of examinations in an education system is not uncommon. As

Heyneman and Ransom write,

SLC examination is the sole determinant of success or failure for schools, teachers and students

There is obsessive interest in the SLC examination

The SLC examination guides teaching and learning

The SLC examination tests a narrow range of skills.

Few skills are taught and learnt in classrooms

Learning outcomes are low

Education provision fails to translate into meaningful development

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“Examinations can be a powerful, low cost means of influencing the quality of what

teachers teach and what students learn in school…Examination agencies have an

important role to play in increasing the effectiveness of schools”.27

Examinations are usually able to provide only limited coverage of a curriculum.28

Nevertheless the scope of evaluation throughout education in Nepal is perceived as

being far too narrow.29 There are limits to what the SLC examination can test but the

implication is that it might be able to cover an appreciably wider range of abilities

than it currently does.

Given the criticism in the rationale section, it appears that one of the needs of the

SLC examination for development is the testing of a wider range of skills. The

research will therefore by some degree take this into account.

Questions and objectives

Questions

1. Is the SLC examination a satisfactory measure for educational achievement in

terms of the learning outcomes it imparts?

2. What do interviewees convey through their views on the SLC examination?

27 Heyneman and Ransom (1990) p.17728 There are two reasons for this. 1) Because examinations are used to make decisions about certification and selection. For the sake of selection an examination may attempt to achieve maximum discrimination for those students for whom the probability of selection is high. This is done by excluding items that are easy or of intermediate difficulty; if most students answered an item correctly, the item would not discriminate among higher scoring students. However, tests made up solely of more difficult questions will not cover the whole curriculum or even attempt to do so (Greaney and Kellaghan 1996, p.32). 2) An examination that is expanded to provide adequate curriculum coverage may become too long (Greaney and Kellaghan 1996, p.32).29 Rajbhandari and Wilmut (2000) p.259

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Objectives

Objective for question 1: To conclude upon whether the SLC examination is, or is not

imparting a satisfactory degree of learning outcomes.

By a ‘satisfactory degree’ it is meant “is it enough?” Are there enough abilities

learnt as a result of what the SLC examination tests? For this study, whether there are

enough abilities learnt depends partly upon people’s opinions and partly upon whether

the goals of examining authorities are met. Concepts emerging from the interviews

may reinforce or oppose conclusions that are drawn.

- If people voice a need for more abilities to be imparted than there currently

are, they imply the status quo is not satisfactory

- If all the abilities that the examining authorities intend to impart are not

imparted by the examinations, then the goal is not achieved30. The

examinations would thereby be seen to perform unsatisfactorily.

Further objectives are to facilitate the objective for question one are for providing

information which can be used in meeting it. These further objectives are the

following:

To collect and analyse the views of people who are well acquainted

with the SLC examination

To examine a past SLC examination paper

To refer to literature related to the topic

Objective for question 2:

30 The abilities the examination authorities intend to impart are assumed to be those in the Specification Grids. A Specification Grid specifies the skills to be tested as well as the weighting for each skill and sub-skill (Office of the Controller of Examinations 1999, p.1)

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The objective is to collect and analyse the views of people who are well acquainted

with the SLC examination. In doing this one hopes to get an impression of what the

interviewees feel about the SLC examination.

Outputs from the objectives

The views of people

Results from an examination of an SLC examination paper

Concepts, themes, debates and other information from literature

Scope of the study

Numerous issues come to mind when the SLC examination is brought into the

limelight. Before ending the chapter I will briefly outline some issues which are of

importance to the SLC examination but which are outside the scope of the study.

Areas beyond the scope of the study

Pass rates

The pass rate of the 2003 SLC examination was 32.05 percent.31 The pass rate in itself

is not an issue to be covered in this study. The same goes for the pass mark.

Following I highlight some particular matters in the SLC examinations that have been

commented on in the past, but which I do not focus upon in the study.

Matters associated with the examination papers

31 www.doe.gov.np/SLC_result_main.htm (1/1/2004)

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Issues over mistakes in the spelling, grammar, proof reading and other typesetter

errors that crop up in an examination paper from time to time are not covered. Errors

in the translation of questions from Nepali to English (SLC exam papers give

questions in both languages) which could cause difficulties in understanding are not

of central concern in the study. The clarity of a question’s instruction is not studied

closely here. The quality of source material (such as pictures) and the consistency of

fonts used in examination papers are also not dealt with here. Comments over

questions with options; comparative levels of difficulty between two optional

questions is another issue left out of the study.

Certification

The current debate over whether a student should receive an overall certificate or be

certified per single subject is an issue not encompassed in the study. The issue over

whether candidates should be awarded in letter grading (A, B, C etc.) or raw marks or

percentages is not included in the study.

Public and Private schooling

The disparity between public and private schools in terms of teaching quality,

facilities and most notably pass rates (education as a marketable product is a part of

this). These issues are not within the scope of this dissertation.

Other issues

Whether evaluation should be strictly year-end or spread across the school year is an

issue not covered. Incomes for example affect a child’s ability to purchase textbooks

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and past SLC examination papers. This factor is not looked at close up. The same

goes for opportunity costs of going to school.

Gender in the SLC examination is significant. For example one may note that girls

are especially vulnerable in SLC examinations. For example, some examination

centres are almost invariably staffed by men and have no separate toilets or

opportunities for personal privacy.32 I do not cover this in the study. The fact that

many students often have to travel long distances to exam centres and spend

numerous days away from home is notable. It is an issue beyond this study. Finally,

the study has not incorporated the impact of the country’s security situation on the

SLC examination.

Chapter 2: Methodology32 Wilmut (2001) p.25

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Research Approach

In order to attain the desired objectives, use of appropriate research methods was

needed for obtaining the required primary data which would be qualitative in nature.

The work was exploratory in nature.

1. Semi-structured interviews were conducted

2. An examination of questions in an SLC examination paper took place

How were the methods conducted?

Semi-structured interviews

A question paper was constructed before each interview. The interview question

papers were different for each respondent and often constructed after it was known

the interview would take place. Attempts were made to avoid asking difficult

icebreaker questions though the main emphasis was on designing questions that might

associate with the interviewee and their activities and hopefully get a response. The

interviews were recorded on audio tape and the recordings were transcribed before

data processing took place (see the Annex for interview question papers and

transcripts).

Examining questions of an exam paper

The 2003 SLC Science examination paper for the Western Development Region

was selected for this activity. The intention was to see if the questions imparted the

abilities as specified by the 1999 Specification Grid for SLC Science.33 As a point of

33 1999 SLC Science Specification Grid in Office of the Controller of Examinations (1999) p.39

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referral, Bloom’s ‘Taxonomy of Educational Objectives’34 was used. Some of

Bloom’s definitions could be found for the prescribed abilities of the specification

grid. In determining the abilities required for answering a question, the question and

answer of each test item (or exam question/task) was observed. To assist with

classifying a test item according to the ability it required, a Grade 9 textbook35 was

referred to as well. Notably, the textbook was made by the Curriculum Development

Centre (see the annex for a copy of the examination paper inspected and the question-

by-question inspection of the examination paper as well as a summary of Bloom’s

Taxonomy of Educational Objectives).

It is important to note that the inspection of the examination paper was influenced

by the assumption that some detrimental trends would come into play. For example, if

a question is repeated over a number of years or repeated with minor variations, then

the ability the student uses in answering the question is seen to be recalling because

s/he is assumed to be able to remember a similar problem from past papers.36

Questions that require information that is near matching information available in the

textbook were assumed to emphasise recall because the student may remember the

answer being discussed in the textbook.37 The questions were often approached with

the following question in mind.

“What ability does the candidate need to call upon in order to answer this question

successfully?”

The ability to refer to the answers of the Answer-Questions38 book and pages of the

textbook has in all likelihood led towards harsher inspection. If a guidebook’s answer 34 Bloom (1972)35 Curriculum Development Centre (2003)36 Singh (2000) p.2237 Singh (2000) p.2238 Answer-Question books are reprints of past examination papers with answers written in. They are also referred to as guide books.

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to a question was found to be more or less the same as content in the textbook I

assumed that the candidate would have been able to reproduce the textbook content.

Why were the methods chosen?

Semi-structured interviews

For both research questions, the intention was to hear the views and opinions of the

interviewee and encourage him/her to talk about things they felt were important for

the SLC examination because data collection was exploratory in nature. Semi-

structured interviews typically asked open ended questions to offer the flexibility and

openness needed for a respondent to give extensive replies. Further questions might

then be asked by the interviewer in response to what was said. The question paper

would determine a degree of direction during the 30+ minute conversations to ensure

coverage of intended fields.

Examining questions of an exam paper

In order to answer the first question of the study it was felt that it was necessary to

consult examination papers themselves at some point. An examination of all subject’s

question papers would have been more absolute and ideal but for the time it would

require and further complications (such as trying to decide whether questions impart

rather unspecific abilities like ‘skills’, ‘higher abilities’ and ‘practical abilities’ – see

How the sample was selected (below)). Singh (2000) studied the action verbs in a

question when categorising an item according to the ability it required.39 Personally it

was found that labelling the questions in this way is quite tricky in that the verb can

occasionally be deceptive in conveying the actual ability the question requires. One

39 Singh (2000) p.19

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must also be wary of the affect that textbooks, guide books and teaching-learning

practices can have.

How the sample was selected

Semi-structured interviews

Interviewees were selected purposefully in that I assumed them to be quite well

acquainted with the SLC system and hoped they would have some comments to make

about it. I anticipated they might feel strongly about certain issues and have insights

to share. Being in Kathmandu for the research, the selecting of people depended upon

whether they were present in the capital as well as whether they had time.

Interviewing was done in English which could have determined selection.

In reality the people I pursued were people I was told about when I visited offices,

research centres and ministries in Kathmandu. There must be many other prospective

interviewees in Kathmandu who I have not been referred to. I had little idea of who I

would meet when I first arrived in Nepal. Whether I wanted to interview someone

was often dependent upon recommendations from others. The occupations of the

interviewees are as follows:

Interviewee A: Researcher (on education)

Interviewee B: Education expert/Academic

Interviewee C: School principal

Interviewees for interview D: Government officials

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Interviewee E: Education expert/Academic

Examining questions of an exam paper

The decision to examine the 2003 SLC Science examination was done purposefully.

The abilities prescribed for each compulsory subject by the 1999 Specification Grid

are in Table 2.1.

Subject Abilities specified for evaluationNepali Knowledge, Understanding, Practical skills, Higher abilities

English Knowledge, Understanding, Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing

Mathematics Knowledge, Understanding, Skills, Problem solving

ScienceKnowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation

Social studiesKnowledge, Understanding, Higher abilities, Practical abilities

Health Population and Environment

Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation

SOURCE: Compiled from Office of Controller Examinations (1999)Table 2.1

Bloom (1956) classifies six main educational objectives in his taxonomy for the

cognitive domain which are as follows:

1. Knowledge

2. Comprehension

3. Application

4. Analysis

5. Synthesis

6. Evaluation

According to Bloom (1956), comprehension represents the lowest level of

understanding40. Thus, items deemed to require comprehension will come under

‘understanding’ for the inspection of examination questions. To ease the utilisation of

40 Bloom (1971) p.204

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Bloom’s taxonomy when examining, subjects that specified abilities most closely

matching with the names of Bloom’s educational objectives were chosen. As can be

seen in table 2.1, the subjects of Science and Health Population and Environment

require a list of skills that nearly match the Bloom’s list of educational objectives. I

chose Science because it is probably a more familiar subject across most other

education systems. Choosing the 2003 examination paper was done to select the most

up to date edition at the time of writing. The paper examined was for the Western

Development Region. The development region the examination is for is not believed

to be a significant factor. Each region should require the same from students.

Chapter 3: Results and discussion of findings

Results

Semi-structured interviews

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The five interviews recorded on audio-tape were transcribed (see ‘Guide to interview

transcripts’ page A-3). The transcripts were read through and comments were written

alongside the written conversation which usually summarised what was being said.

Domains were formed upon referring to the summarised comments. In general,

themes mentioned by a number of interviewees were picked up and sometimes (as in

the case of the ‘Inherited ways’ domain), a number of themes were related to one

broad field. The five concepts and domains that emerged from the interviews are

displayed in brief in Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1: Concepts and domains

For the objectives of the first research question I firstly deal with the abilities and

skills domain (further results produced within this domain will be covered in the

discussion). The domain called “inherited ways” is about habits in education that

Nepal seems to share with colonial India. When interviewees spoke about traditional

practices, ideals and trends in Nepal, I felt it appropriate to bring an article by Kumar

Abilities needed

5. Inherited

ways

Traditions in the system

The image of educated person

Economy-Education patterns

Abilities imparted2. Abilities and skills

4. Holistic change

18

1. Improvements

in the SLC examination

3. Training for

question setters

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(1988) into the discussion so it could mingle with the respondent’s ideas. The boxes

numbered 1, 3 and 4 are concepts that emerged from a number of interviewees.

The examining of questions in an exam paper

Categorising the questions was by reading the questions, viewing the answers to the

questions and referring to Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives as well as a

Grade 9 textbook. Some thought was required as well and admittedly the judgements

made may have been somewhat influenced by one’s opinion. Debate over this method

is probably inevitable. Comments are written in the question-by-question inspection

of an examination paper (see first a guide to the inspection on page A-208) in order to

clarify why the particular judgement was made. My inability to find a grade 10

textbook for Science somewhat limited the extent to which I could check textbooks.

Table 3.1: Results from an inspection of the 2003 SLC science examination (Western Development Region) Topic Abilities Physics Chemistry Biology

Astronomy + Geology SLC Science

Knowledge 20.67 14 21 7.5 63.17Understanding 9.33 1 1.5 0 11.83Application 0 0 0 0 0Analysis 0 0 0 0 0Synthesis 0 0 0 0 0Evaluation 0 0 0 0 0Total marks 30 15 22.5 7.5 75

On the left hand column the abilities that are meant to be tested in the exam are listed.

The number of marks awarded under each skill are shown in the table. As can be seen

in table 3.1, the inspection suggested that questions which require knowledge abilities

seem to dominate the examination. About 63 out of 75 marks (84 percent) are deemed

to reward knowledge skill. About 16 percent of the marks awarded were apparently

for performing understanding abilities. The results imply that one could answer all

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questions successfully by using knowledge and understanding skills. Attention was

paid to Bloom’s taxonomy throughout the investigation.

Discussion of findings

Interviewing, inspecting an examination paper and literature provide the basis for

discussion. First there will be an observation of the skills and abilities named as either

imparted or needed by interviewee in order to answer the first objective with respect

to the interviews. The results of the inspection of an examination will also be used for

this objective. Following, some themes which appear to have emerged from

interviews are explored. These themes assist in developing an impression of what

interviewees feel about the SLC examination. This is for the fulfilment of the

objective for the second research question.

Abilities and Skills

As seen in figure 3.2, the abilities (and skills) domain is divided into two sub-domains.

One of the sub-domains is called ‘Abilities imparted’ which are the abilities that

interviewees have said are tested in the examinations. The other sub-domain,

‘Abilities needed’ is for the abilities that interviewees have said are needed in the

examinations but are not currently tested in the examinations.

Figure 3.2

All the abilities that were mentioned by interviewees are listed in figures 3.3 and 3.4.

Figure 3.3 displays abilities that are said to be imparted by the SLC examination and

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Abilities + skills

Abilities imparted

Abilities needed

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figure 3.4 displays abilities that are said to be needed in the SLC examination. The

letters listed next to the each ability indicate the interviewees who had mentioned

those particular abilities.

Figure 3.3: Abilities imparted

21

Analysing – DApplication – DArt – CCompetence – DComprehending – DCooking – CCreativity – DDefining – CDescribing – DDifferentiating – DDiscussing – DDrawing – DEvaluating – DExamining – DExpanding – DFact gathering – EGrammar – DHigher level – DHypothesising – DImagining – DKnowing – A, B, C, D, EListening – A, B, C, DListing – CMemorising – A, B, C, D, EMusic – CPlanning – DPractical – A, B, C, D, EProblem solving – DReading – DReasoning – DRecalling – AReferring – DRelating – DReport making – DReproducing – B, D, ESpeaking – A, B, C, DSynthesising – DTransferring knowledge – DUnderstanding – BUnitary – DWriting – D, E

Abilities imparted

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Figure 3.4: Abilities needed

22

Adapting – C

Analysing – B, C

Application – A, E

Behavioural – B, C

Believing – C

Caring – C

Committing – C

Communicating – A, C

Comprehending – B, C

Computer literacy – C

Creativity – B, C, E

Critical – A, B, C, D, E

Eliminating – C

Emotional – C

Empathy – C

For agriculture – A, B

For being organised – C

For being rationale – C

For character – B

For cleanliness – A

For coursework/project works – A, B, C, E

For democratic society – B, E

For employment – A, B

For functioning in market economy – B

For having scientific attitude – B

For health – A

For income generation – A

For independent thinking – D

For job – B, C

For life – A, B, C, E

For participating in national, political process – B

For self employment – A

For sharing personal experience – E

For society – B

For use without a certificate – A

Group work – C

Higher level – C, B

Humane – C

Hypothesising – C, E

Imagining – A, B

Innovating – E

Interacting – B

Interpreting – A

Investigating – A

Judging – C

Listening (Nepali) – C

Local – A, B

Marketable – C

Mathematical problem solving – B

Meaningful – C

Opinion – B, D, E

Planning – C

Playing – C

Practical – C, E

Predicting – C

Problem solving – A, B, C, E

Processing – C

Producing – B

Programming – C

Reasoning – B, C

Reflecting – C

Researching – B, C, E

Scrutinising – D

Social – A

Speaking (Nepali) – C

Technical – A, C

Thinking – C

Transferring – E

Translating – C

Vocational – A, C, E

Abilities needed

Page 23: Thesis 10

Areas of consensus

Gathering the abilities that people have mentioned as needed or imparted through

what was said in semi-structured interviews is not necessarily a reliable way of

determining which abilities are imparted or are needed. Yet when all interviewees

appear to agree that certain abilities are imparted or needed, the interviews at least can

bring to mind some of the abilities that are worth thinking about. It is unreliable in

that interviewees will not necessarily mention all the skills that they know are

imparted or feel are needed during the interview. But if an interviewee feels strongly

enough about an ability that is lacking or imparted than it is expected that they would

voice that.

