Piecemeal solution?

DEVELOPMENTS in the education sector are always headline-grabbing. Amidst complaints about errors in question papers and irregularities in Z-scores, the Education Ministry has decided to ‘strengthen’ its supervisory role on the Department of Examination, and to overhaul its functions.

This move has been revealed by Ministry Secretary Gotabhaya Jayaratne, who told reporters that he would take steps to restructure the functions of the department to ensure that its credibility would not suffer in any of its activities in the future.

Jayaratne had rather optimistically pledged to leave no stone unturned in his quest to reform the activities of the Ministry and various institutions coming under it. Under this plan the internal administration of the department would be redeveloped with the assistance of the Ministry of Public Management Reforms.

These ambitious plans also include capacity development of officials and monitoring them under a review procedure much like the key performance indicators followed by the private sector. The Secretary is also confident that he can transfer long-entrenched teachers in prominent public schools in the country.

While the recent spate of exam oversights and general politicisation of the education sector calls for an overhaul of this magnitude it cannot be denied that this will be an arduous and time consuming process that could create as many problems as it solves. The deep entrenchment of politics and the many layers of bureaucracy not to mention the differentiation between provincial schools and national schools are all likely to stymie this endeavour.

Moreover, the Examinations Department has to find a way to sift out the mistakes of question papers which has caused so much tension over the past 12 months and reduced the faith people had in State examinations. The doubt created by wrong questions or papers has undermined the entire examination structure in the country and created doubt over the qualifications that it hands out.

As with other fields, education is also tied up in public perception and the continued impunity of education officials and politicians who either make crucial mistakes or allow them to happen is destroying the credibility of education professionals. By denying responsibility at the top, they have created an environment of impunity for others, resulting in the public having no confidence in their competence – from the Ministers downwards.

Navigating this quagmire will require much character, as the university teachers have already crippled the Examination Department by saying that they will not mark Advanced Level papers. This alone is enough to direct another volley of public angst against the body. After coming under fire for not releasing correct test papers, they and the Education Ministry will not be held responsible for any delays in paper marking.

The recent Cabinet paper, which was emphatically rejected by the university teachers, was a massive disappointment in that it was touted by the Government as being the essential “olive branch” that would end the stalemate, but proved to be a soppy document that failed to deal with any of the major demands made by the union. Such pussyfooting only extends the issues and leads to greater tension between the Government, teachers, students and parents. As the growing ferocity of student protests show, it’s time for more than departmental overhaul.