To prevent question paper leaks, the government has decided to scrap MCQ questions from Primary Education Completion (PEC) examinations from this year, Minister for Primary and Mass Education Md Mustafizur Rahman MP has said.
“The MCQ part will be scrapped from the PEC exams slated to begin from November,” said the minister in a press briefing held in the Secretariat building on Tuesday.
He cited the example of the format used in Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations, and said that due to the format, there has been no scope for leaking HSC question papers.
“We are taking initiatives to prevent question paper leaks without the help of the law,” said Mustafizur.
“Previously, students had to tick the correct answers,” the minister continued. “Now, they have to write short answers of two or three lines.”
The minister further added that messages have been sent to schools informing them of the decision.
Other than the minister, Secretary of Primary and Mass Education Ministry Md Asif-Uz-Zaman, Additional Secretary Md Gias Uddin Ahmed, Additional Secretary Akram-Al-Hossain, and others were present during the press briefing.
Previously on February 18, the National Academy for Primary Examination (NAPE) issued a notice to hold PEC exams consisting of 100% creative and competency-based questions from this year.
The structure of PEC creative questions and mark distribution was finalized at a national workshop as per the ministry’s decision.
Competency-based questions would be formulated for each subject, the notice said.
In 2012, the PEC exam was held with 10% competency-based questions, while in 2013, 2014, 2015 it was held with 25%, 35% and 50% competency-based questions, respectively. In 2017, the PEC exam was held with 80% competency-based questions while it was 65% in 2016.
This article was first published on banglatribune.com