When 4 out of 5 interviewees mention the testing of, or a need for a certain ability,

the interviews suggest fairly strongly that the ability could be is imparted or needed.

This is unless the remaining interviewee opposes the suggestion. Something agreed

upon by 3 out of 5 respondents will be noted.

Areas of consensus: Abilities imparted

Memorising – A, B, C, D, E

Practical – A, B, C, D, E

Knowing – A, B, C, D, E

Listening – A, B, C, D

Speaking – A, B, C, D

Reproducing – B, D, E

As can be seen memorizing abilities, practical abilities and knowing abilities are seen

as imparted by all interviewees. In four out of five interviews respondents mention the

testing of listening and speaking skills. Listening and speaking have recently been

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added to the evaluation in English which probably explains why they are mentioned.

The same is true for practical science. A couple of SLC graduates showed me their

marks for the Science practical (which were remarkably high – see annex page A-

219).

Memory skills

According to Bloom (1971), knowledge is the ability to recall and remember.41

‘Knowing’, ‘memorizing’ and ‘recalling’ are therefore seen as being the same.

Memorising, recalling or knowing, are certainly said to be tested. In fact the issue

was not that they are tested, but that it is felt they tested to excess.

“SLC examination is like vomiting. They consume and vomit in the test paper. That’s

the one, and re-call these guide books to prepare for the examination” (A.76).

“Our culture, traditionally the teachers teach differently. They do not ask students to

apply the knowledge, they ask to memorise the information”. (E.18)

Interviewee E tells a story about a boy who memorised an essay for one topic and

struggled to write about a different topic he didn’t prepare for because he was relying

upon reproducing text he had memorised (see E.100-104). Interviewee C tells a story

whereby memorisation is so built in the system that it sometimes encourages children

give an answer in the text even if it is wrong (see C. 172).

Areas of consensus: Abilities needed

Particular interest is paid in this section because a perception than an ability is

lacking in the SLC examination would suggest that there are not enough abilities

41 Bloom (1971) p.201

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imparted in the SLC examination.

Abilities needed

Critical – A, B, C, D, E

For coursework/project works – A, B, C, E

For life – A, B, C, E

Problem solving – A, B, C, E

Creativity – B, C, E

Opinion – B, D, E

Researching – B, C, E

Vocational – A, C, E

As can been seen further needs in the SLC are perceived. Critical abilities are seen as

needed by all interviewees. Four out of five interviewees felt that problem solving,

life skills and coursework project works are needed. The need for life skills is notable

because according to Bista (1990), the teaching and learning of life skills is a practice

that failed to emerge from earlier on. Basic Schools on the principles of Mahatma

Gandhi came into being at the time of India’s independence. They emphasised

productive self-sufficiency. Yet the focus on skills training and commitment to work

was never really popular in Nepal and they failed to attain prestige and popularity.42

Disagreements

As can be seen on referral to figures 3.2 and 3.3, some abilities have been mentioned

as being both imparted and needed (and thereby not imparted) by the SLC

examination.

42 Bista (1990) p.120

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Firstly I wish to clear up confusion over a few of these disagreements – especially

where interviewees appear to contradict themselves. Interviewees C and E express a

need for practical abilities and yet they also say that practical abilities are imparted. I

imagine this is because they feel the need for practical abilities in other subjects and

not only in SLC science examinations. For listening ability, Interviewee C is referring

to the English subject when saying the skill is imparted and referring to Nepali subject

when expressing a need for the skill.

Following the discarding of those two disagreements there remains disagreement

over the presence of eleven abilities shown in table 3.2. Again, the letters listed

alongside the abilities denote the interviewees who mentioned those particular

abilities. Interestingly, for all the disagreements, respondents of interview D are

always the ones who say that the ability is imparted. After talking with them, I suggest

that their way of classifying a test item’s abilities is different the other interviewees.

Abilities imparted Abilities neededAnalysing - D Analysing - B, C

Application - D Application - A, EComprehending - D Comprehending - B, C

Creativity - D Creativity - B, C, EHigher level - D Higher level - C, B

Hypothesising - D Hypothesising - C, EImagining - D Imagining - A, BPlanning - D Planning - C

Problem solving - D Problem solving - A, B, C, EReasoning - D Reasoning - B, C

Transferring knowledge - D Transferring - E

Table 3.2

The disagreements have a bearing on conclusions that may be drawn. Problem-

solving is particularly controversial. Respondents of interview D differ with all four

respondents over the presence of problem solving. As problem solving is listed in the

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specification grid for mathematics,43 the respondents of interview D provided an

example of a problem solving question44

“172. Twenty years ago, father’s age was five times his son’s age. Now his age is

ten years, more than twice his son’s present age. Find their present ages. The, this

type of question is not a, comes under problem solving you know? Problem already,

problem is already given in the question, students can find the answers asked in the

questions.”(D.172)

From viewing this, the reader may judge for themselves whether they agree this

question is worthy being classified as a problem solving question. The point is that 4

out of 5 interviews expressed it as a needed ability. Interviewee B for example views

that problem solving is not imparted.

“The whole education system is producing people uh, who cannot question, who

cannot challenge, who cannot uh solve problems, who are only loyal to the

authority.” (B.90)

Interviewee B says the education system is producing people who cannot solve

problems (B.90). Interviewee E feels that the intention to ask problem solving

questions is there, but the ways in which the questions are answered are not by using

problem solving abilities (E.49-50). The conflict of views over the presence of

problem solving questions prevents one from concluding that problem solving is

perceived as needed in the interviews.

Are there enough abilities learnt as a result of what the SLC examination tests?

43 Office of Controller of Examinations (1999) p.2644 Nima Prakashan (2003b). The example was question 14 in a 2002 SLC Mathematics paper. The development region was not given in the Answer-Question book but the code was XR-403E1

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The answer according to the interviews is “No” because in the objectives it was

stated that if people voice a need for more abilities to be imparted than there currently

are, they imply the status quo is not satisfactory. As all five interviewees agree that

critical abilities are needed, and none of them has said that critical abilities are

imparted, I conclude that according to the interviews, not enough abilities are tested in

the SLC examination. The SLC examination is deemed not to be a satisfactory

measure for educational achievement. Other conclusions from the interviews which

may be worth considering is that a need for imparting life skills is has been expressed

and that a need for coursework/project works has been expressed. Both needs were

voiced by 4 out of 5 interviewees.

Examining questions of an exam paper

The 1999 Specification Grid specified the abilities that the examining authorities

intend to impart through the examinations. The abilities specified for SLC science

were the following:

Knowledge

Understanding

Application

Analysis

Synthesis

Evaluation

According to table 3.1 shown earlier, the results of the inspection imply that to answer

the questions successfully a candidate only would need to call upon the abilities of

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knowledge and understanding. The abilities of application, analysis, synthesis and

evaluation were seen to not be required for answering the questions correctly. The

method has suggested that such skills may not be imparted by the exam. Therefore,

according to the results of the question-by-question inspection of the examination

paper the SLC examination is seen to be not imparting enough abilities to achieve the

goals intended. As was the case for the interviews, the conclusion offered by the

inspection of the examination paper is that the SLC examination is not imparting a

satisfactory degree of learning outcomes. Ultimately, the interviews and inspection of

the examination paper both see the SLC examination as an unsatisfactory measure for

educational achievement in terms of the learning outcomes it imparts.

Concepts that emerged from the interviews

Some ideas were conveyed by a number of interviewees. The idea that the SLC

examination has improved in recent years, that there is a need to train question setters,

that change should be conducted holistically and the concept that Nepal’s education

system has inherited some aspects of the colonial Indian system are mentioned over

the next pages.

Improvements

“We are improving these qualities of questions and we are um using this uh

grade more strictly per year. It is um more um uh we are assessing more skills

and abilities than the examination of that previous year” (D.322)

From the interviews, a notable point of view that emerged is the idea that the SLC

examination has improved in recent years. Interviewee A, C and D mention some of

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the improvements.

Interviewee A mentions that the introduction of English speaking and listening tests

are an improvement. A specification grid aiming to introduce higher level skills has

helped improved test items although the items may not successfully assess all targeted

skills even if they attempt to do so (A.56-A.60). Despite some unfulfilled intentions,

the respondent does feel that the test is improved from three years ago. There is

‘some’ improvement in test item quality (A.78-A.82).

In English, respondent C expresses a positive trend in English.

“So what’s happened now also in English is a positive trend is that in SLC you

don’t require textbooks anymore. For SLC. Because its, its learning, its examining

your skill um you, you know in the language” (C.100).

As was seen in the quote (D.332), respondents in D also feel there are

improvements being made. They feel the introduced specification grid has helped

widen the breadth of question types asked (D.266). The Secondary Education Support

Programme concurs with this theme in that it feels there are indications of

improvement in quality.45

Training for question setters

45 Ministry of Education (2002) p.45

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“It would be easiest to prepare test items at the lower level – recall type. That’s

pretty easy. While you move to the higher level, to construct test items in this

category, not easy I think so” (A.84).

A view held is that it is challenging to make examination questions for knowledge and

understanding. Interviewee C agrees with this (C.60-64). One of the problems for the

SLC examination is that test developers are not qualified. But respondent A feels that

the production of ‘higher-level’ items is still pretty scarce because qualified personnel

remain unavailable (A.78-84). Whatever good intentions test setters have, they need

to be capable of fulfilling them.

“You know the test developers. Guys who do the tests. They have not used to tests.

You know developing tests. So they need to be trained” (B.142).

Interviewee B suggests creating a core group of people (perhaps by giving them

training abroad) who are good at developing higher level items. They would then train

others and eventually the hope is that the capability would be spread (B.142-148).

Holistic change

“Teaching and examination and curriculum. They must go together. But, they, they

are not together. You know we try to improve curriculum, we try to improve teaching

uh through teacher training. But we do things in discreet, discreet manner you know”

(B.96)

To improve in the education sector, there must be change. This change should be

holistic. To help explain why this is important, Interviewee B mentioned an event

whereby the Social Studies curriculum changed but the examination for that subject

didn’t change. The pass rate from the examinations dropped suddenly as a result

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because students were orientated to the new curriculum that was actually

incompatible with the old exam (B.114-118). Respondent E feels that working

holistically can solve a lot of the problems currently experienced (E.250). Interviewee

E shared a personal account of when s/he tried to change the style of questioning at

Master degree level with limited success.

“What I sensed is students are tuned with that line (recall). They are repeating the

same information, or so they are writing the factual information but they are far

behind in applying that knowledge – even if I ask that kind of (application) questions”

(E.26)

The respondent thereby implied a need for changes throughout in order to make any

kind of change work (see paragraph E. 24-27). Respondent E felt that working

holistically can solve a lot of problems. Problems with the question papers, teachers,

students, culture need to be considered together (E.250).

There exists a feeling that a holistic approach for the improvement of secondary

education should be designed.46 Efforts made in isolation face the risk of conflicting

with established practices. To avoid such problems holistic change is stressed. Piece

meal changes are not sufficient for bringing a positive improvement in the secondary

education of Nepal.47

Inherited ways

This large domain observes a number of topics brought up by interviewees.

Interviewees have brought up issues such as the tradition of rote learning, the image

of an educated person and the inharmonious patterns of the education system and the

economy. Hints that such issues have been inherited from colonial India are made in

46 Singh (2000) p.3547 Singh (2000) p.35

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the discussion and a suggestion about the education system of Nepal is put forward in

conclusion.

Traditions in the system

“Traditionally we are taught to memorise the information. We are taught to um, to

um answer the factual information. So our teachers also expect that way, our students

also are tuned that way” (E.30).

As seen in the abilities and skills domain, interviewees felt memory skills are

heavily tested in the SLC examinations. Interviewee E identifies the rote-learning

environment (the asking of recall type questions, the students approach to learning

and the way of teaching in schools) as a tradition that has become established in

Nepal’s education (E.8). Where has it come from and why? A textbook-examination

relationship and the impact of centralisation are mentioned here.

Textbook culture

In colonial India students were examined on their study of specific texts, not on their

understanding of concepts or problems.48 In the question-by-question of the

examination paper (see annex pages A-215 to A-218) there were some questions that

required sections of information that were available in the textbook developed by the

Curriculum Development Centre. In interview D it is said that the SLC examination is

guided by the Curriculum Development Centre to a degree (D.266). Questions are

changed as per change in the curriculum (D.322). Since the Curriculum Development

Centre develops textbooks and the SLC is guided by the Curriculum Development

48 Kumar (1988) p.458

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Centre, a textbook-examination relationship in Nepali education is imaginable. If this

is the case then it is conceivable that the relationship was inherited from British India.

Impact of centralisation

“I mean we can, we can have a central, centralised system for common skills. You

know skills that are common, you can have a central system of examination uh but uh

those skills uh that are specific to you know certain regions, districts. Uh those skills

need, must be tested uh you know locally – at the regional level, or at the district level

or maybe at the, at the school level.”(B.38)

Interviewees were by and large advocates of decentralisation.

Interviewee C felt decentralisation of examination and curriculum is needed in order

to impart meaningful ‘life skills’ which Interviewee C feels are key in education

(C.204-206). In a section of dialogue Interviewee E says that various life skills across

the country should be accommodated for by the examinations (E.135-152). Yet this

respondent stressed the need for the student to learn about Nepal in general as well.

(E.151-152). Government staff (Interview D) briefly informed that they are proposing

to decentralise examination activities to the regional level (D.262).

Impact of centralisation: With relation to the local setting

One of the reasons why decentralisation is backed might be so that the student can

be more familiar with what and how they learn. So their learning becomes more

meaningful. Kumar mentions how the students resorted to memorising of text when

they were unable to read it for meaning as it may have seemed alien to a student’s

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milieu.49 In colonial India, the centralised examinations and textbooks transcended

local and regional specificity.50 Nepal’s SLC examination is also centralised. Given

the geographic and cultural diversity of a country like Nepal, it is unlikely that the

centralised examination can cater for local milieus in such a diverse country.

“Yeah it’s a diverse country. And there are multiple realities and this is simply not

possible for one (exam) board to you know take into account of all these you know,

multiple realities. Impossible, simply impossible” (B.80).

Ragsdale (1989) talks about how alien the centralised exam must have appeared to

children of a rural Kaski village.

“Questions dealing with an urban environment were, ‘What side of the road should

you walk on?’ (a meaningless idea in Lamnasa), ‘What is the official language of

offices in Morang zone?’, and ‘What are traffic police for?’ Children were told to

draw an airplane and to identify pictures of a train, a truck, a tractor, a car, a nurse

tending a patient in bed, and a bicycle”.51

In Ragsdale’s book, the student’s are in truth highly unsuccessful in the

examinations. Any effort to achieve success in their position would probably need to

entail a considerable level of memorising because the students cannot learn it for

meaning while in a local setting.

49 Kumar (1988) p.259-26050 Kumar (1988) p.45951 Ragsdale (1989) p.154

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Impact of centralisation: Language medium

In the field of language, one can imagine at least two ways in which centralisation

could have triggered traditions of rote learning in Nepal. One is through the use of

English medium and one is through the use of Nepali medium by Nepalis who didn’t

speak Nepali as their first language. Kumar (1988) noted the challenge the Indian

student faced when being educated in a foreign language (English).52 The train

Figure 3.5 Effect of using English medium53

of events that led one to rote memorise is illustrated in figure 3.5. One who struggled

with English faced the daunting task of using it for all other subjects. Lack of genuine

understanding would have taken its toll on what was grasped. The student didn’t want

to fail so s/he often resorted to memorising if unable to find a better solution.

As teaching and examination were initially conducted through English medium in

Nepal it is possible that a similar sequence of events was initiated and established by

students in Nepal.

52 Kumar (1988) p.46253 Sequence of events compiled from Kumar (1988) p.462

36

English used as a medium of instruction and examination

Students barely master this foreign language

Across various subjects students struggle to follow the language when they should be grasping the facts

Memorisation of the textbook content is a convenient way to avoid failure in the examination

Students cannot dedicate sufficient time and energy towards perfecting their understanding of English to the neglect of other subjects

Page 37: Thesis 10

Education in Nepali medium may still trigger a sequence of events like that shown

in figure 3.5 because Nepalis who don’t speak Nepali as a first language may struggle

with the language as well. For example, according to Ragsdale, Nepali spoken in

Gurung villages lacks the infusion of Sanskrit terms or complex construction that

marks educated speech.54 Ragsdale observed that Gurung children taking a third

grade examination were at a disadvantage because they could not completely

understand the instructions in the examination paper. It is plausible that students who

are not fluent in English or Nepali might be resorting to memorising as well.

Not many of the interviewees talked extensively about the language. Interviewee C

proposed the Nepali subject should have an easier more basic course designed for

Nepalis who didn’t speak Nepali as a first language (C.192-196). When asked

whether there was a way the education system overall could accommodate for

language, interviewee C was less upbeat. Respondent C suggested some literature in

other languages should be made available perhaps via some sort of community

libraries. For the moment though, the country is just not in a state of development to

cater for this issue on a large-scale (C.223-232).

The government policy is that primary level education should be in the mother

tongue according to respondents in D. They informed that textbooks are typed in

mother tongues like Newari and Bhojpuri. To move to secondary level though, one

has to learn Nepali (D.313-320).

Interviewee E felt that schools and students could partake in the language

development process and maintain it in that way but did not mention a large scale

solution (E.244)

The image of an educated person

“The moment you are through with your secondary education um you don’t uh you,

54 Ragsdale (1989) p.150

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you know you detach yourself from the rural setting. As if you don’t, you don’t belong

there.” (B.30)

A notion that interviewees informed me of was the image of an educated person that

exists in Nepal. An educated person disassociates oneself from the rural setting.

Interviewee B says that a concept of an education person has been borrowed from

India whereby an educated person is seen as someone who sits in a nice office in a

modern, sophisticated way. Away from remote areas, away from dust (B.44-46)

The portrayal is one whereby an educated person does not want to plough their

fields. Due to this, interviewee E suggests modernising informal jobs so that they

become acceptable to students (E.218). Respondent E refers to an ‘academy culture’

whereby the elite do non-agricultural stuff and the non-elite do various things (E.220).

