Private tuition: Don’t throw the book at students

The Commissioner General of Examinations should have his designation changed to Controller of Examinations for re-gazetting the ban on seminars, classes and the release of model papers on the eve of the GCE Advanced Level exam.

Such a ban was introduced by the previous Government to stop question papers leaking. It was ‘discovered’ that some private tutories showing good results were in truck with those who had access to question papers.

The then Opposition denounced this ban saying, and quite rightly so, that rather than stopping the leaks they were punishing the students. In power, these same folks are doing the same thing they once criticized by extending the original Gazette of 21.06.2103 under the Public Examinations Act.

The Police have been called in to catch offenders and jail them if necessary. The Exams chief says this is to provide students “an opportunity to enjoy free individual study time before an examination” ( see Education Times today) and “stress”, which is a subjective matter anyway, has been cited as a reason for this “cooling period”. Not all students are alike, and some are known to wait for the final, last minute spurt. What about their deprivation and stress?

A clinical psychologist points out that no research has been done on this issue and private tuition classes and group study classes are here to stay. This ban is to be extended to O’L and Grade 5 exams as well, we are told. The bane of this country’s education system has been this 'ad-hocism', and the country’s administrators trying to tell students what to study. Now it is telling them how and when to study; something unheard of even in the most regimented countries of the world. No. 08, Hunupitiya Cross Road, Colombo 02. P.O. Box 1136, Colombo editor@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2331276 news@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479332, 2328889, 2331276 features@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479312, 2328889,2331276 pictures@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479323, 2479315 sports@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479311 bt@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479319 funtimes@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479337, 2331276 2479540, 2479579, 2479725 2479629, 2477628, 2459725