High failure rate in Sri Lankan GCE O Level examination
About half (47% or 129,062) of the 272,000 school students who sat GCE O/L examination in 2009 will not be able to gain entry to the Advanced Level classes, and without OL certificate, they may not even be able to get a simple job. The 2009 results were poorer than the previous year (2008), when 55% qualified to do their ALs.
The pass percentages of core subjects such as Mathematics, Science and English language are relatively low, but the percentage of passes in some subjects like Sinhala is high,English language only 28% passed in 2009.
- Mathematics – only 51% have passed. This is the same as in 2008.
- Science – only 45%, have passed. This is a further drop from 2008 which recorded 47% .
- Sinhala (a first language or mother tongue) — 80% have passed
- Tamil (a first language or mother tongue) – 75% have passed.
“It is a kind of a crisis in the education system. There should be more focus on O/L failures”, Commissioner General of Examinations, Anura Edirisinghe said to National Newspaper “Sunday Observer”.
Some possible causes for this educational crisis:
Sri Lankan O/L syllabuses are both wide and deep. Width of the present curriculum prepared by National Institute of Education is acceptable as the earlier curriculum was very narrow and did not cover even the basic concepts in each subject. The real problem is with the depth of the curriculum and the depth of the questions at GCE O/L examination. For example many questions in O/L Science paper are at the level of Advanced Level.
NIE publishes curriculum, text books and Teacher’s Guides. Curriculum and well written text books would definitely increase the level of teaching and learning. But the way the teachers teach can differ and therefore creativity of individual teachers can be lost, when they try to restrict the fashion of teaching as indicated in TG’s.
Education authorities say that they have adopted a skill based system. This type of system should rely on the mode of teaching. However when the contents that need to be covered are so deep, as in the case of Science, how can teachers do skill based system. One student told me that the teacher advised them to prepare models of atoms using different types of seeds. Three dimensional model of atoms cannot be understood by this type of 2D models and its is not a skill that makes a student more capable, or confident, but these activates eat there valuable time in preparing for studies.
Also skill based system cannot be checked by a traditional examination based system. If the work load is less in O/L then students have more free time, where they can be directed to Sports, Societies and Social work which will build up their skills, character building and making them confident, capable, healthy, presentable individuals.
For those who fail the examination, it is essential to develop vocational training courses to train them so that they can get well paid jobs in foreign countries, as there is a big demand for such trained people.
Post your ideas on possible causes and how to solve this educational issue in Sri Lanka:
Related posts:
@Farin
Let me also add this as a reply to your comment (Teachers should be paid well and held accountable for not completing syllabuses and high failure rates) Farin
I don’t think Teacher’s pay has much to do with the failure rates. The low pay ‘may’ be attracting underqualified teachers.
However my personal opinion is that ‘Teaching’ is a sevice and Teachers do not have to be paid too much to do what they are supposed to do. It’s the childrens future at stake and I don’t think any Teacher would think of their pay when having to complete the syllabus.
So government cannot be blamed because the Revised syllabus is good
Teacher’s pay is not the problems
It’s the childrens willingness to actively learn that is lacking. But this is due to their busy schedules
Actually in my opinion the syllabus is vast but it includes all the necessary areas.
If we compare the Local O/Ls with the London O/Ls there are very few differences but the main problem with the Local syllabus is that it gives the students very little time to absorb and understand what is learnt in a chapter.
Also another factor that contributes to this high failure rate is the fact that parents push their children for tution, leaving them very little time to relax and have time to study on their own
I am an O/L tutor myself and rarely do parents ever inquire about their childs performance! Most parents simply push their kids to tution and never keep an eye on their performance. But continue sending their kids for tution like it’s routine!
I feel that I as a tutor demand my students to work towards improving their grades more than their parents in most cases. I feel parents must give their child a goal to achieve a specific grade when sending them for tution, but must not send them for tution as a ‘habit’. Once the child has improved their grades, parents must not continue sending them for tution. It hinders a child’s self esteem and also doesn’t allow the child to understand their own learning techniques
PARENTS: Understand that your children need to live a balanced life!
Send them for tution only if they are weak and need extra guidance. BUT give the child a time limit to show an improvement. After the child shows an improvement DO NOT continue to send the child for tution. You will actually be rewarding your child if you give them more free time
Don’t blame the government, the syllabus and what not?!? Nowadays parents rarely attend parent teachers meetings or other school meetings.
Take control of what you CAN change
Sorry for my bluntness, but I hope you appreciate my honesty
The only reason for this failure is the gov’t neglecting education. The salaries of teachers are not enough and they resort to tuition eventually not caring for their day jobs. Most children cannot afford to go for tuition and the teacher NEVER completes the syllabus in class. How can the student answer questions on content not taught to the student? Teachers should be paid well and held accountable for not completing syllabuses and high failure rates. The O/L content is NOTHING compared to other countries. In Singapore, the O/L is ridiculously tough…and yet the Singaporeans do well. Pay well and fire teachers who don’t perform.
No only in remote areas, even in a girls school in Maharagama, only two from one class have passed O/L Science.
Why? Science O/L syllabus is full with very advanced facts, practicals. But teachers unaware of these things.
Reduce the syllabus. Teach only the essential facts to these kids.
We are sill not late. The percentage of the failure can be minimized through systematic methodology to suite the skill based on teaching methodology. All the teachers must be encouraged to adopt themselves for global teaching methods. They must get rid of the old methods which does not bring results. Please my dear teachers! We are in need of a big change in education. The department has already done their duty well. Why are we blaming to this good deed done by them? Please change your old attitudes and let’s work for a worthy course! WARNING ! Teacher can make a student a king or a murder! The teacher must be responsible for the rate of crimes and violence in a country. If we do not properly adapt to the changes in education, The government has to implement more security forces to strengthen the future .
W.A.S. Ranganath.
S.E.L.A
Here is my analysis on this issue,..
please feel free to comment,…
http://ariyananda.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/%E0%B6%BD%E0%B6%82%E0%B6%9A%E0%B7%8F%E0%B7%80%E0%B7%9A-272640-%E0%B6%AF%E0%B7%99%E0%B6%B1%E0%B7%99%E0%B6%9A%E0%B7%94%E0%B6%9C%E0%B7%99%E0%B6%B1%E0%B7%8A-129640-%E0%B6%AF%E0%B7%99%E0%B6%B1%E0%B7%99/
Very timely article you’ve posted here. I think after the curriculum revision, many teachers do not know to what depth they should teach and some even do not know the new concepts in the syllabus.