This is in line with Bista’s idea presented in the introduction whereby educated people

associate themselves with upper classes and don’t feel obliged to do the work.55

Looking over what has been said, the image of an educated person is very much of

one who works in the formal sector. This formal sector ideal is once again displaying

some relation with colonial India. In colonial India, the sole job opportunities for ‘the

educated’ were found in the administrative domain.56 The education systems function

was in truth to produce personnel for that field only.

Economy-Education pattern

There has got to be you know harmony between education sector and the economic

55 Bista (1991) p.128-12956 Kumar (1988) p.460

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sector. So the economy is not performing well. If the economy is not performing well,

our graduates you know they just go nowhere. (B.58)

In colonial India a problem that soon surfaced was the fact that educational

opportunities quickly outnumbered the opportunities for employment following the

establishment of that particular education system. This is even though educational

opportunities remained very limited.57 A comparable scene is present day Nepal

where the educated struggle to find jobs. Interviewee E’s feelings are similar in that

s/he notes the incompatibility between the education and economy sector. Education

is expanding while the economic sector lags behind (E.223-228).

The fact that Nepal suffers a predicament akin to colonial India in terms of the

incompatibility between education and economy is perhaps a hint to a deeper meaning

in terms of what the model that of education that Nepal adopted.

Inherited ways concluded

The issues conveyed from the interviewees tempt one to speculate that by following

the British Model of India, Nepal has seemingly inherited a number of features in the

British Model of India. A tradition of rote learning possibly comes from some or all

of the features mentioned. A close-knit textbook-examination relationship has been

put forward as one of the causes. Centralisation and the way it did not account for

local settings of people is mentioned. The possibility of the language medium

encouraging rote-learning is also highlighted, be it English or Nepali medium. Also

possible is that the image of an educated person in Nepal is in some way related to the

employment opportunities of colonial India.

57 Kumar (1988) p.460

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The observing of an inharmonious education-economy pattern is what provokes a

considerable amount of concern because it typifies the circumstances in colonial

India. As Kumar writes,

“Colonial rule was not designed to, and never did, release the productive energies of

Indian society”.58

The colonial system of education had no reason to be any different from the system

of colonial rule. At the time examination system was a tool by which the regime could

determine promotion, scholarship and employment while at the same time give an

impression that they were fair and free of prejudice by appearing to award credit

where it is due.59 Whatever the plans of the regime in Nepal, a conceivable idea is that

Nepal followed a blemished system of education that was not actually operating in the

interests of local people. The textbooks and examinations of colonial India did not

intend to fuel an expansion of the economy and employment. They were a means of

maintaining norms.60

Chapter 4: Conclusion

The interviews and question-by-question inspection of the SLC examination gave

the impression that further skills and abilities are needed in order for the SLC

58 Kumar (1988) p.46059 Kumar (1988) p.45860 Kumar (1988) p.458

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examination to impart a satisfactory degree of learning outcomes. There was overall

agreement that critical abilities are needed. The interviews collectively expressed

fairly strongly that coursework/project work abilities are also required. The need for

imparting abilities for life was another fair strong impression that emerged.

The question-by-question inspection of an exam paper was highly critical. The

intention according to the specification grid was that questions would require the

candidate to perform the abilities of application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation in

the course of the test in addition to the knowledge and understanding abilities that

were judged to be imparted. Upon referral to table 3.2 one may feel that perhaps there

is some disagreement over how one should classify a test item. There should be

consensus over what a problem solving question is for example.

The interviews seemed to communicate an idea that the SLC has improved in recent

years. Some respondents felt that question setters need more training in order to attain

desired objectives (such as those in the specification grids for example). Yet it is

important that any improvements in question papers occur alongside improvements

across the rest of the education sector. Change in a holistic fashion is deemed

necessary. This is in order to alter deep rooted traditions. Such traditions have

seemingly been inherited by following a model from colonial India. It might be the

case that such a model was not designed with the best of intentions for local

populations.

The themes which emerged in the study were by and large determined by the

interviews. During the interviews, the writer’s impression was that usually the

respondent gave a sense that the SLC examination is in need, that the status quo is

certainly not acceptable for the near future. Rarely was there a sense of triumph or

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satisfaction over the present day scenario. Brief conversations with students gave a

different sense. The SLC exam is hard and demanding on one’s memory. But the

failure and fear or failure generated is accepted. Upon asking why the SLC was good,

a student replied “All people are following it. So it’s good”.

The SLC has a secure place in Nepal’s education system for the short and medium

term.61 As secondary education expands, the SLC examination will continue to

influence much of what goes on at the secondary level. If there is truth in what is

written in Article 4 of the World Declaration on Education for All, then judging by

the conclusions drawn in this study, the SLC examination has some more things to do

if the goal of secondary education is meaningful development.

References

Bista, D. B., 1990. Fatalism and Development: Nepal’s Struggle For Modernisation.

Calcutta: Orient Longman.

61 Ministry of Education (2002) p.45

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Bloom, B. S., 1972. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Book 1 Cognitive Domain.

Michigan: David McKay Company Inc.

CERID, 1996. SLC Examination in Nepal (A Critical Study Report). Kathmandu:

Tribhuvan University.

CERID, 1997. SLC Examination and classroom practice. Kathmandu: Tribhuvan

University.

Curriculum Development Centre, 2003. Science Grade 9. Bhaktapur, Janak Education

Materials Centre Ltd.

Dixit, S., 2002. Education, deception, state and society. In: K. M. Dixit and S.

Ramachandaran, eds. State of Nepal. Lalitpur: Himal Books, 193-211.

Greaney, V. and Kellaghan, T., 1996. Monitoring the Learning Outcomes of

Education Systems (Directions in Development). Washington D. C.: World Bank.

Heyneman, S. P., and Ransom, A. W., 1990. Using examinations and testing to

improve educational quality. Educational Policy, 4 (3), 177-192.

Kumar, K., 1988. Origins of India’s “Textbook Culture”, Comparative Education

Review, 32 (4), 452-464

Ministry of Education, 2002. Secondary Education Support Programme: Core

Document. Kathmandu: Ministry of Education.

Nima Pustak Prakashan, 2003a. S.L.C. Answer-Questions (Collection of Answer

Questions asked in the Examination): Compulsory Science (Including New

Amendment Model Science + Practical Examination). S.L.C. (2057-2059). (Grade – 9

& 10). Kathmandu: Nima Pustak Prakashan.

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Nima Pustak Prakashan, 2003b. S.L.C. Answer-Questions (Collection of Answer

Questions asked in the Examination): Compulsory Mathematics. S.L.C. (2057-2059).

(Grade – 9 & 10). Kathmandu: Nima Pustak Prakashan.

Office Of The Controller Of Examinations, 1999. Specification Grids (Including Test

items & Marking schemes): Grade 9 & 10. Bhaktapur: Office Of The Controller Of

Examinations.

Onta, P., 2000. Education: Finding a Ray of Hope. Economic and Political Weekly, 35

(47), 4093-4096.

Ragsdale, T. A., 1989. Once a Hermit Kingdom: Ethnicity, Education and National

Integration in Nepal. Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar.

Rajbhandari, P. and Wilmut, J., 2000. Assessment in Nepal. Assessment in Education,

7 (2), 256-269.

Singh, G.B., 2000, An Evaluative Study of Examination Reform Activity of SEDP

(emailed from author).

UNESCO, 1990, World Declaration on Education for All and Frame for Action to

meet basic learning needs. New York: Unesco.

Wilmut, 2001. Assessment and Examinations: Component Report. UK: Cambridge

Education consultants.

World Bank, 1994. Nepal: Critical Issues in Secondary Education and Options for

Reform. Washington D.C: World Bank, (12243-NEP).

World Bank, 2003. World Development Report 2003. Sustainable Development in a

Dynamic World: Transforming Institutions, Growth, and Quality of Life. New York:

World Bank and Oxford University Press

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References to websites:

www.doe.gov.np/SLC_result_main.htm

www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004391.html

Chapter 1: Introduction

The topic of study is the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination of Nepal.

The SLC

The SLC examination

The SLC examination is a centralised examination for the whole of Nepal. It is

managed by the Office of Controller of Examinations, a government office. The SLC

examination is taken by students at the end of class 10. The examination offers a

range of subjects of which some are compulsory and others optional.

The SLC curriculum

The SLC curriculum is designed by the Curriculum Development Centre and taught

over two years in classes 9 and 10. Students who complete lower secondary school

(classes 6-8) are able to study in secondary school (classes 9-10) and take the SLC

examination. Those who pass the SLC examination can go on to higher secondary

school (classes 11-12) which is also known as 10+2. The conduct of classes 9 and 10

culminating in the sitting of SLC examinations will be referred to as the SLC system.

At present, secondary school students take six compulsory subjects – Nepali, English,

Mathematics, Science, Social studies and Health Population and Environment – and

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two optional subjects. All subjects have year-end exams. Last year the number of

students taking the SLC examinations was just over 170,00062.

Background

The system of education prevailing in Nepal today is to some extent a prototype of

the Indian system.63 The first English High School, Durbar School was established in

1853 as part of a modernisation programme initiated by Jung Bahadur Rana following

his visit to France and England.64 The school followed the British Model of India.65

The SLC examination was first conducted in Nepal in 1929 in Kathmandu Valley.66 In

the initial years the examination was conducted by universities from outside of Nepal.

They were firstly conducted by Calcutta University and later by Patna University. In

1934 the Board of School Leaving Certificate was established in Nepal.67 During

these initial years, classroom instruction and examinations were conducted through

the medium of English.68

From the beginning there was an awareness of the potential of the educational

system as an instrument of change.69 The wary attitude of the Rana regime towards

education was illustrated through exiling of more liberal Rana Prime Ministers who

attempted to promote education nationwide.70 In reality, school was open only to

62 www.doe.gov.np/SLC_result_main.htm (1/1/2004)63 CERID (1996) p.364 Bista (1991) p.11965 CERID (1996) p.366 CERID (1996) p.367 CERID (1996) p.368 CERID (1996) p.369 Bista (1991) p.11870 see Bista (1991) p.119-120

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those in the Rana family and upper class close to them. Following the overthrow of

the Ranas, the lower classes began to access education. These newly educated people

have tended to equate themselves with the upper classes.71 In the words of Bista

(1991),

“Traditionally, education was designed solely for the high caste and highly placed

people, the newly educated people tend to equate themselves with these classes. That

is why we have so many educated people who do not want to work”.72

The SLC examination thereby becomes a point of interest in all this given its

nickname ‘Iron Gate’. The SLC according to Dixit (2002) is ‘where all the modern-

day desire for education among the Nepali population comes to rest’.73 During a visit

to Kathmandu I was able to meet a few people who were presumed to be well

acquainted with the SLC. I hoped to get them to share their views during half hour

conversations with them. Education experts, researchers, school principals,

government officials; what did they feel strongly about? Why? What do they think

that secondary education is for?

The context of Nepal

Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world with an annual income per capita

of $250.74 It is also the 40th most populous country in the world.75 The country is

largely composed of a mountainous terrain. Infrastructure and communications are

particularly scarce in the rural hill and mountain regions. At the same time the country

has a wealth of diversity – geographically, culturally and linguistically.

71 Bista (1991) p.12-12972 Bista (1991) p.128-12973 Dixit (2002) p.19374 World Bank (2003) p.23575 http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004391.html

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The SLC examination is centralised. It is conducted in two languages - English and

Nepali. Officially the development objective of Secondary Education is “to expand

quality secondary education for the needs of national development”.76 What is

intriguing to consider is whether the SLC examination is serving the needs of national

development. Though what are the needs of national development? What should the

SLC examination do in response to these needs? Would the people I talked with have

answers?

Rationale

Learning outcomes for meaningful development

According to the Article 4 of the World Declaration on Education for All…

“whether or not expanded educational opportunities will translate into meaningful

development – for an individual or for society – depends ultimately on whether people

actually learn as a result of those opportunities, i.e., whether they incorporate useful

knowledge, reasoning ability, skills and values.77”

Learning outcomes from education provision are therefore seen to be important for

achieving meaningful development from education provision. The government’s

provision of secondary education has expanded in the past decade.78 Are these

expanded educational opportunities translating into meaningful development?

According to Article 4 it would depend upon the learning outcomes that have resulted.

The importance of the SLC in learning outcomes

76 Ministry of Education (2002) p.377 UNESCO (1990) p.578 Ministry of Education (2002) p.3

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The SLC examination comes into the fray when one considers its part in

determining learning outcomes. It is said to guide teachers on what to teach, and the

students on what to learn.79 According to the World Bank, the official curriculum is

swept aside by the syllabus for the SLC examination.80 This is probably because the

SLC examination is the sole determinant of success or failure for schools, teachers

and students.81 It is a turnstile whereby the social, economic and political importance

exceeds the educational value and technical quality.82

Concerns

A cause for concern is the immense criticism the SLC examination has received.

A study of the SLC examination by the University of Cambridge Local Examination

Syndicate stated that “examination papers are seriously restricted in the range of skills

tested, concentrating mainly on the factual recall of textbook information and

sometimes encouraging the repetition of learned model answers based on the textbook

exercises”.83

Others have voiced the following about the SLC examination:

“SLC examination has only promoted rote learning. This is an undeniable

fact”.84

“The evaluation is not based on work done or the capability to do work, but

on the ability to regurgitate on the answer sheet what has been memorised”.85

79 CERID (1997) Preface80 World Bank (1994) p.1981 CERID (1997) p.5482 Ministry of Education (2002) p.4583 World Bank (1994) p.1984 CERID (1997) p.5385 Dixit (2002) p.202

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“The capabilities tested overemphasise recall, to the neglect of items

requiring candidates to exhibit comprehension and problem-solving skills.

Theoretical items predominate over items requiring practical application.”86

“The examination provides very rare opportunity to the students to imagine,

interpret, opine and think creatively”.87

From the standpoint of Article 4, if the examination that dominates secondary

education in Nepal is imparting a narrow range of learning outcomes, there is concern

that the efforts made in providing education for that level are not translating into

meaningful development because what people are learning is limited. This possible

state of affairs in the SLC is recapped in figure 1.1. The worrying scenario put

forward in figure 1.1 is one whereby an examination of dubious technical quality is

steering a whole country’s learning at secondary level.

86 World Bank (1994) p.2087 CERID (1997) p.5

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Figure 1.1

Yet such dominance of examinations in an education system is not uncommon. As

Heyneman and Ransom write,

“Examinations can be a powerful, low cost means of influencing the quality of what

teachers teach and what students learn in school…Examination agencies have an

important role to play in increasing the effectiveness of schools”.88

Examinations are usually able to provide only limited coverage of a curriculum.89

Nevertheless the scope of evaluation throughout education in Nepal is perceived as

88 Heyneman and Ransom (1990) p.17789 There are two reasons for this. 1) Because examinations are used to make decisions about certification and selection. For the sake of selection an examination may attempt to achieve maximum discrimination for those students for whom the probability of selection is high. This is done by excluding items that are easy or of intermediate difficulty; if most students answered an item correctly, the item would not discriminate among higher scoring students. However, tests made up solely of more difficult questions will not cover the whole curriculum or even attempt to do so (Greaney and Kellaghan 1996, p.32). 2) An examination that is expanded to provide adequate curriculum coverage may become too long (Greaney and Kellaghan 1996, p.32).

SLC examination is the sole determinant of success or failure for schools, teachers and students

There is obsessive interest in the SLC examination

The SLC examination guides teaching and learning

The SLC examination tests a narrow range of skills.

Few skills are taught and learnt in classrooms

Learning outcomes are low

Education provision fails to translate into meaningful development

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being far too narrow.90 There are limits to what the SLC examination can test but the

implication is that it might be able to cover an appreciably wider range of abilities

than it currently does.

Given the criticism in the rationale section, it appears that one of the needs of the

SLC examination for development is the testing of a wider range of skills. The

research will therefore by some degree take this into account.

Questions and objectives

Questions

1. Is the SLC examination a satisfactory measure for educational achievement in

terms of the learning outcomes it imparts?

2. What do interviewees convey through their views on the SLC examination?

Objectives

Objective for question 1: To conclude upon whether the SLC examination is, or is not

imparting a satisfactory degree of learning outcomes.

By a ‘satisfactory degree’ it is meant “is it enough?” Are there enough abilities

learnt as a result of what the SLC examination tests? For this study, whether there are

enough abilities learnt depends partly upon people’s opinions and partly upon whether

the goals of examining authorities are met. Concepts emerging from the interviews

may reinforce or oppose conclusions that are drawn.

90 Rajbhandari and Wilmut (2000) p.259

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- If people voice a need for more abilities to be imparted than there currently

are, they imply the status quo is not satisfactory

- If all the abilities that the examining authorities intend to impart are not

imparted by the examinations, then the goal is not achieved91. The

examinations would thereby be seen to perform unsatisfactorily.

Further objectives are to facilitate the objective for question one are for providing

information which can be used in meeting it. These further objectives are the

following:

To collect and analyse the views of people who are well acquainted

with the SLC examination

To examine a past SLC examination paper

To refer to literature related to the topic

Objective for question 2:

The objective is to collect and analyse the views of people who are well acquainted

with the SLC examination. In doing this one hopes to get an impression of what the

interviewees feel about the SLC examination.

Outputs from the objectives

The views of people

Results from an examination of an SLC examination paper

Concepts, themes, debates and other information from literature

91 The abilities the examination authorities intend to impart are assumed to be those in the Specification Grids. A Specification Grid specifies the skills to be tested as well as the weighting for each skill and sub-skill (Office of the Controller of Examinations 1999, p.1)

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Scope of the study

Numerous issues come to mind when the SLC examination is brought into the

limelight. Before ending the chapter I will briefly outline some issues which are of

importance to the SLC examination but which are outside the scope of the study.

Areas beyond the scope of the study

Pass rates

The pass rate of the 2003 SLC examination was 32.05 percent.92 The pass rate in itself

is not an issue to be covered in this study. The same goes for the pass mark.

Following I highlight some particular matters in the SLC examinations that have been

commented on in the past, but which I do not focus upon in the study.

