Future Of Learning

At one fell swoop govt cancelled school exam.
Many fear students will be subject to harm.
Learn-apply-evaluate will be future of learning.
Ability to apply should reflect in its meaning.

In one of the rarest moves in country's history, Bangladesh decided not to take the year-end exams in the secondary and primary schools. It has been taken in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19. The decision has met mixed reactions across the society. More or less 238,00,000 students are pursuing education at primary and secondary schools in Bangladesh. (Source: Wikipedia)

This promotion without exam, aka autopromotion, starts debate about evaluation of learning that was severely hampered by COVID-19. Ministry of Education came up with an idea that revolves around assignment based on a 30-day syllabus on relevant subjects. The assignment will be sent to the parents and the student will prepare it. Based on the assignment, his or her learning will be measured. This particular decision has put the autopromoted students in somewhat awkward position compared to students who were promoted through exams in past years.

Government had earlier cancelled nation wide exams at elementary, secondary and post-secondary level showing Corona virus as cause. There has however been policy discrimination. For instance, government did not bar holding "O" level exams and continuing activities of religious seminaries. Students of these streams of education are no less susceptible to COVID-19. Perhaps the sheer size of the secondary school students made the government nervous as the effective vaccine for COVID-19 is still not on the surface.

Exam is considered a measure of progress made by a student in this part of the world. This particular decision put the auto promoted students in somewhat awkward position compared to other students whose promotion to next class was based on exams in previous years.

Government should take cue from"O" level education system. Secondary school students who will be autopromoted will be given chances to sit for exam as soon as COVID-19 situation improves. If the exam score is higher than the assignment score than it will be kept, or else the assignment score will be retained.

Since it is not known when the COVID-19 will be fully defeated, indefinite closure of schools is untenable. Small batches of classes in several shifts could be seen as an alternative. But to implement it, teachers have to be duly compensated ( for extra classes) and new temporary teachers need to be recruited (to reduce strain on existing teachers).

One prerequisite should be to allocate part of the school resources available for COVID-19 treatment. And senior students should be trained to treat Corona virus patients. This step will reduce pressure on hospitals if situation turns worst.

One of the great things to notice is that COVID-19 led the government to take resort to audiovisual media in a bid to broadcast educational content.Private television stations also stepped forward to take part in this initiative. At the same time, government should keep in mind that a good number of households do not have access to television and resources to buy digital gadgets. Government should address this problem by providing subsidized television sets, other digital gadgets and equipping the class rooms in villages in a bid to bridge the digital gap.

There will be sea of changes in future learning. COVID-19 starts the process in that end. In the post pandemic world the changes will be more conspicuous. I think we will be back to old days when one teacher groomed one or small batches of students surrounded by stocks of learning tools. Like those old days, certified teachers will teach small batches of students depending heavily on repository of digital learning tools and library. Apprentice kind of learning will be prevalent. A kind of learn-apply-evaluate like sequence will be widely followed.

Two examples are presented to illustrate the point. First one from my elementary school days. Back then government primary schools used to have huge empty land behind school premises. Vegetables were grown on the land by students. In one winter noon, teachers and students picnicked at the school premise and consumed those vegetables in the lunch. Students knew how to prepare the land, what it takes to grow vegetables, how to take care of the plants, different stages of plants and benefits of eating vegetables. Students learned it, applied it and experienced (evaluated) their outcome. Based on past experiences, they might grow vegetables more efficiently.

Second one from a movie called "The Matrix". In that movie, the protagonist has to learn marshal art to deal with an evil program in the cyber world. He has no idea of marshal art. His mentors pass a program that includes all the steps of marshal art into his brain. He trains himself in the virtual world to get along well with the new knowledge and faces the formidable foe with greater ease.

I am not expecting such radical change in the process of learning in the future. But virtual learning environment will help students learning and perfecting new knowledge in short span of time. Complex surgery will be much more easier as such simulation will be created as many times as possible in virtual reality. Simulation based learning will be child's play. Simulation can teach us horror of neglecting climate change and dodging taxes in the class room.We do not have to wait for a Hollywood blockbuster to underscore importance of tiny things in our lives.

We should measure the progress in learning by a pupil's ability to apply it. If exam reflects it, then there is no problem with exam. But exam should not be the only mean to gauge it. Many students pass the English exam in their year-end exam or school certificate exam. It is assumed that they are capable of making basic conversation in English with their workable knowledge in English. Is it really the case? Ability to apply the acquired knowledge should be the yardstick to measure progress in learning.