I completely agree with Manel Perera, whose letter about the GCE Advanced Level English paper appeared in your newspaper recently. We should all be aware of the ailing state of English in this country. Sri Lanka needs English, and superior quality English at that.
A few students are brave and bold enough to offer English as a subject at the GCE Advanced Level examination, fully aware of the difficulties they will encounter every step of the way.
The first hurdle is finding teachers who can teach this subject. Teachers specialised in English are very rare. The next hurdle is to get a decent grade from fiercely demanding examiners who mark answer scripts with such strictness that they unnerve the students. Students who get low grades in A/Level English find themselves at a huge disadvantage when it comes to their higher education. This year’s English results speak for themselves.
The standard for marking scripts should be strict, but it should also be reasonable. As one teacher said: “The work should be worthy of an A-level student” and nothing beyond that. But when the A-Level English paper results are consistently bad, year after year, you think something is wrong somewhere.
It would be interesting to study the statistics and see how many A/Level students scored an A, B, C, S and F in the English A/Level paper.
The Ministry of Education could make this information available, so the public can get a clear picture.
If this rigorous downgrading of students offering A/Level English should continue, not many will want to study English –although English is the language of international communication and should treated be a national priority in this country.
The Minister of Education should treat this as a matter of the utmost importance and urgency, and make sure students are not victims of an unfair marking system.
We are not asking for favours, leniency or special treatment – just fair treatment. |
E-mail