Matters associated with the examination papers

Issues over mistakes in the spelling, grammar, proof reading and other typesetter

errors that crop up in an examination paper from time to time are not covered. Errors

in the translation of questions from Nepali to English (SLC exam papers give

questions in both languages) which could cause difficulties in understanding are not

of central concern in the study. The clarity of a question’s instruction is not studied

closely here. The quality of source material (such as pictures) and the consistency of

fonts used in examination papers are also not dealt with here. Comments over

92 www.doe.gov.np/SLC_result_main.htm (1/1/2004)

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questions with options; comparative levels of difficulty between two optional

questions is another issue left out of the study.

Certification

The current debate over whether a student should receive an overall certificate or be

certified per single subject is an issue not encompassed in the study. The issue over

whether candidates should be awarded in letter grading (A, B, C etc.) or raw marks or

percentages is not included in the study.

Public and Private schooling

The disparity between public and private schools in terms of teaching quality,

facilities and most notably pass rates (education as a marketable product is a part of

this). These issues are not within the scope of this dissertation.

Other issues

Whether evaluation should be strictly year-end or spread across the school year is an

issue not covered. Incomes for example affect a child’s ability to purchase textbooks

and past SLC examination papers. This factor is not looked at close up. The same

goes for opportunity costs of going to school.

Gender in the SLC examination is significant. For example one may note that girls

are especially vulnerable in SLC examinations. For example, some examination

centres are almost invariably staffed by men and have no separate toilets or

opportunities for personal privacy.93 I do not cover this in the study. The fact that

many students often have to travel long distances to exam centres and spend

numerous days away from home is notable. It is an issue beyond this study. Finally,

93 Wilmut (2001) p.25

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the study has not incorporated the impact of the country’s security situation on the

SLC examination.

Chapter 2: Methodology

Research Approach

In order to attain the desired objectives, use of appropriate research methods was

needed for obtaining the required primary data which would be qualitative in nature.

The work was exploratory in nature.

3. Semi-structured interviews were conducted

4. An examination of questions in an SLC examination paper took place

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How were the methods conducted?

Semi-structured interviews

A question paper was constructed before each interview. The interview question

papers were different for each respondent and often constructed after it was known

the interview would take place. Attempts were made to avoid asking difficult

icebreaker questions though the main emphasis was on designing questions that might

associate with the interviewee and their activities and hopefully get a response. The

interviews were recorded on audio tape and the recordings were transcribed before

data processing took place (see the Annex for interview question papers and

transcripts).

Examining questions of an exam paper

The 2003 SLC Science examination paper for the Western Development Region

was selected for this activity. The intention was to see if the questions imparted the

abilities as specified by the 1999 Specification Grid for SLC Science.94 As a point of

referral, Bloom’s ‘Taxonomy of Educational Objectives’95 was used. Some of

Bloom’s definitions could be found for the prescribed abilities of the specification

grid. In determining the abilities required for answering a question, the question and

answer of each test item (or exam question/task) was observed. To assist with

classifying a test item according to the ability it required, a Grade 9 textbook96 was

referred to as well. Notably, the textbook was made by the Curriculum Development

Centre (see the annex for a copy of the examination paper inspected and the question-

94 1999 SLC Science Specification Grid in Office of the Controller of Examinations (1999) p.3995 Bloom (1972)96 Curriculum Development Centre (2003)

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by-question inspection of the examination paper as well as a summary of Bloom’s

Taxonomy of Educational Objectives).

It is important to note that the inspection of the examination paper was influenced

by the assumption that some detrimental trends would come into play. For example, if

a question is repeated over a number of years or repeated with minor variations, then

the ability the student uses in answering the question is seen to be recalling because

s/he is assumed to be able to remember a similar problem from past papers.97

Questions that require information that is near matching information available in the

textbook were assumed to emphasise recall because the student may remember the

answer being discussed in the textbook.98 The questions were often approached with

the following question in mind.

“What ability does the candidate need to call upon in order to answer this question

successfully?”

The ability to refer to the answers of the Answer-Questions99 book and pages of the

textbook has in all likelihood led towards harsher inspection. If a guidebook’s answer

to a question was found to be more or less the same as content in the textbook I

assumed that the candidate would have been able to reproduce the textbook content.

Why were the methods chosen?

Semi-structured interviews

For both research questions, the intention was to hear the views and opinions of the

interviewee and encourage him/her to talk about things they felt were important for

97 Singh (2000) p.2298 Singh (2000) p.2299 Answer-Question books are reprints of past examination papers with answers written in. They are also referred to as guide books.

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the SLC examination because data collection was exploratory in nature. Semi-

structured interviews typically asked open ended questions to offer the flexibility and

openness needed for a respondent to give extensive replies. Further questions might

then be asked by the interviewer in response to what was said. The question paper

would determine a degree of direction during the 30+ minute conversations to ensure

coverage of intended fields.

Examining questions of an exam paper

In order to answer the first question of the study it was felt that it was necessary to

consult examination papers themselves at some point. An examination of all subject’s

question papers would have been more absolute and ideal but for the time it would

require and further complications (such as trying to decide whether questions impart

rather unspecific abilities like ‘skills’, ‘higher abilities’ and ‘practical abilities’ – see

How the sample was selected (below)). Singh (2000) studied the action verbs in a

question when categorising an item according to the ability it required.100 Personally it

was found that labelling the questions in this way is quite tricky in that the verb can

occasionally be deceptive in conveying the actual ability the question requires. One

must also be wary of the affect that textbooks, guide books and teaching-learning

practices can have.

How the sample was selected

Semi-structured interviews

Interviewees were selected purposefully in that I assumed them to be quite well

acquainted with the SLC system and hoped they would have some comments to make

about it. I anticipated they might feel strongly about certain issues and have insights

100 Singh (2000) p.19

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to share. Being in Kathmandu for the research, the selecting of people depended upon

whether they were present in the capital as well as whether they had time.

Interviewing was done in English which could have determined selection.

In reality the people I pursued were people I was told about when I visited offices,

research centres and ministries in Kathmandu. There must be many other prospective

interviewees in Kathmandu who I have not been referred to. I had little idea of who I

would meet when I first arrived in Nepal. Whether I wanted to interview someone

was often dependent upon recommendations from others. The occupations of the

interviewees are as follows:

Interviewee A: Researcher (on education)

Interviewee B: Education expert/Academic

Interviewee C: School principal

Interviewees for interview D: Government officials

Interviewee E: Education expert/Academic

Examining questions of an exam paper

The decision to examine the 2003 SLC Science examination was done purposefully.

The abilities prescribed for each compulsory subject by the 1999 Specification Grid

are in Table 2.1.

Subject Abilities specified for evaluationNepali Knowledge, Understanding, Practical skills, Higher abilitiesEnglish Knowledge, Understanding, Listening, Speaking, Reading,

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WritingMathematics Knowledge, Understanding, Skills, Problem solving

ScienceKnowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation

Social studiesKnowledge, Understanding, Higher abilities, Practical abilities

Health Population and Environment

Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation

SOURCE: Compiled from Office of Controller Examinations (1999)Table 2.1

Bloom (1956) classifies six main educational objectives in his taxonomy for the

cognitive domain which are as follows:

7. Knowledge

8. Comprehension

9. Application

10. Analysis

11. Synthesis

12. Evaluation

According to Bloom (1956), comprehension represents the lowest level of

understanding101. Thus, items deemed to require comprehension will come under

‘understanding’ for the inspection of examination questions. To ease the utilisation of

Bloom’s taxonomy when examining, subjects that specified abilities most closely

matching with the names of Bloom’s educational objectives were chosen. As can be

seen in table 2.1, the subjects of Science and Health Population and Environment

require a list of skills that nearly match the Bloom’s list of educational objectives. I

chose Science because it is probably a more familiar subject across most other

education systems. Choosing the 2003 examination paper was done to select the most

up to date edition at the time of writing. The paper examined was for the Western

101 Bloom (1971) p.204

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Development Region. The development region the examination is for is not believed

to be a significant factor. Each region should require the same from students.

Chapter 3: Results and discussion of findings

Results

Semi-structured interviews

The five interviews recorded on audio-tape were transcribed (see ‘Guide to interview

transcripts’ page A-3). The transcripts were read through and comments were written

alongside the written conversation which usually summarised what was being said.

Domains were formed upon referring to the summarised comments. In general,

themes mentioned by a number of interviewees were picked up and sometimes (as in

the case of the ‘Inherited ways’ domain), a number of themes were related to one

broad field. The five concepts and domains that emerged from the interviews are

displayed in brief in Figure 3.1.

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Figure 3.1: Concepts and domains

For the objectives of the first research question I firstly deal with the abilities and

skills domain (further results produced within this domain will be covered in the

discussion). The domain called “inherited ways” is about habits in education that

Nepal seems to share with colonial India. When interviewees spoke about traditional

practices, ideals and trends in Nepal, I felt it appropriate to bring an article by Kumar

(1988) into the discussion so it could mingle with the respondent’s ideas. The boxes

numbered 1, 3 and 4 are concepts that emerged from a number of interviewees.

The examining of questions in an exam paper

Categorising the questions was by reading the questions, viewing the answers to the

questions and referring to Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives as well as a

Grade 9 textbook. Some thought was required as well and admittedly the judgements

made may have been somewhat influenced by one’s opinion. Debate over this method

is probably inevitable. Comments are written in the question-by-question inspection

Abilities needed

5. Inherited

ways

Traditions in the system

The image of educated person

Economy-Education patterns

Abilities imparted2. Abilities and skills

4. Holistic change

63

1. Improvements

in the SLC examination

3. Training for

question setters

Page 64: Thesis 10

of an examination paper (see first a guide to the inspection on page A-208) in order to

clarify why the particular judgement was made. My inability to find a grade 10

textbook for Science somewhat limited the extent to which I could check textbooks.

Table 3.1: Results from an inspection of the 2003 SLC science examination (Western Development Region) Topic Abilities Physics Chemistry Biology

Astronomy + Geology SLC Science

Knowledge 20.67 14 21 7.5 63.17Understanding 9.33 1 1.5 0 11.83Application 0 0 0 0 0Analysis 0 0 0 0 0Synthesis 0 0 0 0 0Evaluation 0 0 0 0 0Total marks 30 15 22.5 7.5 75

On the left hand column the abilities that are meant to be tested in the exam are listed.

The number of marks awarded under each skill are shown in the table. As can be seen

in table 3.1, the inspection suggested that questions which require knowledge abilities

seem to dominate the examination. About 63 out of 75 marks (84 percent) are deemed

to reward knowledge skill. About 16 percent of the marks awarded were apparently

for performing understanding abilities. The results imply that one could answer all

questions successfully by using knowledge and understanding skills. Attention was

paid to Bloom’s taxonomy throughout the investigation.

Discussion of findings

Interviewing, inspecting an examination paper and literature provide the basis for

discussion. First there will be an observation of the skills and abilities named as either

imparted or needed by interviewee in order to answer the first objective with respect

to the interviews. The results of the inspection of an examination will also be used for

this objective. Following, some themes which appear to have emerged from

interviews are explored. These themes assist in developing an impression of what

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interviewees feel about the SLC examination. This is for the fulfilment of the

objective for the second research question.

Abilities and Skills

As seen in figure 3.2, the abilities (and skills) domain is divided into two sub-domains.

One of the sub-domains is called ‘Abilities imparted’ which are the abilities that

interviewees have said are tested in the examinations. The other sub-domain,

‘Abilities needed’ is for the abilities that interviewees have said are needed in the

examinations but are not currently tested in the examinations.

Figure 3.2

All the abilities that were mentioned by interviewees are listed in figures 3.3 and 3.4.

Figure 3.3 displays abilities that are said to be imparted by the SLC examination and

figure 3.4 displays abilities that are said to be needed in the SLC examination. The

letters listed next to the each ability indicate the interviewees who had mentioned

those particular abilities.

Figure 3.3: Abilities imparted

65

Abilities + skills

Abilities imparted

Abilities needed

Analysing – DApplication – DArt – CCompetence – DComprehending – DCooking – CCreativity – DDefining – CDescribing – DDifferentiating – DDiscussing – DDrawing – DEvaluating – DExamining – DExpanding – DFact gathering – EGrammar – DHigher level – DHypothesising – DImagining – DKnowing – A, B, C, D, EListening – A, B, C, DListing – CMemorising – A, B, C, D, EMusic – CPlanning – DPractical – A, B, C, D, EProblem solving – DReading – DReasoning – DRecalling – AReferring – DRelating – DReport making – DReproducing – B, D, ESpeaking – A, B, C, DSynthesising – DTransferring knowledge – DUnderstanding – BUnitary – DWriting – D, E

Abilities imparted

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Figure 3.4: Abilities needed

66

Adapting – C

Analysing – B, C

Application – A, E

Behavioural – B, C

Believing – C

Caring – C

Committing – C

Communicating – A, C

Comprehending – B, C

Computer literacy – C

Creativity – B, C, E

Critical – A, B, C, D, E

Eliminating – C

Emotional – C

Empathy – C

For agriculture – A, B

For being organised – C

For being rationale – C

For character – B

For cleanliness – A

For coursework/project works – A, B, C, E

For democratic society – B, E

For employment – A, B

For functioning in market economy – B

For having scientific attitude – B

For health – A

For income generation – A

For independent thinking – D

For job – B, C

For life – A, B, C, E

For participating in national, political process – B

For self employment – A

For sharing personal experience – E

For society – B

For use without a certificate – A

Group work – C

Higher level – C, B

Humane – C

Hypothesising – C, E

Imagining – A, B

Innovating – E

Interacting – B

Interpreting – A

Investigating – A

Judging – C

Listening (Nepali) – C

Local – A, B

Marketable – C

Mathematical problem solving – B

Meaningful – C

Opinion – B, D, E

Planning – C

Playing – C

Practical – C, E

Predicting – C

Problem solving – A, B, C, E

Processing – C

Producing – B

Programming – C

Reasoning – B, C

Reflecting – C

Researching – B, C, E

Scrutinising – D

Social – A

Speaking (Nepali) – C

Technical – A, C

Thinking – C

Transferring – E

Translating – C

Vocational – A, C, E

Abilities needed

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Areas of consensus

Gathering the abilities that people have mentioned as needed or imparted through

what was said in semi-structured interviews is not necessarily a reliable way of

determining which abilities are imparted or are needed. Yet when all interviewees

appear to agree that certain abilities are imparted or needed, the interviews at least can

bring to mind some of the abilities that are worth thinking about. It is unreliable in

that interviewees will not necessarily mention all the skills that they know are

imparted or feel are needed during the interview. But if an interviewee feels strongly

enough about an ability that is lacking or imparted than it is expected that they would

voice that.

When 4 out of 5 interviewees mention the testing of, or a need for a certain ability,

the interviews suggest fairly strongly that the ability could be is imparted or needed.

This is unless the remaining interviewee opposes the suggestion. Something agreed

upon by 3 out of 5 respondents will be noted.

Areas of consensus: Abilities imparted

Memorising – A, B, C, D, E

Practical – A, B, C, D, E

Knowing – A, B, C, D, E

Listening – A, B, C, D

Speaking – A, B, C, D

Reproducing – B, D, E

As can be seen memorizing abilities, practical abilities and knowing abilities are seen

as imparted by all interviewees. In four out of five interviews respondents mention the

testing of listening and speaking skills. Listening and speaking have recently been

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added to the evaluation in English which probably explains why they are mentioned.

The same is true for practical science. A couple of SLC graduates showed me their

marks for the Science practical (which were remarkably high – see annex page A-

219).

Memory skills

According to Bloom (1971), knowledge is the ability to recall and remember.102

‘Knowing’, ‘memorizing’ and ‘recalling’ are therefore seen as being the same.

Memorising, recalling or knowing, are certainly said to be tested. In fact the issue

was not that they are tested, but that it is felt they tested to excess.

“SLC examination is like vomiting. They consume and vomit in the test paper. That’s

the one, and re-call these guide books to prepare for the examination” (A.76).

“Our culture, traditionally the teachers teach differently. They do not ask students to

apply the knowledge, they ask to memorise the information”. (E.18)

Interviewee E tells a story about a boy who memorised an essay for one topic and

struggled to write about a different topic he didn’t prepare for because he was relying

upon reproducing text he had memorised (see E.100-104). Interviewee C tells a story

whereby memorisation is so built in the system that it sometimes encourages children

give an answer in the text even if it is wrong (see C. 172).

Areas of consensus: Abilities needed

Particular interest is paid in this section because a perception than an ability is

lacking in the SLC examination would suggest that there are not enough abilities

102 Bloom (1971) p.201

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imparted in the SLC examination.

Abilities needed

Critical – A, B, C, D, E

For coursework/project works – A, B, C, E

For life – A, B, C, E

Problem solving – A, B, C, E

Creativity – B, C, E

Opinion – B, D, E

Researching – B, C, E

Vocational – A, C, E

As can been seen further needs in the SLC are perceived. Critical abilities are seen as

needed by all interviewees. Four out of five interviewees felt that problem solving,

life skills and coursework project works are needed. The need for life skills is notable

because according to Bista (1990), the teaching and learning of life skills is a practice

that failed to emerge from earlier on. Basic Schools on the principles of Mahatma

Gandhi came into being at the time of India’s independence. They emphasised

productive self-sufficiency. Yet the focus on skills training and commitment to work

was never really popular in Nepal and they failed to attain prestige and popularity.103

Disagreements

As can be seen on referral to figures 3.2 and 3.3, some abilities have been mentioned

as being both imparted and needed (and thereby not imparted) by the SLC

examination.

103 Bista (1990) p.120

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Firstly I wish to clear up confusion over a few of these disagreements – especially

where interviewees appear to contradict themselves. Interviewees C and E express a

need for practical abilities and yet they also say that practical abilities are imparted. I

imagine this is because they feel the need for practical abilities in other subjects and

not only in SLC science examinations. For listening ability, Interviewee C is referring

to the English subject when saying the skill is imparted and referring to Nepali subject

when expressing a need for the skill.

Following the discarding of those two disagreements there remains disagreement

over the presence of eleven abilities shown in table 3.2. Again, the letters listed

alongside the abilities denote the interviewees who mentioned those particular

abilities. Interestingly, for all the disagreements, respondents of interview D are

always the ones who say that the ability is imparted. After talking with them, I suggest

that their way of classifying a test item’s abilities is different the other interviewees.

