Manel Perera’s letter titled ‘Examiners stamping out the creativity of English language students’ (The Sunday Times, January 25) was timely. She has referred to the plight of G.C.E. A/Level students – which we all know is the most stressful exam in Sri Lanka.
However, I am sad to say this is what happens to the O/L English Literature students too. This has been the situation for the past several years. In 2007 (old syllabus) the same thing happened causing much distress to clever students. I too felt the same as Ms. Perera about some sadistic examiners butchering the helpless students’ answer scripts.
The subjectivity of literature in whatever language is obvious. Thus, examining teachers should be well versed in both language skills and literature content. Unfortunately, this is not so and Ms. Perera points out the disparity in grades observed in different subjects at the same exam. This is extremely unfair by these students who are trying their best to offer this subject amidst many obstacles.
The recently introduced English Literature new syllabus is a step in the right direction. But it has made matters ‘more confounded’ among teachers who are at sea without any organised in-service training. I refer to the situation in Colombo.
Most students also have no faith in the re-scrutiny of answerscripts as there is no transparency in the process. The common belief is that only the addition of marks is checked. Here too there should be a more open system of re-scrutiny to give credibility to the process of evaluation to be fair by the students.
We appeal to the Commissioner of Exams, to please ensure that fair and equal evaluation is provided for all candidates irrespective of the subjects they offer.
M. Sarathchandra, Nugegoda |
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