Paper leak, tuition, and legislation
January 1, 2013, 6:14 pm
, The Island
by Sarath B. S. Abayakoon
The Island editorial of
27th Dec. 2012, on "Of that question paper leak," addresses another
important issue that is seriously affecting our education system, in
particular, and the governance in general. As I wrote in one of my
previous articles, the school education in Sri Lanka is a topic that
needs to be thoroughly discussed as the system certainly needs a
complete overhauling. In this article, I will concentrate on the
specific issue of "tuition regulation by legislation" that is closely
connected to the "question paper leak" currently being discussed.
The
Minister of Education has stressed the need for new laws to introduce
deterrent punishment on those who are responsible for the recent leak
of examination papers. An on-line version of Ceylon Today has quoted,
under the heading "Tuition classes to be put under watch", the minister
as saying "the government is considering introducing regulations to
control the activities of private tuition classes and international
schools, following the incident of the GCE Ordinary Level Science paper
being leaked through a private tuition teacher". The report further
stated that "a special advisory committee, appointed by the ministry,
is now reviewing the steps to be taken to amend or introduce
legislation". The Island also reported in its on-line edition
thataccording to the minister, the existing laws under the Examinations
Act were far too lenient and that was one of the reasons why some
unscrupulous elements dared leak questions papers.
As
reported by Colombo Page online on December 29, the Minister of Higher
Education also says that a special countrywide study will be carried
out in 2013 on the status of tuition classes. It further reports that,
according to the ministry sources, the government is going to compile a
set of guidelines for tuition classes.
For the moment,
however, I would be happy if the authorities concentrate only on the
Examination Paper Leak, to make sure that such leaks will not be
repeated. The other issues must be dealt with a deeper understanding of
the problem. The country does not want another patchwork solution that
will adversely affect especially the underprivileged students making
the cure worse than the disease as we have noted many times, most
recently during the Z score fiasco of 2011. Further, I am certain that
many of the issues cannot be dealt with, only by "legislation".
Almost
40 years back, the district quota system was introduced for selecting
students for undergraduate studies at public universities. At that
time, the authorities stated that it was a temporary measure until a
scheme, that was being finalized by the government to bring all the
schools that prepares students for GCE (A/L) into one and the same
standard, is implemented. We all know what happened since then about
the standards of our school system and also of the district quota
system.
We do have a habit of coming out with patchwork
solutions to many of the major problems in education and higher
education in Sri Lanka – not that we are lacking such ad-hoc measures
in other spheres under government control. In fact, there are a plenty.
However, I believe extreme care should be exercised when one deals
with education as we have had more than sufficient ill-prepared schemes
that have already ruined at least one generation of our children.
There
is no doubt that tution is a menace, a huge one at that, and it is
time someone takes a look. It is necessary to realize that in order to
have free education for all, there should not be any tution classes,
period. However, the tution culture has now engulfed our system so much
that a systematic and focused programme is needed to get rid of this
menace, as it has taken roots in this money centered society, just like
the drug menace and other similar ills that have spread to all corners
of the society. I must confess here that although I am totally against
the tution culture, I too send my children to tution classes as there
is no getting away from it.
Let us have a look at some of the possible causes for the tution industry to thrive as they do today.
1. Limited opportunities for Higher Education
The
need to be at the top of the list among those who sit for the GCE
(A/L) examination so that they would be selected to enter the
Universities, makes the students do everything to beat others. This is
exploited by the tution market in several ways and naturally, the
students become the prey. The government and the authorities in
education and higher education must, without delay, address the need to
expand affordable higher education in the country where a person with
the minimum standard required to engage in higher education, will be
able to enter a university irrespective of his or her financial
situation.
2. Questionpapers
2.1 Preparation
The
established need to follow a standard pattern for questions,
predictability of questions and repetition of questions, are some of the
major reasons for the students to get attracted to tution classes.
This is a matter to be addressed at the level of preparation of
examination papers. More fundamentally, examination papers must contain
challenging questions that are designed to test the knowledge on the
subject, to drive students away from examination mentality to knowledge
mentality. Such a question paper will also enable the examiners to
clearly separate exceptional students from the others.