Abilities imparted Abilities neededAnalysing - D Analysing - B, C

Application - D Application - A, EComprehending - D Comprehending - B, C

Creativity - D Creativity - B, C, EHigher level - D Higher level - C, B

Hypothesising - D Hypothesising - C, EImagining - D Imagining - A, BPlanning - D Planning - C

Problem solving - D Problem solving - A, B, C, EReasoning - D Reasoning - B, C

Transferring knowledge - D Transferring - E

Table 3.2

The disagreements have a bearing on conclusions that may be drawn. Problem-

solving is particularly controversial. Respondents of interview D differ with all four

respondents over the presence of problem solving. As problem solving is listed in the

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specification grid for mathematics,104 the respondents of interview D provided an

example of a problem solving question105

“172. Twenty years ago, father’s age was five times his son’s age. Now his age is

ten years, more than twice his son’s present age. Find their present ages. The, this

type of question is not a, comes under problem solving you know? Problem already,

problem is already given in the question, students can find the answers asked in the

questions.”(D.172)

From viewing this, the reader may judge for themselves whether they agree this

question is worthy being classified as a problem solving question. The point is that 4

out of 5 interviews expressed it as a needed ability. Interviewee B for example views

that problem solving is not imparted.

“The whole education system is producing people uh, who cannot question, who

cannot challenge, who cannot uh solve problems, who are only loyal to the

authority.” (B.90)

Interviewee B says the education system is producing people who cannot solve

problems (B.90). Interviewee E feels that the intention to ask problem solving

questions is there, but the ways in which the questions are answered are not by using

problem solving abilities (E.49-50). The conflict of views over the presence of

problem solving questions prevents one from concluding that problem solving is

perceived as needed in the interviews.

Are there enough abilities learnt as a result of what the SLC examination tests?

104 Office of Controller of Examinations (1999) p.26105 Nima Prakashan (2003b). The example was question 14 in a 2002 SLC Mathematics paper. The development region was not given in the Answer-Question book but the code was XR-403E1

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The answer according to the interviews is “No” because in the objectives it was

stated that if people voice a need for more abilities to be imparted than there currently

are, they imply the status quo is not satisfactory. As all five interviewees agree that

critical abilities are needed, and none of them has said that critical abilities are

imparted, I conclude that according to the interviews, not enough abilities are tested in

the SLC examination. The SLC examination is deemed not to be a satisfactory

measure for educational achievement. Other conclusions from the interviews which

may be worth considering is that a need for imparting life skills is has been expressed

and that a need for coursework/project works has been expressed. Both needs were

voiced by 4 out of 5 interviewees.

Examining questions of an exam paper

The 1999 Specification Grid specified the abilities that the examining authorities

intend to impart through the examinations. The abilities specified for SLC science

were the following:

Knowledge

Understanding

Application

Analysis

Synthesis

Evaluation

According to table 3.1 shown earlier, the results of the inspection imply that to answer

the questions successfully a candidate only would need to call upon the abilities of

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knowledge and understanding. The abilities of application, analysis, synthesis and

evaluation were seen to not be required for answering the questions correctly. The

method has suggested that such skills may not be imparted by the exam. Therefore,

according to the results of the question-by-question inspection of the examination

paper the SLC examination is seen to be not imparting enough abilities to achieve the

goals intended. As was the case for the interviews, the conclusion offered by the

inspection of the examination paper is that the SLC examination is not imparting a

satisfactory degree of learning outcomes. Ultimately, the interviews and inspection of

the examination paper both see the SLC examination as an unsatisfactory measure for

educational achievement in terms of the learning outcomes it imparts.

Concepts that emerged from the interviews

Some ideas were conveyed by a number of interviewees. The idea that the SLC

examination has improved in recent years, that there is a need to train question setters,

that change should be conducted holistically and the concept that Nepal’s education

system has inherited some aspects of the colonial Indian system are mentioned over

the next pages.

Improvements

“We are improving these qualities of questions and we are um using this uh

grade more strictly per year. It is um more um uh we are assessing more skills

and abilities than the examination of that previous year” (D.322)

From the interviews, a notable point of view that emerged is the idea that the SLC

examination has improved in recent years. Interviewee A, C and D mention some of

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the improvements.

Interviewee A mentions that the introduction of English speaking and listening tests

are an improvement. A specification grid aiming to introduce higher level skills has

helped improved test items although the items may not successfully assess all targeted

skills even if they attempt to do so (A.56-A.60). Despite some unfulfilled intentions,

the respondent does feel that the test is improved from three years ago. There is

‘some’ improvement in test item quality (A.78-A.82).

In English, respondent C expresses a positive trend in English.

“So what’s happened now also in English is a positive trend is that in SLC you

don’t require textbooks anymore. For SLC. Because its, its learning, its examining

your skill um you, you know in the language” (C.100).

As was seen in the quote (D.332), respondents in D also feel there are

improvements being made. They feel the introduced specification grid has helped

widen the breadth of question types asked (D.266). The Secondary Education Support

Programme concurs with this theme in that it feels there are indications of

improvement in quality.106

Training for question setters

106 Ministry of Education (2002) p.45

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“It would be easiest to prepare test items at the lower level – recall type. That’s

pretty easy. While you move to the higher level, to construct test items in this

category, not easy I think so” (A.84).

A view held is that it is challenging to make examination questions for knowledge and

understanding. Interviewee C agrees with this (C.60-64). One of the problems for the

SLC examination is that test developers are not qualified. But respondent A feels that

the production of ‘higher-level’ items is still pretty scarce because qualified personnel

remain unavailable (A.78-84). Whatever good intentions test setters have, they need

to be capable of fulfilling them.

“You know the test developers. Guys who do the tests. They have not used to tests.

You know developing tests. So they need to be trained” (B.142).

Interviewee B suggests creating a core group of people (perhaps by giving them

training abroad) who are good at developing higher level items. They would then train

others and eventually the hope is that the capability would be spread (B.142-148).

Holistic change

“Teaching and examination and curriculum. They must go together. But, they, they

are not together. You know we try to improve curriculum, we try to improve teaching

uh through teacher training. But we do things in discreet, discreet manner you know”

(B.96)

To improve in the education sector, there must be change. This change should be

holistic. To help explain why this is important, Interviewee B mentioned an event

whereby the Social Studies curriculum changed but the examination for that subject

didn’t change. The pass rate from the examinations dropped suddenly as a result

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because students were orientated to the new curriculum that was actually

incompatible with the old exam (B.114-118). Respondent E feels that working

holistically can solve a lot of the problems currently experienced (E.250). Interviewee

E shared a personal account of when s/he tried to change the style of questioning at

Master degree level with limited success.

“What I sensed is students are tuned with that line (recall). They are repeating the

same information, or so they are writing the factual information but they are far

behind in applying that knowledge – even if I ask that kind of (application) questions”

(E.26)

The respondent thereby implied a need for changes throughout in order to make any

kind of change work (see paragraph E. 24-27). Respondent E felt that working

holistically can solve a lot of problems. Problems with the question papers, teachers,

students, culture need to be considered together (E.250).

There exists a feeling that a holistic approach for the improvement of secondary

education should be designed.107 Efforts made in isolation face the risk of conflicting

with established practices. To avoid such problems holistic change is stressed. Piece

meal changes are not sufficient for bringing a positive improvement in the secondary

education of Nepal.108

Inherited ways

This large domain observes a number of topics brought up by interviewees.

Interviewees have brought up issues such as the tradition of rote learning, the image

of an educated person and the inharmonious patterns of the education system and the

economy. Hints that such issues have been inherited from colonial India are made in

107 Singh (2000) p.35108 Singh (2000) p.35

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the discussion and a suggestion about the education system of Nepal is put forward in

conclusion.

Traditions in the system

“Traditionally we are taught to memorise the information. We are taught to um, to

um answer the factual information. So our teachers also expect that way, our students

also are tuned that way” (E.30).

As seen in the abilities and skills domain, interviewees felt memory skills are

heavily tested in the SLC examinations. Interviewee E identifies the rote-learning

environment (the asking of recall type questions, the students approach to learning

and the way of teaching in schools) as a tradition that has become established in

Nepal’s education (E.8). Where has it come from and why? A textbook-examination

relationship and the impact of centralisation are mentioned here.

Textbook culture

In colonial India students were examined on their study of specific texts, not on their

understanding of concepts or problems.109 In the question-by-question of the

examination paper (see annex pages A-215 to A-218) there were some questions that

required sections of information that were available in the textbook developed by the

Curriculum Development Centre. In interview D it is said that the SLC examination is

guided by the Curriculum Development Centre to a degree (D.266). Questions are

changed as per change in the curriculum (D.322). Since the Curriculum Development

Centre develops textbooks and the SLC is guided by the Curriculum Development

109 Kumar (1988) p.458

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Centre, a textbook-examination relationship in Nepali education is imaginable. If this

is the case then it is conceivable that the relationship was inherited from British India.

Impact of centralisation

“I mean we can, we can have a central, centralised system for common skills. You

know skills that are common, you can have a central system of examination uh but uh

those skills uh that are specific to you know certain regions, districts. Uh those skills

need, must be tested uh you know locally – at the regional level, or at the district level

or maybe at the, at the school level.”(B.38)

Interviewees were by and large advocates of decentralisation.

Interviewee C felt decentralisation of examination and curriculum is needed in order

to impart meaningful ‘life skills’ which Interviewee C feels are key in education

(C.204-206). In a section of dialogue Interviewee E says that various life skills across

the country should be accommodated for by the examinations (E.135-152). Yet this

respondent stressed the need for the student to learn about Nepal in general as well.

(E.151-152). Government staff (Interview D) briefly informed that they are proposing

to decentralise examination activities to the regional level (D.262).

Impact of centralisation: With relation to the local setting

One of the reasons why decentralisation is backed might be so that the student can

be more familiar with what and how they learn. So their learning becomes more

meaningful. Kumar mentions how the students resorted to memorising of text when

they were unable to read it for meaning as it may have seemed alien to a student’s

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milieu.110 In colonial India, the centralised examinations and textbooks transcended

local and regional specificity.111 Nepal’s SLC examination is also centralised. Given

the geographic and cultural diversity of a country like Nepal, it is unlikely that the

centralised examination can cater for local milieus in such a diverse country.

“Yeah it’s a diverse country. And there are multiple realities and this is simply not

possible for one (exam) board to you know take into account of all these you know,

multiple realities. Impossible, simply impossible” (B.80).

Ragsdale (1989) talks about how alien the centralised exam must have appeared to

children of a rural Kaski village.

“Questions dealing with an urban environment were, ‘What side of the road should

you walk on?’ (a meaningless idea in Lamnasa), ‘What is the official language of

offices in Morang zone?’, and ‘What are traffic police for?’ Children were told to

draw an airplane and to identify pictures of a train, a truck, a tractor, a car, a nurse

tending a patient in bed, and a bicycle”.112

In Ragsdale’s book, the student’s are in truth highly unsuccessful in the

examinations. Any effort to achieve success in their position would probably need to

entail a considerable level of memorising because the students cannot learn it for

meaning while in a local setting.

110 Kumar (1988) p.259-260111 Kumar (1988) p.459112 Ragsdale (1989) p.154

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Impact of centralisation: Language medium

In the field of language, one can imagine at least two ways in which centralisation

could have triggered traditions of rote learning in Nepal. One is through the use of

English medium and one is through the use of Nepali medium by Nepalis who didn’t

speak Nepali as their first language. Kumar (1988) noted the challenge the Indian

student faced when being educated in a foreign language (English).113 The train

Figure 3.5 Effect of using English medium114

of events that led one to rote memorise is illustrated in figure 3.5. One who struggled

with English faced the daunting task of using it for all other subjects. Lack of genuine

understanding would have taken its toll on what was grasped. The student didn’t want

to fail so s/he often resorted to memorising if unable to find a better solution.

As teaching and examination were initially conducted through English medium in

Nepal it is possible that a similar sequence of events was initiated and established by

students in Nepal.

113 Kumar (1988) p.462114 Sequence of events compiled from Kumar (1988) p.462

80

English used as a medium of instruction and examination

Students barely master this foreign language

Across various subjects students struggle to follow the language when they should be grasping the facts

Memorisation of the textbook content is a convenient way to avoid failure in the examination

Students cannot dedicate sufficient time and energy towards perfecting their understanding of English to the neglect of other subjects

Page 81: Thesis 10

Education in Nepali medium may still trigger a sequence of events like that shown

in figure 3.5 because Nepalis who don’t speak Nepali as a first language may struggle

with the language as well. For example, according to Ragsdale, Nepali spoken in

Gurung villages lacks the infusion of Sanskrit terms or complex construction that

marks educated speech.115 Ragsdale observed that Gurung children taking a third

grade examination were at a disadvantage because they could not completely

understand the instructions in the examination paper. It is plausible that students who

are not fluent in English or Nepali might be resorting to memorising as well.

Not many of the interviewees talked extensively about the language. Interviewee C

proposed the Nepali subject should have an easier more basic course designed for

Nepalis who didn’t speak Nepali as a first language (C.192-196). When asked

whether there was a way the education system overall could accommodate for

language, interviewee C was less upbeat. Respondent C suggested some literature in

other languages should be made available perhaps via some sort of community

libraries. For the moment though, the country is just not in a state of development to

cater for this issue on a large-scale (C.223-232).

The government policy is that primary level education should be in the mother

tongue according to respondents in D. They informed that textbooks are typed in

mother tongues like Newari and Bhojpuri. To move to secondary level though, one

has to learn Nepali (D.313-320).

Interviewee E felt that schools and students could partake in the language

development process and maintain it in that way but did not mention a large scale

solution (E.244)

The image of an educated person

“The moment you are through with your secondary education um you don’t uh you,

115 Ragsdale (1989) p.150

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you know you detach yourself from the rural setting. As if you don’t, you don’t belong

there.” (B.30)

A notion that interviewees informed me of was the image of an educated person that

exists in Nepal. An educated person disassociates oneself from the rural setting.

Interviewee B says that a concept of an education person has been borrowed from

India whereby an educated person is seen as someone who sits in a nice office in a

modern, sophisticated way. Away from remote areas, away from dust (B.44-46)

The portrayal is one whereby an educated person does not want to plough their

fields. Due to this, interviewee E suggests modernising informal jobs so that they

become acceptable to students (E.218). Respondent E refers to an ‘academy culture’

whereby the elite do non-agricultural stuff and the non-elite do various things (E.220).

This is in line with Bista’s idea presented in the introduction whereby educated people

associate themselves with upper classes and don’t feel obliged to do the work.116

Looking over what has been said, the image of an educated person is very much of

one who works in the formal sector. This formal sector ideal is once again displaying

some relation with colonial India. In colonial India, the sole job opportunities for ‘the

educated’ were found in the administrative domain.117 The education systems function

was in truth to produce personnel for that field only.

Economy-Education pattern

There has got to be you know harmony between education sector and the economic

116 Bista (1991) p.128-129117 Kumar (1988) p.460

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sector. So the economy is not performing well. If the economy is not performing well,

our graduates you know they just go nowhere. (B.58)

In colonial India a problem that soon surfaced was the fact that educational

opportunities quickly outnumbered the opportunities for employment following the

establishment of that particular education system. This is even though educational

opportunities remained very limited.118 A comparable scene is present day Nepal

where the educated struggle to find jobs. Interviewee E’s feelings are similar in that

s/he notes the incompatibility between the education and economy sector. Education

is expanding while the economic sector lags behind (E.223-228).

The fact that Nepal suffers a predicament akin to colonial India in terms of the

incompatibility between education and economy is perhaps a hint to a deeper meaning

in terms of what the model that of education that Nepal adopted.

Inherited ways concluded

The issues conveyed from the interviewees tempt one to speculate that by following

the British Model of India, Nepal has seemingly inherited a number of features in the

British Model of India. A tradition of rote learning possibly comes from some or all

of the features mentioned. A close-knit textbook-examination relationship has been

put forward as one of the causes. Centralisation and the way it did not account for

local settings of people is mentioned. The possibility of the language medium

encouraging rote-learning is also highlighted, be it English or Nepali medium. Also

possible is that the image of an educated person in Nepal is in some way related to the

employment opportunities of colonial India.

118 Kumar (1988) p.460

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The observing of an inharmonious education-economy pattern is what provokes a

considerable amount of concern because it typifies the circumstances in colonial

India. As Kumar writes,

“Colonial rule was not designed to, and never did, release the productive energies of

Indian society”.119

The colonial system of education had no reason to be any different from the system

of colonial rule. At the time examination system was a tool by which the regime could

determine promotion, scholarship and employment while at the same time give an

impression that they were fair and free of prejudice by appearing to award credit

where it is due.120 Whatever the plans of the regime in Nepal, a conceivable idea is

that Nepal followed a blemished system of education that was not actually operating

in the interests of local people. The textbooks and examinations of colonial India did

not intend to fuel an expansion of the economy and employment. They were a means

of maintaining norms.121

Chapter 4: Conclusion

The interviews and question-by-question inspection of the SLC examination gave

the impression that further skills and abilities are needed in order for the SLC

119 Kumar (1988) p.460120 Kumar (1988) p.458121 Kumar (1988) p.458

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examination to impart a satisfactory degree of learning outcomes. There was overall

agreement that critical abilities are needed. The interviews collectively expressed

fairly strongly that coursework/project work abilities are also required. The need for

imparting abilities for life was another fair strong impression that emerged.

The question-by-question inspection of an exam paper was highly critical. The

intention according to the specification grid was that questions would require the

candidate to perform the abilities of application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation in

the course of the test in addition to the knowledge and understanding abilities that

were judged to be imparted. Upon referral to table 3.2 one may feel that perhaps there

is some disagreement over how one should classify a test item. There should be

consensus over what a problem solving question is for example.

The interviews seemed to communicate an idea that the SLC has improved in recent

years. Some respondents felt that question setters need more training in order to attain

desired objectives (such as those in the specification grids for example). Yet it is

important that any improvements in question papers occur alongside improvements

across the rest of the education sector. Change in a holistic fashion is deemed

necessary. This is in order to alter deep rooted traditions. Such traditions have

seemingly been inherited by following a model from colonial India. It might be the

case that such a model was not designed with the best of intentions for local

populations.

