In a modern society, education can only thrive in a context of examinations. Those who deny this must probably have ignored the practical realities, behind the teaching situation in schools, Examinations serve a function for society at large in attesting to standards of academic performance.

Our examination system is the most notorious aspect of education in Sri Lanka. The incessant blunders of examinations have caused a whirlwind of confusion and chaos. The worst troubles were in the Department, where considerable confidence, was badly shaken. There were recriminations of course, as newspapers, politicians and parents, bemoaned it as a national disgrace. A barrage of scepticism and criticism has cast doubts about examinations.

In response to this perceived vendetta, a vicious circle of anger of gross-misconduct in examinations has led the public having little faith in the examination system. It has subjected teaching to examinations, making it virtually impossible to provide true education, and to develop genuine interest in expanding educational horizon and has created temptation to cheating, corruption an favouritism. The obsession to obtain by hook or by crook a place in the University has overshadowed the good aims and purposes of education which a good examination should aim at.

To bring some order in to this chaos there is an urgent need for an up-to-date account of the scientific procedures now available for constructing psychological tests and for assessing and interpreting the results so obtained. Examinations rightly designed and intelligently used can be a useful factor in the educational process. The introduction of a sound system of examinations with the necessary modifications and adaptation will prove a great service to Sri Lankan Education.

How then is to decide whether or not a particular test will serve the purpose of a test. This is one of the chief questions, one must set out to answer, The answer is unequivocal, everything depends on the way the test has been constructed and validated. As for validity, as long as examinations, remain as unreliable, as most still are, validity must, of course remain low.

Indeed most teachers and examiners, when required to set a question paper, sit down, jot down their problems and dispatch them to the printer. Few realise that, the task of drafting an efficient test is a highly skilled affair, It calls, not only for a fertile imagination and first hand experience, and also for repeated pilot trials, special techniques to assess the results, and usually a long ardous research.

Unfortunately much of the popular discussions of the problem, and indeed of the whole subject of testing, arises from a sheer misunderstanding of the terms employed and the objects in view-that is partly due to Sri Lanka’s peculiar history. Perhaps we should also get the needed impetus for better research, on testing on a much larger scale, which alone can improve existing measures and reduce the error inherent in all scientific measurement. Without the help of scientific tests advancement into better educated groups will be barred to many children from disadvantaged families, thus bringing to the top a large number of mediocre ability.

Examinations rightly designed and intelligently used can be a useful factor in the educational process. The defects of examination high lights three factors contributing to this massive mess. The country as a whole is ignorant of the folly of deciding evaluation based on raw marks. No one challenges the validity and reliability based on raw marks. The Examination Department as a matter of urgency should go in for scientific testing with the prime objectives of creating a Test Item Bank. The harmful role which examinations play in education can be overcome by this. These should be scientifically constructed. It should be stressed that inventing test items is highly skilled work, requiring expert knowledge of the subject matter of the test, technical skill, facility in expression and above all Imagination. It follows that a test construction team must either itself possess a varied background of specialized, scientific knowledge of testing or be able to rely upon intimate co-operation with specialists, in those fields who have themselves some appreciation of the technical problems involved. The first draft, checks on content, experimental try-outs, validation and norms and reliability should be strictly adhered. Public Examinations controlled by the Department of Examinations should follow these stages in constructing the tests. It should as a matter of urgency get a team of experts trained abroad in the University of Princeton of USA or Murray House, National Foundation of Educational research in the UK.

No country in the world carries out tests at regional provincial level, to assess end of term progress of students as conducted in Sri Lanka as of late. The ultimate goal in education is to translate measurement data into teaching prescriptions. What purpose does it serve to test at a provincial level. Is it to compare the variables of schools which is ridiculous. It has to be abolished. The involvement of money incurred and the kind of above attributed to financial matters too can be avoided. Terms tests should be the prerogative of the Principal of each school. School based assessment which was introduced in 1985 though an important part of the evaluation programme, has been given up. It takes into account many other approaches, including observation, barriers to learning and related to specific instructional failures. These include programmes with stated objectives arranged in hierarchical order for sequential learning criterion reference testing, diagnostic tests to determine strengths and weaknesses and keyed instructural materials to enable students to focus on deficiencies. These fit well into the school based evaluation programme. Such a programme of evaluation cannot be separated from the total educational programme, school personnel in administration and instruction should participate in its inception, organization and promotion. They can be re-evaluated in order to review pedagogy, reassess intended performance outcomes, re-examine the instructional process for intended outcomes and to ascertain, type of support services needed to maintain the programme.

Provincial level evaluation is carried out only in a national assessment programme. The result of such a test is utilized by policy-makers and curriculum developers and managers of the education system. It is based on these tests that the provincial evaluation is done.

By this regional imbalances and wide disparity in physical resources such as buildings, furniture and equipment are assessed. Lack of competent teachers to handle the teaching is decided. Enormous disparities in the socio-economic status of the students are identified. Malpractices in the process of evaluation., which favour certain groups of children are highlighted.

The National Assessment of Educational progress was one of the immediate responses of the Ministry of Education to the changes in the education system in 1985. The Ministry was concerned that the educational progress of the country should be monitored systematically and scientifically. The listing of viable learning outcomes serves as an eye opener for the planning of school programmes, selection of curriculum content, the instructional material and facilities that well serve the need of the growing child and an acquisition of knowledge ranging from no proficiency at all to perfect performance. A students’ achievement level falls at some point in the continuum as indicated by the result of the test. Along such a continuamum of attainment, a students’ score on a criterined referenced measure provides explicit information to what the individual can or cannot do.

The results of the study were utilized by policy makers and curricular developers and managers of the education system. As a result curriculum revision, teacher training, the adaptation of teaching methods and materials and allocations of local educational resourced got a long way towards coping with pedagogical challenges. The provinces can be easily labeled as deprived or not. This project which was financed by the UNICEF and The World Bank was reassessed by The World Bank to decide on the progress achieved, the results indicated a remarkable improvement in education in the deprived province. Provincial deficits should be identified by a National Assessment Programme. For this purpose of evaluation a team of 30 officers were identified and trained intensively in devising psychological tests. The enthusiasm and energy that characterized the growth of radically new assessment approaches in 1985 has been squashed by the powerful reassertion of traditional assessment assumptions which emphasized the use of results, rather than the support of learning.

Not to innovate in scientific testing in public examinations is the single largest reason for the glaring defects contributing to chaos. Not to know how to manage is another valid reason for the enormous malpractices in the process of evaluation, that has created myopic reactions in the public. It is clearly a part of management and rests indeed on well known and tested management principles.

The Examination Department barely realizes that they practice or mispractice management. As a result they are ill prepared for the tremendous challenges that confront them. Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their strengths effective and their weakness irrelevant. It is the reason that mismanagement is one of the critical determinant factors in creating a chaotic situation in the conducting of examination in Sri Lanka. This kind of mess is being repeated every year and the harmful effects will limit our cultural, educational and economic life for decades to come. What special measures should take to rescue these children from their likely fate of everlasting educational damnation is still an open question.