2.2 Security
It
is necessary to bring all the culprits of the recent leaking of the
examination papers to justice. It is also necessary to take all
precautions to prevent such leaks in the future. However, it must be
understood that selling of question papers or other similar acts
related to our examination system cannot be eradicated by legislation
only. This will continue as long as there will be a person to buy and
another to sell. There was a time when we had people with moral
standards irrespective of their financial situations who will not sell
out their principles for money. As The Island Editor points out,
Private tuition is a multi-billion-rupee industry and there are
"mudalalis" in the garb of tutors willing to spend a fortune on leaked
question papers as they are desperate to outcompete each other in a
highly competitive environment.
Buying and selling has
become the name of the game in our country. Even those at the highest
echelons work on the belief that everyone has a price and once it is
reached, he or she is bought. Unless we develop a generation of true
values again, we will have to live with buying and selling. Developing
such a generation must also come from a properly designed school
education system.
3. Quality of teaching and commitment of teachers
When
I was in the advanced level class, a few decades back, we had
excellent teachers. One of the teachers, who were assigned one full
subject and a half of another, out of four subjects, was the Vice
Principal of the college. As he could not attend the classes regularly,
we were actually worried until, another teacher who was also assigned
one and a half subjects, decided that he should take over. He ended up
teaching three out of four subjects, sometimes on evenings and
weekends. He did not charge a cent from us. In my class, only three
students out of a total about went for private tution and they were
known to be the weakest students in the group.
Even today,
we do have teachers of such quality and attitudes, although not many.
We have to admit that in general, over several decades, the quality of
teaching and the commitment of teachers have deteriorated in the public
school system. Further, even the dedicated teachers are finding it
difficult to disseminate knowledge in the way they want to, because of
the massive influence of tution classes on students.
4. School calendar and student attendance
Advanced
Level classes do not start in many government schools for about eight
months after the GCE (O/L) examination. This is attributed to the fact
of not having sufficient space to accommodate the students until one
group leaves the school after their A/L examinations in August of the
following year. This has become a golden opportunity for tution
providers to grab the students early, resulting in students losing
interest of their classes at school. A/L classes must start immediately
after the O/L examinations and this will make the material taught at
school classrooms more attractive to the students.
Although
there is an attendance requirement to sit for the A/L examination,
implementation and effectiveness of this is questionable.
5. Individual tuition
Individual
classes, mostly conducted at homes, have taken root among those who
can afford exuberant payments to tution providers. We have noted some
organizations requesting imposing of a ban on tution classes during days
of religious observations. Even from the government side, certain
restrictions of similar kind are being proposed. These proposals, if
implemented, affects only the students of poor families as the rich
students will continue to benefit from individual classes. Any kind of
restrictions on mass tution classes will only affect students of low
income families of the society.
6. Attraction to tution providers
One
of the key features of the drastic deterioration of Sri Lankan value
systems evident, especially since the introduction of the open economy
in 1977, is the inability to recognize the core and theassociated over
emphasis on the coating. This is true for tution masters also and they
exploit this to the letter. While the teachers of the national schools
are moderately dressed and use public transport to and from school,
tution masters display a rich lifestyle that attracts young students.
They portray themselves as belong to a higher class and unfortunately,
are seen as saviours by those who have twisted values, including many
students and parents.
As stated at the beginning, this
article also addresses only a single issue of many ills that have
engulfed our education system. Swift action by the authorities to
revisit the process is the need of the hour.
If the ministry
is serious about controlling evils that affect our education system,
with special reference to public examinations, it needs to base reforms
with the aim of complete eradication of the tution menace. This needs
elevation of social standards and the respect for teachers (No, I am not
proposing all of them to be commissioned as Brevet Colonels) including
a respectable salary for teachers, teacher training that emphasizes
re-introduction of values, a revisit on the total process of setting up,
printing and the distribution of examination papers, a better
education calendars for schools etc.
—————-
Sarath
B S Abayakoon is a Senior Professor in Civil Engineering at the
University of Peradeniya. He served as a member of the University Grants
Commission and also as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of
Peradeniya.