The themes which emerged in the study were by and large determined by the

interviews. During the interviews, the writer’s impression was that usually the

respondent gave a sense that the SLC examination is in need, that the status quo is

certainly not acceptable for the near future. Rarely was there a sense of triumph or

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satisfaction over the present day scenario. Brief conversations with students gave a

different sense. The SLC exam is hard and demanding on one’s memory. But the

failure and fear or failure generated is accepted. Upon asking why the SLC was good,

a student replied “All people are following it. So it’s good”.

The SLC has a secure place in Nepal’s education system for the short and medium

term.122 As secondary education expands, the SLC examination will continue to

influence much of what goes on at the secondary level. If there is truth in what is

written in Article 4 of the World Declaration on Education for All, then judging by

the conclusions drawn in this study, the SLC examination has some more things to do

if the goal of secondary education is meaningful development.

References

Bista, D. B., 1990. Fatalism and Development: Nepal’s Struggle For Modernisation.

Calcutta: Orient Longman.

122 Ministry of Education (2002) p.45

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Bloom, B. S., 1972. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Book 1 Cognitive Domain.

Michigan: David McKay Company Inc.

CERID, 1996. SLC Examination in Nepal (A Critical Study Report). Kathmandu:

Tribhuvan University.

CERID, 1997. SLC Examination and classroom practice. Kathmandu: Tribhuvan

University.

Curriculum Development Centre, 2003. Science Grade 9. Bhaktapur, Janak Education

Materials Centre Ltd.

Dixit, S., 2002. Education, deception, state and society. In: K. M. Dixit and S.

Ramachandaran, eds. State of Nepal. Lalitpur: Himal Books, 193-211.

Greaney, V. and Kellaghan, T., 1996. Monitoring the Learning Outcomes of

Education Systems (Directions in Development). Washington D. C.: World Bank.

Heyneman, S. P., and Ransom, A. W., 1990. Using examinations and testing to

improve educational quality. Educational Policy, 4 (3), 177-192.

Kumar, K., 1988. Origins of India’s “Textbook Culture”, Comparative Education

Review, 32 (4), 452-464

Ministry of Education, 2002. Secondary Education Support Programme: Core

Document. Kathmandu: Ministry of Education.

Nima Pustak Prakashan, 2003a. S.L.C. Answer-Questions (Collection of Answer

Questions asked in the Examination): Compulsory Science (Including New

Amendment Model Science + Practical Examination). S.L.C. (2057-2059). (Grade – 9

& 10). Kathmandu: Nima Pustak Prakashan.

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Nima Pustak Prakashan, 2003b. S.L.C. Answer-Questions (Collection of Answer

Questions asked in the Examination): Compulsory Mathematics. S.L.C. (2057-2059).

(Grade – 9 & 10). Kathmandu: Nima Pustak Prakashan.

Office Of The Controller Of Examinations, 1999. Specification Grids (Including Test

items & Marking schemes): Grade 9 & 10. Bhaktapur: Office Of The Controller Of

Examinations.

Onta, P., 2000. Education: Finding a Ray of Hope. Economic and Political Weekly, 35

(47), 4093-4096.

Ragsdale, T. A., 1989. Once a Hermit Kingdom: Ethnicity, Education and National

Integration in Nepal. Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar.

Rajbhandari, P. and Wilmut, J., 2000. Assessment in Nepal. Assessment in Education,

7 (2), 256-269.

Singh, G.B., 2000, An Evaluative Study of Examination Reform Activity of SEDP

(emailed from author).

UNESCO, 1990, World Declaration on Education for All and Frame for Action to

meet basic learning needs. New York: Unesco.

Wilmut, 2001. Assessment and Examinations: Component Report. UK: Cambridge

Education consultants.

World Bank, 1994. Nepal: Critical Issues in Secondary Education and Options for

Reform. Washington D.C: World Bank, (12243-NEP).

World Bank, 2003. World Development Report 2003. Sustainable Development in a

Dynamic World: Transforming Institutions, Growth, and Quality of Life. New York:

World Bank and Oxford University Press

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References to websites:

www.doe.gov.np/SLC_result_main.htm

www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004391.html

Chapter 1: Introduction

The topic of study is the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination of Nepal.

The SLC

The SLC examination

The SLC examination is a centralised examination for the whole of Nepal. It is

managed by the Office of Controller of Examinations, a government office. The SLC

examination is taken by students at the end of class 10. The examination offers a

range of subjects of which some are compulsory and others optional.

The SLC curriculum

The SLC curriculum is designed by the Curriculum Development Centre and taught

over two years in classes 9 and 10. Students who complete lower secondary school

(classes 6-8) are able to study in secondary school (classes 9-10) and take the SLC

examination. Those who pass the SLC examination can go on to higher secondary

school (classes 11-12) which is also known as 10+2. The conduct of classes 9 and 10

culminating in the sitting of SLC examinations will be referred to as the SLC system.

At present, secondary school students take six compulsory subjects – Nepali, English,

Mathematics, Science, Social studies and Health Population and Environment – and

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two optional subjects. All subjects have year-end exams. Last year the number of

students taking the SLC examinations was just over 170,000123.

Background

The system of education prevailing in Nepal today is to some extent a prototype of

the Indian system.124 The first English High School, Durbar School was established in

1853 as part of a modernisation programme initiated by Jung Bahadur Rana following

his visit to France and England.125 The school followed the British Model of India.126

The SLC examination was first conducted in Nepal in 1929 in Kathmandu Valley.127

In the initial years the examination was conducted by universities from outside of

Nepal. They were firstly conducted by Calcutta University and later by Patna

University. In 1934 the Board of School Leaving Certificate was established in

Nepal.128 During these initial years, classroom instruction and examinations were

conducted through the medium of English.129

From the beginning there was an awareness of the potential of the educational

system as an instrument of change.130 The wary attitude of the Rana regime towards

education was illustrated through exiling of more liberal Rana Prime Ministers who

attempted to promote education nationwide.131 In reality, school was open only to

123 www.doe.gov.np/SLC_result_main.htm (1/1/2004)124 CERID (1996) p.3125 Bista (1991) p.119126 CERID (1996) p.3127 CERID (1996) p.3128 CERID (1996) p.3129 CERID (1996) p.3130 Bista (1991) p.118131 see Bista (1991) p.119-120

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those in the Rana family and upper class close to them. Following the overthrow of

the Ranas, the lower classes began to access education. These newly educated people

have tended to equate themselves with the upper classes.132 In the words of Bista

(1991),

“Traditionally, education was designed solely for the high caste and highly placed

people, the newly educated people tend to equate themselves with these classes. That

is why we have so many educated people who do not want to work”.133

The SLC examination thereby becomes a point of interest in all this given its

nickname ‘Iron Gate’. The SLC according to Dixit (2002) is ‘where all the modern-

day desire for education among the Nepali population comes to rest’.134 During a visit

to Kathmandu I was able to meet a few people who were presumed to be well

acquainted with the SLC. I hoped to get them to share their views during half hour

conversations with them. Education experts, researchers, school principals,

government officials; what did they feel strongly about? Why? What do they think

that secondary education is for?

The context of Nepal

Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world with an annual income per capita

of $250.135 It is also the 40th most populous country in the world.136 The country is

largely composed of a mountainous terrain. Infrastructure and communications are

particularly scarce in the rural hill and mountain regions. At the same time the country

has a wealth of diversity – geographically, culturally and linguistically.

132 Bista (1991) p.12-129133 Bista (1991) p.128-129134 Dixit (2002) p.193135 World Bank (2003) p.235136 http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004391.html

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The SLC examination is centralised. It is conducted in two languages - English and

Nepali. Officially the development objective of Secondary Education is “to expand

quality secondary education for the needs of national development”.137 What is

intriguing to consider is whether the SLC examination is serving the needs of national

development. Though what are the needs of national development? What should the

SLC examination do in response to these needs? Would the people I talked with have

answers?

Rationale

Learning outcomes for meaningful development

According to the Article 4 of the World Declaration on Education for All…

“whether or not expanded educational opportunities will translate into meaningful

development – for an individual or for society – depends ultimately on whether people

actually learn as a result of those opportunities, i.e., whether they incorporate useful

knowledge, reasoning ability, skills and values.138”

Learning outcomes from education provision are therefore seen to be important for

achieving meaningful development from education provision. The government’s

provision of secondary education has expanded in the past decade.139 Are these

expanded educational opportunities translating into meaningful development?

According to Article 4 it would depend upon the learning outcomes that have resulted.

The importance of the SLC in learning outcomes

137 Ministry of Education (2002) p.3138 UNESCO (1990) p.5139 Ministry of Education (2002) p.3

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The SLC examination comes into the fray when one considers its part in

determining learning outcomes. It is said to guide teachers on what to teach, and the

students on what to learn.140 According to the World Bank, the official curriculum is

swept aside by the syllabus for the SLC examination.141 This is probably because the

SLC examination is the sole determinant of success or failure for schools, teachers

and students.142 It is a turnstile whereby the social, economic and political importance

exceeds the educational value and technical quality.143

Concerns

A cause for concern is the immense criticism the SLC examination has received.

A study of the SLC examination by the University of Cambridge Local Examination

Syndicate stated that “examination papers are seriously restricted in the range of skills

tested, concentrating mainly on the factual recall of textbook information and

sometimes encouraging the repetition of learned model answers based on the textbook

exercises”.144

Others have voiced the following about the SLC examination:

“SLC examination has only promoted rote learning. This is an undeniable

fact”.145

“The evaluation is not based on work done or the capability to do work, but

on the ability to regurgitate on the answer sheet what has been memorised”.146

140 CERID (1997) Preface141 World Bank (1994) p.19142 CERID (1997) p.54143 Ministry of Education (2002) p.45144 World Bank (1994) p.19145 CERID (1997) p.53146 Dixit (2002) p.202

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“The capabilities tested overemphasise recall, to the neglect of items

requiring candidates to exhibit comprehension and problem-solving skills.

Theoretical items predominate over items requiring practical application.”147

“The examination provides very rare opportunity to the students to imagine,

interpret, opine and think creatively”.148

From the standpoint of Article 4, if the examination that dominates secondary

education in Nepal is imparting a narrow range of learning outcomes, there is concern

that the efforts made in providing education for that level are not translating into

meaningful development because what people are learning is limited. This possible

state of affairs in the SLC is recapped in figure 1.1. The worrying scenario put

forward in figure 1.1 is one whereby an examination of dubious technical quality is

steering a whole country’s learning at secondary level.

147 World Bank (1994) p.20148 CERID (1997) p.5

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Figure 1.1

Yet such dominance of examinations in an education system is not uncommon. As

Heyneman and Ransom write,

“Examinations can be a powerful, low cost means of influencing the quality of what

teachers teach and what students learn in school…Examination agencies have an

important role to play in increasing the effectiveness of schools”.149

Examinations are usually able to provide only limited coverage of a curriculum.150

Nevertheless the scope of evaluation throughout education in Nepal is perceived as

149 Heyneman and Ransom (1990) p.177150 There are two reasons for this. 1) Because examinations are used to make decisions about certification and selection. For the sake of selection an examination may attempt to achieve maximum discrimination for those students for whom the probability of selection is high. This is done by excluding items that are easy or of intermediate difficulty; if most students answered an item correctly, the item would not discriminate among higher scoring students. However, tests made up solely of more difficult questions will not cover the whole curriculum or even attempt to do so (Greaney and Kellaghan 1996, p.32). 2) An examination that is expanded to provide adequate curriculum coverage may become too long (Greaney and Kellaghan 1996, p.32).

SLC examination is the sole determinant of success or failure for schools, teachers and students

There is obsessive interest in the SLC examination

The SLC examination guides teaching and learning

The SLC examination tests a narrow range of skills.

Few skills are taught and learnt in classrooms

Learning outcomes are low

Education provision fails to translate into meaningful development

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being far too narrow.151 There are limits to what the SLC examination can test but the

implication is that it might be able to cover an appreciably wider range of abilities

than it currently does.

Given the criticism in the rationale section, it appears that one of the needs of the

SLC examination for development is the testing of a wider range of skills. The

research will therefore by some degree take this into account.

Questions and objectives

Questions

1. Is the SLC examination a satisfactory measure for educational achievement in

terms of the learning outcomes it imparts?

2. What do interviewees convey through their views on the SLC examination?

Objectives

Objective for question 1: To conclude upon whether the SLC examination is, or is not

imparting a satisfactory degree of learning outcomes.

By a ‘satisfactory degree’ it is meant “is it enough?” Are there enough abilities

learnt as a result of what the SLC examination tests? For this study, whether there are

enough abilities learnt depends partly upon people’s opinions and partly upon whether

the goals of examining authorities are met. Concepts emerging from the interviews

may reinforce or oppose conclusions that are drawn.

151 Rajbhandari and Wilmut (2000) p.259

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- If people voice a need for more abilities to be imparted than there currently

are, they imply the status quo is not satisfactory

- If all the abilities that the examining authorities intend to impart are not

imparted by the examinations, then the goal is not achieved152. The

examinations would thereby be seen to perform unsatisfactorily.

Further objectives are to facilitate the objective for question one are for providing

information which can be used in meeting it. These further objectives are the

following:

To collect and analyse the views of people who are well acquainted

with the SLC examination

To examine a past SLC examination paper

To refer to literature related to the topic

Objective for question 2:

The objective is to collect and analyse the views of people who are well acquainted

with the SLC examination. In doing this one hopes to get an impression of what the

interviewees feel about the SLC examination.

Outputs from the objectives

The views of people

Results from an examination of an SLC examination paper

Concepts, themes, debates and other information from literature

152 The abilities the examination authorities intend to impart are assumed to be those in the Specification Grids. A Specification Grid specifies the skills to be tested as well as the weighting for each skill and sub-skill (Office of the Controller of Examinations 1999, p.1)

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Scope of the study

Numerous issues come to mind when the SLC examination is brought into the

limelight. Before ending the chapter I will briefly outline some issues which are of

importance to the SLC examination but which are outside the scope of the study.

Areas beyond the scope of the study

Pass rates

The pass rate of the 2003 SLC examination was 32.05 percent.153 The pass rate in

itself is not an issue to be covered in this study. The same goes for the pass mark.

Following I highlight some particular matters in the SLC examinations that have been

commented on in the past, but which I do not focus upon in the study.

Matters associated with the examination papers

Issues over mistakes in the spelling, grammar, proof reading and other typesetter

errors that crop up in an examination paper from time to time are not covered. Errors

in the translation of questions from Nepali to English (SLC exam papers give

questions in both languages) which could cause difficulties in understanding are not

of central concern in the study. The clarity of a question’s instruction is not studied

closely here. The quality of source material (such as pictures) and the consistency of

fonts used in examination papers are also not dealt with here. Comments over

153 www.doe.gov.np/SLC_result_main.htm (1/1/2004)

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questions with options; comparative levels of difficulty between two optional

questions is another issue left out of the study.

Certification

The current debate over whether a student should receive an overall certificate or be

certified per single subject is an issue not encompassed in the study. The issue over

whether candidates should be awarded in letter grading (A, B, C etc.) or raw marks or

percentages is not included in the study.

Public and Private schooling

The disparity between public and private schools in terms of teaching quality,

facilities and most notably pass rates (education as a marketable product is a part of

this). These issues are not within the scope of this dissertation.

Other issues

Whether evaluation should be strictly year-end or spread across the school year is an

issue not covered. Incomes for example affect a child’s ability to purchase textbooks

and past SLC examination papers. This factor is not looked at close up. The same

goes for opportunity costs of going to school.

Gender in the SLC examination is significant. For example one may note that girls

are especially vulnerable in SLC examinations. For example, some examination

centres are almost invariably staffed by men and have no separate toilets or

opportunities for personal privacy.154 I do not cover this in the study. The fact that

many students often have to travel long distances to exam centres and spend

numerous days away from home is notable. It is an issue beyond this study. Finally,

154 Wilmut (2001) p.25

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the study has not incorporated the impact of the country’s security situation on the

SLC examination.

Chapter 2: Methodology

Research Approach

In order to attain the desired objectives, use of appropriate research methods was

needed for obtaining the required primary data which would be qualitative in nature.

The work was exploratory in nature.

5. Semi-structured interviews were conducted

6. An examination of questions in an SLC examination paper took place

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How were the methods conducted?

Semi-structured interviews

A question paper was constructed before each interview. The interview question

papers were different for each respondent and often constructed after it was known

the interview would take place. Attempts were made to avoid asking difficult

icebreaker questions though the main emphasis was on designing questions that might

associate with the interviewee and their activities and hopefully get a response. The

interviews were recorded on audio tape and the recordings were transcribed before

data processing took place (see the Annex for interview question papers and

transcripts).

Examining questions of an exam paper

The 2003 SLC Science examination paper for the Western Development Region

was selected for this activity. The intention was to see if the questions imparted the

abilities as specified by the 1999 Specification Grid for SLC Science.155 As a point of

referral, Bloom’s ‘Taxonomy of Educational Objectives’156 was used. Some of

Bloom’s definitions could be found for the prescribed abilities of the specification

grid. In determining the abilities required for answering a question, the question and

answer of each test item (or exam question/task) was observed. To assist with

classifying a test item according to the ability it required, a Grade 9 textbook157 was

referred to as well. Notably, the textbook was made by the Curriculum Development

Centre (see the annex for a copy of the examination paper inspected and the question-

155 1999 SLC Science Specification Grid in Office of the Controller of Examinations (1999) p.39156 Bloom (1972)157 Curriculum Development Centre (2003)

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by-question inspection of the examination paper as well as a summary of Bloom’s

Taxonomy of Educational Objectives).

It is important to note that the inspection of the examination paper was influenced

by the assumption that some detrimental trends would come into play. For example, if

a question is repeated over a number of years or repeated with minor variations, then

the ability the student uses in answering the question is seen to be recalling because

s/he is assumed to be able to remember a similar problem from past papers.158

Questions that require information that is near matching information available in the

textbook were assumed to emphasise recall because the student may remember the

answer being discussed in the textbook.159 The questions were often approached with

the following question in mind.

“What ability does the candidate need to call upon in order to answer this question

successfully?”

The ability to refer to the answers of the Answer-Questions160 book and pages of the

textbook has in all likelihood led towards harsher inspection. If a guidebook’s answer

to a question was found to be more or less the same as content in the textbook I

assumed that the candidate would have been able to reproduce the textbook content.

