Exams Demonstrate Students’ Abilities

Schools have reopened in most cities, including the Pakistani Capital Islamabad, after an epidemic like the Corona epidemic and the government has also made an important announcement regarding students’ exams in July. While most students are happy with the reopening of schools, there are also many children who think it would be great if online teaching activities continued. Protests by the students over the exams also came under fire and parents also complained that their children were not paying much attention to their studies at home.

It is not bad to say that one of the benefits of online educational activities in the current epidemic situation, however, is that where children stay connected to books thanks to technology, there is also a tendency for children to be more flexible this reinforces the fact that online education can never be a substitute for a learning environment. This is a temporary solution to an extraordinary situation, but it is not in the long-term interest of students to adopt it on a permanent basis. This is not only in Pakistan but also it on a technologically advanced country like China. When we talked to the parents of the children, they also said that there is no livelihood without school. High school students must pass this test/ exam to enter college and university for higher education.

It can be said that this exam is one of the most important exams in the academic career of the students and also the most important exam of the life of most Pakistani youth because the desire to get higher education and to study from a better educational institution is the dream of every student. This exam is very important in the interpretation of this dream. In this regard, if we talk about Allama Iqbal Open University, the university has provided the facility to students to take exams online during this pandemic in which students can take exams while remaining at home.

Allama Iqbal Open University has designed the question papers to check the abilities of the students in such a way that the students will give their answers according to their intelligence and then submit the papers at online portal given by the university to their students. The university has also made it possible for students to attend online workshops so that they can avoid an epidemic like Coronavirus and attend workshops while living at home.

The federal government made sure that the Higher Education Commission (HEC) allows students who would take exams in the October-November session to delay admission in universities until January 2022. Radically, the government has implemented a number of educational reforms that can bring about structural changes in curriculum, teaching methods, and infrastructure. In this regard, the single national curriculum is a striking example aimed at eliminating educational discrimination prevalent in Pakistan.

It is worrying to note that Pakistan’s economy has been estimated to be suffering a loss of $67-155 billion if learning losses continue during the country’s third wave of COVID-19. To alleviate these losses, the World Bank offered $20 million to Pakistan to bolster an inclusive learning mechanism targeted at 19.1 million out-of-school children who might opt to support their families facing pandemic-induced financial hardships. This is also a momentous achievement of the current government striving to restructure the educational sector in the country.

In view of all these circumstances, it is very important to take exams so that the students can be promoted to the next classes according to their intelligence and ability. At the same time, the government should provide better opportunities for students to study online because today’s children are our heroes of tomorrow.