Letter grading system has made students careless, say experts,

Letter grading system has made students careless, say experts

The Ministry of Education adopted letter grading system for Secondary Education Examination in 2016 with the aim of improving the learning outcomes of students, but SEE results of the last three years tell a different story.

“Letter grading system has made students inactive and careless in their studies,” said Prof Mana Prasad Wagle, an educationist.

The SEE result published yesterday show that the number of students securing GPA less than 1.65 has increased. Those students who secure GPA less than 1.65 will not get admission in Grade XI as per the criteria set by the National Education Board.

In the year 2017, only two per cent students had scored GPA from 0.85 to 1.20 while it has increased by 10 per cent this year. In the same way, seven per cent students scored GPA from 1.25 to 1.60 this year while it was 14 per cent in 2017.

In the year 2016, a total of 16 per cent students did not meet the criteria to get admission in Grade XI. This year the percentage of such students has reached 19.

“Students who secure below ‘C' in any two subjects get a chance to give re-exams of these two particular subjects to improve their grades,” said Wagle. “Neither school nor the government has run special classes to help these students in their studies. So there is very less possibility that they will do better in re-exams,” he added.

Talking to The Himalayan Times Bidhyanath Koirala, another educationist, said that only focusing on curriculum and changing evaluation system would not improve the quality of education. “Grading system should be scrapped to improve learning outcomes of students,” he said.

source: the himalayan times, 25 june 2018