Why were the methods chosen?

Semi-structured interviews

For both research questions, the intention was to hear the views and opinions of the

interviewee and encourage him/her to talk about things they felt were important for

158 Singh (2000) p.22159 Singh (2000) p.22160 Answer-Question books are reprints of past examination papers with answers written in. They are also referred to as guide books.

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the SLC examination because data collection was exploratory in nature. Semi-

structured interviews typically asked open ended questions to offer the flexibility and

openness needed for a respondent to give extensive replies. Further questions might

then be asked by the interviewer in response to what was said. The question paper

would determine a degree of direction during the 30+ minute conversations to ensure

coverage of intended fields.

Examining questions of an exam paper

In order to answer the first question of the study it was felt that it was necessary to

consult examination papers themselves at some point. An examination of all subject’s

question papers would have been more absolute and ideal but for the time it would

require and further complications (such as trying to decide whether questions impart

rather unspecific abilities like ‘skills’, ‘higher abilities’ and ‘practical abilities’ – see

How the sample was selected (below)). Singh (2000) studied the action verbs in a

question when categorising an item according to the ability it required.161 Personally it

was found that labelling the questions in this way is quite tricky in that the verb can

occasionally be deceptive in conveying the actual ability the question requires. One

must also be wary of the affect that textbooks, guide books and teaching-learning

practices can have.

How the sample was selected

Semi-structured interviews

Interviewees were selected purposefully in that I assumed them to be quite well

acquainted with the SLC system and hoped they would have some comments to make

about it. I anticipated they might feel strongly about certain issues and have insights

161 Singh (2000) p.19

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to share. Being in Kathmandu for the research, the selecting of people depended upon

whether they were present in the capital as well as whether they had time.

Interviewing was done in English which could have determined selection.

In reality the people I pursued were people I was told about when I visited offices,

research centres and ministries in Kathmandu. There must be many other prospective

interviewees in Kathmandu who I have not been referred to. I had little idea of who I

would meet when I first arrived in Nepal. Whether I wanted to interview someone

was often dependent upon recommendations from others. The occupations of the

interviewees are as follows:

Interviewee A: Researcher (on education)

Interviewee B: Education expert/Academic

Interviewee C: School principal

Interviewees for interview D: Government officials

Interviewee E: Education expert/Academic

Examining questions of an exam paper

The decision to examine the 2003 SLC Science examination was done purposefully.

The abilities prescribed for each compulsory subject by the 1999 Specification Grid

are in Table 2.1.

Subject Abilities specified for evaluationNepali Knowledge, Understanding, Practical skills, Higher abilitiesEnglish Knowledge, Understanding, Listening, Speaking, Reading,

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WritingMathematics Knowledge, Understanding, Skills, Problem solving

ScienceKnowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation

Social studiesKnowledge, Understanding, Higher abilities, Practical abilities

Health Population and Environment

Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation

SOURCE: Compiled from Office of Controller Examinations (1999)Table 2.1

Bloom (1956) classifies six main educational objectives in his taxonomy for the

cognitive domain which are as follows:

13. Knowledge

14. Comprehension

15. Application

16. Analysis

17. Synthesis

18. Evaluation

According to Bloom (1956), comprehension represents the lowest level of

understanding162. Thus, items deemed to require comprehension will come under

‘understanding’ for the inspection of examination questions. To ease the utilisation of

Bloom’s taxonomy when examining, subjects that specified abilities most closely

matching with the names of Bloom’s educational objectives were chosen. As can be

seen in table 2.1, the subjects of Science and Health Population and Environment

require a list of skills that nearly match the Bloom’s list of educational objectives. I

chose Science because it is probably a more familiar subject across most other

education systems. Choosing the 2003 examination paper was done to select the most

up to date edition at the time of writing. The paper examined was for the Western

162 Bloom (1971) p.204

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Development Region. The development region the examination is for is not believed

to be a significant factor. Each region should require the same from students.

Chapter 3: Results and discussion of findings

Results

Semi-structured interviews

The five interviews recorded on audio-tape were transcribed (see ‘Guide to interview

transcripts’ page A-3). The transcripts were read through and comments were written

alongside the written conversation which usually summarised what was being said.

Domains were formed upon referring to the summarised comments. In general,

themes mentioned by a number of interviewees were picked up and sometimes (as in

the case of the ‘Inherited ways’ domain), a number of themes were related to one

broad field. The five concepts and domains that emerged from the interviews are

displayed in brief in Figure 3.1.

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Figure 3.1: Concepts and domains

For the objectives of the first research question I firstly deal with the abilities and

skills domain (further results produced within this domain will be covered in the

discussion). The domain called “inherited ways” is about habits in education that

Nepal seems to share with colonial India. When interviewees spoke about traditional

practices, ideals and trends in Nepal, I felt it appropriate to bring an article by Kumar

(1988) into the discussion so it could mingle with the respondent’s ideas. The boxes

numbered 1, 3 and 4 are concepts that emerged from a number of interviewees.

The examining of questions in an exam paper

Categorising the questions was by reading the questions, viewing the answers to the

questions and referring to Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives as well as a

Grade 9 textbook. Some thought was required as well and admittedly the judgements

made may have been somewhat influenced by one’s opinion. Debate over this method

is probably inevitable. Comments are written in the question-by-question inspection

Abilities needed

5. Inherited

ways

Traditions in the system

The image of educated person

Economy-Education patterns

Abilities imparted2. Abilities and skills

4. Holistic change

107

1. Improvements

in the SLC examination

3. Training for

question setters

Page 108: Thesis 10

of an examination paper (see first a guide to the inspection on page A-208) in order to

clarify why the particular judgement was made. My inability to find a grade 10

textbook for Science somewhat limited the extent to which I could check textbooks.

Table 3.1: Results from an inspection of the 2003 SLC science examination (Western Development Region) Topic Abilities Physics Chemistry Biology

Astronomy + Geology SLC Science

Knowledge 20.67 14 21 7.5 63.17Understanding 9.33 1 1.5 0 11.83Application 0 0 0 0 0Analysis 0 0 0 0 0Synthesis 0 0 0 0 0Evaluation 0 0 0 0 0Total marks 30 15 22.5 7.5 75

On the left hand column the abilities that are meant to be tested in the exam are listed.

The number of marks awarded under each skill are shown in the table. As can be seen

in table 3.1, the inspection suggested that questions which require knowledge abilities

seem to dominate the examination. About 63 out of 75 marks (84 percent) are deemed

to reward knowledge skill. About 16 percent of the marks awarded were apparently

for performing understanding abilities. The results imply that one could answer all

questions successfully by using knowledge and understanding skills. Attention was

paid to Bloom’s taxonomy throughout the investigation.

Discussion of findings

Interviewing, inspecting an examination paper and literature provide the basis for

discussion. First there will be an observation of the skills and abilities named as either

imparted or needed by interviewee in order to answer the first objective with respect

to the interviews. The results of the inspection of an examination will also be used for

this objective. Following, some themes which appear to have emerged from

interviews are explored. These themes assist in developing an impression of what

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interviewees feel about the SLC examination. This is for the fulfilment of the

objective for the second research question.

Abilities and Skills

As seen in figure 3.2, the abilities (and skills) domain is divided into two sub-domains.

One of the sub-domains is called ‘Abilities imparted’ which are the abilities that

interviewees have said are tested in the examinations. The other sub-domain,

‘Abilities needed’ is for the abilities that interviewees have said are needed in the

examinations but are not currently tested in the examinations.

Figure 3.2

All the abilities that were mentioned by interviewees are listed in figures 3.3 and 3.4.

Figure 3.3 displays abilities that are said to be imparted by the SLC examination and

figure 3.4 displays abilities that are said to be needed in the SLC examination. The

letters listed next to the each ability indicate the interviewees who had mentioned

those particular abilities.

Figure 3.3: Abilities imparted

109

Abilities + skills

Abilities imparted

Abilities needed

Analysing – DApplication – DArt – CCompetence – DComprehending – DCooking – CCreativity – DDefining – CDescribing – DDifferentiating – DDiscussing – DDrawing – DEvaluating – DExamining – DExpanding – DFact gathering – EGrammar – DHigher level – DHypothesising – DImagining – DKnowing – A, B, C, D, EListening – A, B, C, DListing – CMemorising – A, B, C, D, EMusic – CPlanning – DPractical – A, B, C, D, EProblem solving – DReading – DReasoning – DRecalling – AReferring – DRelating – DReport making – DReproducing – B, D, ESpeaking – A, B, C, DSynthesising – DTransferring knowledge – DUnderstanding – BUnitary – DWriting – D, E

Abilities imparted

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Figure 3.4: Abilities needed

110

Adapting – C

Analysing – B, C

Application – A, E

Behavioural – B, C

Believing – C

Caring – C

Committing – C

Communicating – A, C

Comprehending – B, C

Computer literacy – C

Creativity – B, C, E

Critical – A, B, C, D, E

Eliminating – C

Emotional – C

Empathy – C

For agriculture – A, B

For being organised – C

For being rationale – C

For character – B

For cleanliness – A

For coursework/project works – A, B, C, E

For democratic society – B, E

For employment – A, B

For functioning in market economy – B

For having scientific attitude – B

For health – A

For income generation – A

For independent thinking – D

For job – B, C

For life – A, B, C, E

For participating in national, political process – B

For self employment – A

For sharing personal experience – E

For society – B

For use without a certificate – A

Group work – C

Higher level – C, B

Humane – C

Hypothesising – C, E

Imagining – A, B

Innovating – E

Interacting – B

Interpreting – A

Investigating – A

Judging – C

Listening (Nepali) – C

Local – A, B

Marketable – C

Mathematical problem solving – B

Meaningful – C

Opinion – B, D, E

Planning – C

Playing – C

Practical – C, E

Predicting – C

Problem solving – A, B, C, E

Processing – C

Producing – B

Programming – C

Reasoning – B, C

Reflecting – C

Researching – B, C, E

Scrutinising – D

Social – A

Speaking (Nepali) – C

Technical – A, C

Thinking – C

Transferring – E

Translating – C

Vocational – A, C, E

Abilities needed

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Areas of consensus

Gathering the abilities that people have mentioned as needed or imparted through

what was said in semi-structured interviews is not necessarily a reliable way of

determining which abilities are imparted or are needed. Yet when all interviewees

appear to agree that certain abilities are imparted or needed, the interviews at least can

bring to mind some of the abilities that are worth thinking about. It is unreliable in

that interviewees will not necessarily mention all the skills that they know are

imparted or feel are needed during the interview. But if an interviewee feels strongly

enough about an ability that is lacking or imparted than it is expected that they would

voice that.

When 4 out of 5 interviewees mention the testing of, or a need for a certain ability,

the interviews suggest fairly strongly that the ability could be is imparted or needed.

This is unless the remaining interviewee opposes the suggestion. Something agreed

upon by 3 out of 5 respondents will be noted.

Areas of consensus: Abilities imparted

Memorising – A, B, C, D, E

Practical – A, B, C, D, E

Knowing – A, B, C, D, E

Listening – A, B, C, D

Speaking – A, B, C, D

Reproducing – B, D, E

As can be seen memorizing abilities, practical abilities and knowing abilities are seen

as imparted by all interviewees. In four out of five interviews respondents mention the

testing of listening and speaking skills. Listening and speaking have recently been

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added to the evaluation in English which probably explains why they are mentioned.

The same is true for practical science. A couple of SLC graduates showed me their

marks for the Science practical (which were remarkably high – see annex page A-

219).

Memory skills

According to Bloom (1971), knowledge is the ability to recall and remember.163

‘Knowing’, ‘memorizing’ and ‘recalling’ are therefore seen as being the same.

Memorising, recalling or knowing, are certainly said to be tested. In fact the issue

was not that they are tested, but that it is felt they tested to excess.

“SLC examination is like vomiting. They consume and vomit in the test paper. That’s

the one, and re-call these guide books to prepare for the examination” (A.76).

“Our culture, traditionally the teachers teach differently. They do not ask students to

apply the knowledge, they ask to memorise the information”. (E.18)

Interviewee E tells a story about a boy who memorised an essay for one topic and

struggled to write about a different topic he didn’t prepare for because he was relying

upon reproducing text he had memorised (see E.100-104). Interviewee C tells a story

whereby memorisation is so built in the system that it sometimes encourages children

give an answer in the text even if it is wrong (see C. 172).

Areas of consensus: Abilities needed

Particular interest is paid in this section because a perception than an ability is

lacking in the SLC examination would suggest that there are not enough abilities

163 Bloom (1971) p.201

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imparted in the SLC examination.

Abilities needed

Critical – A, B, C, D, E

For coursework/project works – A, B, C, E

For life – A, B, C, E

Problem solving – A, B, C, E

Creativity – B, C, E

Opinion – B, D, E

Researching – B, C, E

Vocational – A, C, E

As can been seen further needs in the SLC are perceived. Critical abilities are seen as

needed by all interviewees. Four out of five interviewees felt that problem solving,

life skills and coursework project works are needed. The need for life skills is notable

because according to Bista (1990), the teaching and learning of life skills is a practice

that failed to emerge from earlier on. Basic Schools on the principles of Mahatma

Gandhi came into being at the time of India’s independence. They emphasised

productive self-sufficiency. Yet the focus on skills training and commitment to work

was never really popular in Nepal and they failed to attain prestige and popularity.164

Disagreements

As can be seen on referral to figures 3.2 and 3.3, some abilities have been mentioned

as being both imparted and needed (and thereby not imparted) by the SLC

examination.

164 Bista (1990) p.120

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Firstly I wish to clear up confusion over a few of these disagreements – especially

where interviewees appear to contradict themselves. Interviewees C and E express a

need for practical abilities and yet they also say that practical abilities are imparted. I

imagine this is because they feel the need for practical abilities in other subjects and

not only in SLC science examinations. For listening ability, Interviewee C is referring

to the English subject when saying the skill is imparted and referring to Nepali subject

when expressing a need for the skill.

Following the discarding of those two disagreements there remains disagreement

over the presence of eleven abilities shown in table 3.2. Again, the letters listed

alongside the abilities denote the interviewees who mentioned those particular

abilities. Interestingly, for all the disagreements, respondents of interview D are

always the ones who say that the ability is imparted. After talking with them, I suggest

that their way of classifying a test item’s abilities is different the other interviewees.

Abilities imparted Abilities neededAnalysing - D Analysing - B, C

Application - D Application - A, EComprehending - D Comprehending - B, C

Creativity - D Creativity - B, C, EHigher level - D Higher level - C, B

Hypothesising - D Hypothesising - C, EImagining - D Imagining - A, BPlanning - D Planning - C

Problem solving - D Problem solving - A, B, C, EReasoning - D Reasoning - B, C

Transferring knowledge - D Transferring - E

Table 3.2

The disagreements have a bearing on conclusions that may be drawn. Problem-

solving is particularly controversial. Respondents of interview D differ with all four

respondents over the presence of problem solving. As problem solving is listed in the

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specification grid for mathematics,165 the respondents of interview D provided an

example of a problem solving question166

“172. Twenty years ago, father’s age was five times his son’s age. Now his age is

ten years, more than twice his son’s present age. Find their present ages. The, this

type of question is not a, comes under problem solving you know? Problem already,

problem is already given in the question, students can find the answers asked in the

questions.”(D.172)

From viewing this, the reader may judge for themselves whether they agree this

question is worthy being classified as a problem solving question. The point is that 4

out of 5 interviews expressed it as a needed ability. Interviewee B for example views

that problem solving is not imparted.

“The whole education system is producing people uh, who cannot question, who

cannot challenge, who cannot uh solve problems, who are only loyal to the

authority.” (B.90)

Interviewee B says the education system is producing people who cannot solve

problems (B.90). Interviewee E feels that the intention to ask problem solving

questions is there, but the ways in which the questions are answered are not by using

problem solving abilities (E.49-50). The conflict of views over the presence of

problem solving questions prevents one from concluding that problem solving is

perceived as needed in the interviews.

Are there enough abilities learnt as a result of what the SLC examination tests?

165 Office of Controller of Examinations (1999) p.26166 Nima Prakashan (2003b). The example was question 14 in a 2002 SLC Mathematics paper. The development region was not given in the Answer-Question book but the code was XR-403E1

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The answer according to the interviews is “No” because in the objectives it was

stated that if people voice a need for more abilities to be imparted than there currently

are, they imply the status quo is not satisfactory. As all five interviewees agree that

critical abilities are needed, and none of them has said that critical abilities are

imparted, I conclude that according to the interviews, not enough abilities are tested in

the SLC examination. The SLC examination is deemed not to be a satisfactory

measure for educational achievement. Other conclusions from the interviews which

may be worth considering is that a need for imparting life skills is has been expressed

and that a need for coursework/project works has been expressed. Both needs were

voiced by 4 out of 5 interviewees.

Examining questions of an exam paper

The 1999 Specification Grid specified the abilities that the examining authorities

intend to impart through the examinations. The abilities specified for SLC science

were the following:

Knowledge

Understanding

Application

Analysis

Synthesis

Evaluation

According to table 3.1 shown earlier, the results of the inspection imply that to answer

the questions successfully a candidate only would need to call upon the abilities of

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knowledge and understanding. The abilities of application, analysis, synthesis and

evaluation were seen to not be required for answering the questions correctly. The

method has suggested that such skills may not be imparted by the exam. Therefore,

according to the results of the question-by-question inspection of the examination

paper the SLC examination is seen to be not imparting enough abilities to achieve the

goals intended. As was the case for the interviews, the conclusion offered by the

inspection of the examination paper is that the SLC examination is not imparting a

satisfactory degree of learning outcomes. Ultimately, the interviews and inspection of

the examination paper both see the SLC examination as an unsatisfactory measure for

educational achievement in terms of the learning outcomes it imparts.

Concepts that emerged from the interviews

Some ideas were conveyed by a number of interviewees. The idea that the SLC

examination has improved in recent years, that there is a need to train question setters,

that change should be conducted holistically and the concept that Nepal’s education

system has inherited some aspects of the colonial Indian system are mentioned over

the next pages.

Improvements

“We are improving these qualities of questions and we are um using this uh

grade more strictly per year. It is um more um uh we are assessing more skills

and abilities than the examination of that previous year” (D.322)

From the interviews, a notable point of view that emerged is the idea that the SLC

examination has improved in recent years. Interviewee A, C and D mention some of

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the improvements.

