The Aga Khan University Examination Board (AKU-EB) will introduced e-marking system in the ninth and tenth classes examinations from April, 2006, for schools registered with it. Dr Thomas Christie, Director, AKU-EB, said at a press briefing on Wednesday at the AKUH to acquaint newsmen with the salient features of the examination board, that e-marking (electronic marking through the use of computers) would be the first such initiative in the South Asian region.
He said that many developed countries are only half way through as far as e-marking is concerned. "Even in England, at the University of Manchester, the system has covered only 80 percent of the road. It is yet to go further," he added.
Christie has served in the University of Manchester as Dean, Faculty of Education examination system. He has been to a number of countries, helping them develop teaching, training and examination systems. He has more than 40 years experience in the field of education.
He said that this system of e-marking would bring about a qualitative change in the examination system as it would be transparent, time-efficient, provide feedback to the examiners on his/her performance and develop analytical and critical thinking in the students.
This system is anti-rote method of learning, which means the students would prepare themselves with the help of books, libraries and by interacting with their teachers.
He said that e-marking is the way towards quality assurance and a tool to give credibility to methods of evaluation of a student and his teachers. This would also be reflective of the content of the syllabus and the curriculum drawn for examinations. There would be a continuous system of getting feedback about the students, teachers and the syllabus, he added.
Christie talked about the necessity of interaction between teachers, students and parents and said that teaching time distribution should have space for the teachers to go to the staff room and talk to their colleagues. The exchange of views and discussion on issues that involve content of syllabus is not taking place in many institutions. This hampers growth of many fruitful ideas that may otherwise be difficult to find.
In his opinion, teachers' training still lacks emphasis on providing support to teachers to understand issues so that they could firm up their ideas and find out answers to ticklish questions that students or parents may ask from time to time. This is necessary for removing misunderstanding about a subject, its content and effect on those who view an education system from a distance and raise objections with a view to slowing the process of evolution in teaching, training and examination system.
Dr Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, President of the AKU, in his introductory remarks traced the history of AKU-EB and said that a process that began way back in 1995 had matured in 2002 when the AKU-EB Ordinance was promulgated.
"We were not interested in taking any initiative in setting up the AKU-EB, but a large number of requests from the private sector educational institutions continued pouring in, and a time came when we decided to take the matter to the AKU Board of Trustees to debate the proposal.
"The arguments that were given were considerably weighty. They said that to think that AKU, being involved in higher medical education, was not expected to involve itself in secondary and lower secondary level examination was not valid. The examples of Cambridge University, Oxford University and many other educational institutions of higher education were there, supporting teaching, training and examination system at lower levels. If this is the case, why not AKU be involved in the lower level examination system."