JEDDAH, 23 August 2006 — Starting this school year, the Ministry of Education is implementing new procedures for examinations at all levels of schools, according to officials.
The changes include the replacement of midterm exams with a series of quizzes throughout the school year. College entry grade-point averages will now incorporate a cumulative performance score for the last two years of high school rather than just the senior year. The changes affect only general schools, not technical or vocational institutions.
Although midterm exams are being phased out, finals will still be administered.
At the elementary level until sixth grade, continuous evaluation of the students as opposed to semester exams will be conducted. This system was introduced two years ago for grades one to three. The ministry approved the program to be phased into fourth grade this year. Fifth grade students will begin this policy next year and sixth graders will begin the following year.
Seniors will be allowed to take final exams at a later day if they missed any of the exams due to legitimate reasons.
Another important change is that midterm exams will be canceled at all levels and replaced with quizzes given throughout the school year. The new school year begins in about three weeks.
Education Minister Abdullah Al-Obaid approved the changes early this week and a circular has been sent to all education officials in the Kingdom to implement them starting this school year. Education supervisors began taking training seminars on Sunday to become acquainted with the new system and consequently train teachers before schools open.
“The student passes when he or she masters some basic skills, knowledge and sciences in each subject,” said Abdulraheem Merghalani, director of the Exams Department at the Jeddah Education Administration for boys. “It is not necessary for them to perfect everything, but rather for them to have achieved the minimum basic skills needed.”
The parents will also be informed of their child’s progress periodically.
“We want to move away from the mentality of scores and high and low marks because it is detrimental for the students’ psychology,” said Merghalani.
“Outstanding and high achieving students will be rewarded and recognized in other ways, such as certificates of achievement to motivate them; different students have different strengths and they should be encouraged.”
He said that students will be evaluated according to criterion and not based on teachers’ personal opinions. The new bylaws allow exceptional students to skip a grade after passing the required exams, but only at the elementary and intermediate grade levels.
Students who fail more than two subjects in the ninth or tenth grade can opt to be retested to pass to the next level in all subjects except Islamic Studies and Arabic. To pass students must score at least 70 percent marks. “Senior high school students have a second chance to take the final exam if they miss it due to unforeseeable verifiable circumstances,” said Merghalani.
The ministry determined that many high school juniors tend to take that year less seriously because under the old system the grade point average of the senior year is what determined college entry. To remedy this attitude, the ministry has decided to calculate the grade point average based on the last two years of high school.
“Teachers will give small quizzes throughout the year for a combined score of 20, a score of 10 in each semester. They can choose to distribute the quizzes and marks for each quiz as they see suitable,” said Merghalani.