Interviewee A mentions that the introduction of English speaking and listening tests

are an improvement. A specification grid aiming to introduce higher level skills has

helped improved test items although the items may not successfully assess all targeted

skills even if they attempt to do so (A.56-A.60). Despite some unfulfilled intentions,

the respondent does feel that the test is improved from three years ago. There is

‘some’ improvement in test item quality (A.78-A.82).

In English, respondent C expresses a positive trend in English.

“So what’s happened now also in English is a positive trend is that in SLC you

don’t require textbooks anymore. For SLC. Because its, its learning, its examining

your skill um you, you know in the language” (C.100).

As was seen in the quote (D.332), respondents in D also feel there are

improvements being made. They feel the introduced specification grid has helped

widen the breadth of question types asked (D.266). The Secondary Education Support

Programme concurs with this theme in that it feels there are indications of

improvement in quality.167

Training for question setters

167 Ministry of Education (2002) p.45

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“It would be easiest to prepare test items at the lower level – recall type. That’s

pretty easy. While you move to the higher level, to construct test items in this

category, not easy I think so” (A.84).

A view held is that it is challenging to make examination questions for knowledge and

understanding. Interviewee C agrees with this (C.60-64). One of the problems for the

SLC examination is that test developers are not qualified. But respondent A feels that

the production of ‘higher-level’ items is still pretty scarce because qualified personnel

remain unavailable (A.78-84). Whatever good intentions test setters have, they need

to be capable of fulfilling them.

“You know the test developers. Guys who do the tests. They have not used to tests.

You know developing tests. So they need to be trained” (B.142).

Interviewee B suggests creating a core group of people (perhaps by giving them

training abroad) who are good at developing higher level items. They would then train

others and eventually the hope is that the capability would be spread (B.142-148).

Holistic change

“Teaching and examination and curriculum. They must go together. But, they, they

are not together. You know we try to improve curriculum, we try to improve teaching

uh through teacher training. But we do things in discreet, discreet manner you know”

(B.96)

To improve in the education sector, there must be change. This change should be

holistic. To help explain why this is important, Interviewee B mentioned an event

whereby the Social Studies curriculum changed but the examination for that subject

didn’t change. The pass rate from the examinations dropped suddenly as a result

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because students were orientated to the new curriculum that was actually

incompatible with the old exam (B.114-118). Respondent E feels that working

holistically can solve a lot of the problems currently experienced (E.250). Interviewee

E shared a personal account of when s/he tried to change the style of questioning at

Master degree level with limited success.

“What I sensed is students are tuned with that line (recall). They are repeating the

same information, or so they are writing the factual information but they are far

behind in applying that knowledge – even if I ask that kind of (application) questions”

(E.26)

The respondent thereby implied a need for changes throughout in order to make any

kind of change work (see paragraph E. 24-27). Respondent E felt that working

holistically can solve a lot of problems. Problems with the question papers, teachers,

students, culture need to be considered together (E.250).

There exists a feeling that a holistic approach for the improvement of secondary

education should be designed.168 Efforts made in isolation face the risk of conflicting

with established practices. To avoid such problems holistic change is stressed. Piece

meal changes are not sufficient for bringing a positive improvement in the secondary

education of Nepal.169

Inherited ways

This large domain observes a number of topics brought up by interviewees.

Interviewees have brought up issues such as the tradition of rote learning, the image

of an educated person and the inharmonious patterns of the education system and the

economy. Hints that such issues have been inherited from colonial India are made in

168 Singh (2000) p.35169 Singh (2000) p.35

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the discussion and a suggestion about the education system of Nepal is put forward in

conclusion.

Traditions in the system

“Traditionally we are taught to memorise the information. We are taught to um, to

um answer the factual information. So our teachers also expect that way, our students

also are tuned that way” (E.30).

As seen in the abilities and skills domain, interviewees felt memory skills are

heavily tested in the SLC examinations. Interviewee E identifies the rote-learning

environment (the asking of recall type questions, the students approach to learning

and the way of teaching in schools) as a tradition that has become established in

Nepal’s education (E.8). Where has it come from and why? A textbook-examination

relationship and the impact of centralisation are mentioned here.

Textbook culture

In colonial India students were examined on their study of specific texts, not on their

understanding of concepts or problems.170 In the question-by-question of the

examination paper (see annex pages A-215 to A-218) there were some questions that

required sections of information that were available in the textbook developed by the

Curriculum Development Centre. In interview D it is said that the SLC examination is

guided by the Curriculum Development Centre to a degree (D.266). Questions are

changed as per change in the curriculum (D.322). Since the Curriculum Development

Centre develops textbooks and the SLC is guided by the Curriculum Development

170 Kumar (1988) p.458

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Centre, a textbook-examination relationship in Nepali education is imaginable. If this

is the case then it is conceivable that the relationship was inherited from British India.

Impact of centralisation

“I mean we can, we can have a central, centralised system for common skills. You

know skills that are common, you can have a central system of examination uh but uh

those skills uh that are specific to you know certain regions, districts. Uh those skills

need, must be tested uh you know locally – at the regional level, or at the district level

or maybe at the, at the school level.”(B.38)

Interviewees were by and large advocates of decentralisation.

Interviewee C felt decentralisation of examination and curriculum is needed in order

to impart meaningful ‘life skills’ which Interviewee C feels are key in education

(C.204-206). In a section of dialogue Interviewee E says that various life skills across

the country should be accommodated for by the examinations (E.135-152). Yet this

respondent stressed the need for the student to learn about Nepal in general as well.

(E.151-152). Government staff (Interview D) briefly informed that they are proposing

to decentralise examination activities to the regional level (D.262).

Impact of centralisation: With relation to the local setting

One of the reasons why decentralisation is backed might be so that the student can

be more familiar with what and how they learn. So their learning becomes more

meaningful. Kumar mentions how the students resorted to memorising of text when

they were unable to read it for meaning as it may have seemed alien to a student’s

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milieu.171 In colonial India, the centralised examinations and textbooks transcended

local and regional specificity.172 Nepal’s SLC examination is also centralised. Given

the geographic and cultural diversity of a country like Nepal, it is unlikely that the

centralised examination can cater for local milieus in such a diverse country.

“Yeah it’s a diverse country. And there are multiple realities and this is simply not

possible for one (exam) board to you know take into account of all these you know,

multiple realities. Impossible, simply impossible” (B.80).

Ragsdale (1989) talks about how alien the centralised exam must have appeared to

children of a rural Kaski village.

“Questions dealing with an urban environment were, ‘What side of the road should

you walk on?’ (a meaningless idea in Lamnasa), ‘What is the official language of

offices in Morang zone?’, and ‘What are traffic police for?’ Children were told to

draw an airplane and to identify pictures of a train, a truck, a tractor, a car, a nurse

tending a patient in bed, and a bicycle”.173

In Ragsdale’s book, the student’s are in truth highly unsuccessful in the

examinations. Any effort to achieve success in their position would probably need to

entail a considerable level of memorising because the students cannot learn it for

meaning while in a local setting.

171 Kumar (1988) p.259-260172 Kumar (1988) p.459173 Ragsdale (1989) p.154

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Impact of centralisation: Language medium

In the field of language, one can imagine at least two ways in which centralisation

could have triggered traditions of rote learning in Nepal. One is through the use of

English medium and one is through the use of Nepali medium by Nepalis who didn’t

speak Nepali as their first language. Kumar (1988) noted the challenge the Indian

student faced when being educated in a foreign language (English).174 The train

Figure 3.5 Effect of using English medium175

of events that led one to rote memorise is illustrated in figure 3.5. One who struggled

with English faced the daunting task of using it for all other subjects. Lack of genuine

understanding would have taken its toll on what was grasped. The student didn’t want

to fail so s/he often resorted to memorising if unable to find a better solution.

As teaching and examination were initially conducted through English medium in

Nepal it is possible that a similar sequence of events was initiated and established by

students in Nepal.

174 Kumar (1988) p.462175 Sequence of events compiled from Kumar (1988) p.462

124

English used as a medium of instruction and examination

Students barely master this foreign language

Across various subjects students struggle to follow the language when they should be grasping the facts

Memorisation of the textbook content is a convenient way to avoid failure in the examination

Students cannot dedicate sufficient time and energy towards perfecting their understanding of English to the neglect of other subjects

Page 125: Thesis 10

Education in Nepali medium may still trigger a sequence of events like that shown

in figure 3.5 because Nepalis who don’t speak Nepali as a first language may struggle

with the language as well. For example, according to Ragsdale, Nepali spoken in

Gurung villages lacks the infusion of Sanskrit terms or complex construction that

marks educated speech.176 Ragsdale observed that Gurung children taking a third

grade examination were at a disadvantage because they could not completely

understand the instructions in the examination paper. It is plausible that students who

are not fluent in English or Nepali might be resorting to memorising as well.

Not many of the interviewees talked extensively about the language. Interviewee C

proposed the Nepali subject should have an easier more basic course designed for

Nepalis who didn’t speak Nepali as a first language (C.192-196). When asked

whether there was a way the education system overall could accommodate for

language, interviewee C was less upbeat. Respondent C suggested some literature in

other languages should be made available perhaps via some sort of community

libraries. For the moment though, the country is just not in a state of development to

cater for this issue on a large-scale (C.223-232).

The government policy is that primary level education should be in the mother

tongue according to respondents in D. They informed that textbooks are typed in

mother tongues like Newari and Bhojpuri. To move to secondary level though, one

has to learn Nepali (D.313-320).

Interviewee E felt that schools and students could partake in the language

development process and maintain it in that way but did not mention a large scale

solution (E.244)

The image of an educated person

“The moment you are through with your secondary education um you don’t uh you,

176 Ragsdale (1989) p.150

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you know you detach yourself from the rural setting. As if you don’t, you don’t belong

there.” (B.30)

A notion that interviewees informed me of was the image of an educated person that

exists in Nepal. An educated person disassociates oneself from the rural setting.

Interviewee B says that a concept of an education person has been borrowed from

India whereby an educated person is seen as someone who sits in a nice office in a

modern, sophisticated way. Away from remote areas, away from dust (B.44-46)

The portrayal is one whereby an educated person does not want to plough their

fields. Due to this, interviewee E suggests modernising informal jobs so that they

become acceptable to students (E.218). Respondent E refers to an ‘academy culture’

whereby the elite do non-agricultural stuff and the non-elite do various things (E.220).

This is in line with Bista’s idea presented in the introduction whereby educated people

associate themselves with upper classes and don’t feel obliged to do the work.177

Looking over what has been said, the image of an educated person is very much of

one who works in the formal sector. This formal sector ideal is once again displaying

some relation with colonial India. In colonial India, the sole job opportunities for ‘the

educated’ were found in the administrative domain.178 The education systems function

was in truth to produce personnel for that field only.

Economy-Education pattern

There has got to be you know harmony between education sector and the economic

177 Bista (1991) p.128-129178 Kumar (1988) p.460

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sector. So the economy is not performing well. If the economy is not performing well,

our graduates you know they just go nowhere. (B.58)

In colonial India a problem that soon surfaced was the fact that educational

opportunities quickly outnumbered the opportunities for employment following the

establishment of that particular education system. This is even though educational

opportunities remained very limited.179 A comparable scene is present day Nepal

where the educated struggle to find jobs. Interviewee E’s feelings are similar in that

s/he notes the incompatibility between the education and economy sector. Education

is expanding while the economic sector lags behind (E.223-228).

The fact that Nepal suffers a predicament akin to colonial India in terms of the

incompatibility between education and economy is perhaps a hint to a deeper meaning

in terms of what the model that of education that Nepal adopted.

Inherited ways concluded

The issues conveyed from the interviewees tempt one to speculate that by following

the British Model of India, Nepal has seemingly inherited a number of features in the

British Model of India. A tradition of rote learning possibly comes from some or all

of the features mentioned. A close-knit textbook-examination relationship has been

put forward as one of the causes. Centralisation and the way it did not account for

local settings of people is mentioned. The possibility of the language medium

encouraging rote-learning is also highlighted, be it English or Nepali medium. Also

possible is that the image of an educated person in Nepal is in some way related to the

employment opportunities of colonial India.

179 Kumar (1988) p.460

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The observing of an inharmonious education-economy pattern is what provokes a

considerable amount of concern because it typifies the circumstances in colonial

India. As Kumar writes,

“Colonial rule was not designed to, and never did, release the productive energies of

Indian society”.180

The colonial system of education had no reason to be any different from the system

of colonial rule. At the time examination system was a tool by which the regime could

determine promotion, scholarship and employment while at the same time give an

impression that they were fair and free of prejudice by appearing to award credit

where it is due.181 Whatever the plans of the regime in Nepal, a conceivable idea is

that Nepal followed a blemished system of education that was not actually operating

in the interests of local people. The textbooks and examinations of colonial India did

not intend to fuel an expansion of the economy and employment. They were a means

of maintaining norms.182

Chapter 4: Conclusion

The interviews and question-by-question inspection of the SLC examination gave

the impression that further skills and abilities are needed in order for the SLC

180 Kumar (1988) p.460181 Kumar (1988) p.458182 Kumar (1988) p.458

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examination to impart a satisfactory degree of learning outcomes. There was overall

agreement that critical abilities are needed. The interviews collectively expressed

fairly strongly that coursework/project work abilities are also required. The need for

imparting abilities for life was another fair strong impression that emerged.

The question-by-question inspection of an exam paper was highly critical. The

intention according to the specification grid was that questions would require the

candidate to perform the abilities of application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation in

the course of the test in addition to the knowledge and understanding abilities that

were judged to be imparted. Upon referral to table 3.2 one may feel that perhaps there

is some disagreement over how one should classify a test item. There should be

consensus over what a problem solving question is for example.

The interviews seemed to communicate an idea that the SLC has improved in recent

years. Some respondents felt that question setters need more training in order to attain

desired objectives (such as those in the specification grids for example). Yet it is

important that any improvements in question papers occur alongside improvements

across the rest of the education sector. Change in a holistic fashion is deemed

necessary. This is in order to alter deep rooted traditions. Such traditions have

seemingly been inherited by following a model from colonial India. It might be the

case that such a model was not designed with the best of intentions for local

populations.

The themes which emerged in the study were by and large determined by the

interviews. During the interviews, the writer’s impression was that usually the

respondent gave a sense that the SLC examination is in need, that the status quo is

certainly not acceptable for the near future. Rarely was there a sense of triumph or

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satisfaction over the present day scenario. Brief conversations with students gave a

different sense. The SLC exam is hard and demanding on one’s memory. But the

failure and fear or failure generated is accepted. Upon asking why the SLC was good,

a student replied “All people are following it. So it’s good”.

The SLC has a secure place in Nepal’s education system for the short and medium

term.183 As secondary education expands, the SLC examination will continue to

influence much of what goes on at the secondary level. If there is truth in what is

written in Article 4 of the World Declaration on Education for All, then judging by

the conclusions drawn in this study, the SLC examination has some more things to do

if the goal of secondary education is meaningful development.

References

Bista, D. B., 1990. Fatalism and Development: Nepal’s Struggle For Modernisation.

Calcutta: Orient Longman.

183 Ministry of Education (2002) p.45

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Bloom, B. S., 1972. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Book 1 Cognitive Domain.

Michigan: David McKay Company Inc.

CERID, 1996. SLC Examination in Nepal (A Critical Study Report). Kathmandu:

Tribhuvan University.

CERID, 1997. SLC Examination and classroom practice. Kathmandu: Tribhuvan

University.

Curriculum Development Centre, 2003. Science Grade 9. Bhaktapur, Janak Education

Materials Centre Ltd.

Dixit, S., 2002. Education, deception, state and society. In: K. M. Dixit and S.

Ramachandaran, eds. State of Nepal. Lalitpur: Himal Books, 193-211.

Greaney, V. and Kellaghan, T., 1996. Monitoring the Learning Outcomes of

Education Systems (Directions in Development). Washington D. C.: World Bank.

Heyneman, S. P., and Ransom, A. W., 1990. Using examinations and testing to

improve educational quality. Educational Policy, 4 (3), 177-192.

Kumar, K., 1988. Origins of India’s “Textbook Culture”, Comparative Education

Review, 32 (4), 452-464

Ministry of Education, 2002. Secondary Education Support Programme: Core

Document. Kathmandu: Ministry of Education.

Nima Pustak Prakashan, 2003a. S.L.C. Answer-Questions (Collection of Answer

Questions asked in the Examination): Compulsory Science (Including New

Amendment Model Science + Practical Examination). S.L.C. (2057-2059). (Grade – 9

& 10). Kathmandu: Nima Pustak Prakashan.

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Nima Pustak Prakashan, 2003b. S.L.C. Answer-Questions (Collection of Answer

Questions asked in the Examination): Compulsory Mathematics. S.L.C. (2057-2059).

(Grade – 9 & 10). Kathmandu: Nima Pustak Prakashan.

Office Of The Controller Of Examinations, 1999. Specification Grids (Including Test

items & Marking schemes): Grade 9 & 10. Bhaktapur: Office Of The Controller Of

Examinations.

Onta, P., 2000. Education: Finding a Ray of Hope. Economic and Political Weekly, 35

(47), 4093-4096.

Ragsdale, T. A., 1989. Once a Hermit Kingdom: Ethnicity, Education and National

Integration in Nepal. Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar.

Rajbhandari, P. and Wilmut, J., 2000. Assessment in Nepal. Assessment in Education,

7 (2), 256-269.

Singh, G.B., 2000, An Evaluative Study of Examination Reform Activity of SEDP

(emailed from author).

UNESCO, 1990, World Declaration on Education for All and Frame for Action to

meet basic learning needs. New York: Unesco.

Wilmut, 2001. Assessment and Examinations: Component Report. UK: Cambridge

Education consultants.

World Bank, 1994. Nepal: Critical Issues in Secondary Education and Options for

Reform. Washington D.C: World Bank, (12243-NEP).

World Bank, 2003. World Development Report 2003. Sustainable Development in a

Dynamic World: Transforming Institutions, Growth, and Quality of Life. New York:

World Bank and Oxford University Press

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References to websites:

www.doe.gov.np/SLC_result_main.htm

www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004391.html

133


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