Prominent educationists have praised the government’s decision to remove multiple choice questions (MCQs) from public exams, although they said more measures had to be taken in order to stop question paper leaks.
In addition to criticizing MCQs as a poor method of testing, they said the mindset of teachers needed to be changed and surveillance stepped up to truly ensure fair examinations with little chance of cheating.
Dhaka University (DU) Professor Emeritus Serajul Islam Choudhury claimed the quality of students was worsening as a result of MCQs in exams, as well as the method being one of the easiest to cheat on.
“No one can determine whether MCQs are helping students to actually learn something or not. As I see it, the skill of students is deteriorating because of this MCQ system,” he said, adding that he was not in favour of MCQs even without the question leak issue.
The renowned academic urged the government to scrap MCQs in public exams not only to prevent question paper leaks, but also to ensure proper evaluation of merit.
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Meanwhile, prominent essayist and critic Salimullah Khan said there would be no progress in stopping question paper leaks until a sense of idealism can be ingrained in those associated with the preparation and distribution of exams.
“The government is mostly trying to deal with question paper leaks using technological methods, and that is why the key people behind such mismanagement have not been arrested yet. The Education Ministry should also brief and train teachers on idealism and morality, in addition to making itself corruption free if it really wants to prevent the leak of questions,” he added.
Furthermore, educationist and author Muhammed Zafar Iqbal suggested the government simplify the distribution process for exam papers to make them easier to monitor.
“There are numerous steps from the question paper being printed at the BG Press and getting to the exam centres, and the question leak takes place at various different steps of this process. I think we need to reduce the number of steps, as it would ease surveillance significantly,” he said.
He added that he was in favour of removing MCQs gradually, as most textbooks cater to the method and students may be discouraged from reading them if the section is removed.
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When asked, various parents and students echoed Zafar Iqbal in saying that students would face trouble if MCQs were removed immediately, as they were used to the system and would have to rapidly adjust.
The education ministry is currently facing significant criticism, as every question paper has been leaked through social media sites and messaging apps since the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent exams began on February 1 this year.
In an attempt to address the issue, State Minister for Education Kazi Keramat Ali on Monday told parliament that the government is planning to scrap multiple choice questions (MCQs) in public exams in phases.
The MCQ system was first introduced in Bangladesh in 1992, and the section was worth 50 marks out of 100 for exams.
However, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid told the Dhaka Tribune that the decision to reduce the mark allocation for MCQs by 10 was taken in 2015, and this was now being implemented as the first phase of the process to remove the section.